Fly in Vietnam

[Clipper707]

Great coincidence to get a forum notification today. I'm heading back to Hanoi for a few months tonight.

D.Raft, PM me when you get to Hanoi. I'm not sure of my schedule, but maybe we can fly.

 

[Dhv23]

How was your trip?

Hello guys, thank you for all your previous posts, they reassured me unlike the other advices I can read on the internet..

I plan to go to Vietnam in a week with my brand new mavic air.

We will arrive in Saigon (HCM), then travel to Hoi An, Dark Caves, Hanoi, and Ha Long Bay.

I asked for an authorization with the dedicated form but I'm not really expecting any answer.

To have less trouble as possible, I bought a battery LIPO bag to contain any potential explosion of the 3 batteries.
I will also print as informations as I can about the mavic Air specifications and DJI policy about NFZ (and the unability to take off if I ever try to fly the drone if I'm located inside one of them to reassure them about my good intentions)
Hope that will help me to manage the situation if any cop or military member wants to confiscate it.

I will keep you informed, it will also inform the next persons who will want to go to Vietnam with a drone

Once again, thank you all, especially @Clipper707 for your long and detailled post.

How was your trip?? Please tell us everything?

 

[Clipper707]

For Vietnam flycam operators: the entire city of Điện Biên Phủ is designated a No Fly Zone, due to the proximity of the airport runway.

A shame really, because it's a picturesque little city with a lot of historical sites, huge monuments, and few people. Too bad NFZ is a 24-hour thing; there are only one or two commercial flights per day.

 

[d.raft]

Hello guys !

The trip was really nice, and without any trouble about my drone !

As said before :

I took the plane from Paris (Roissy - CDG) to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh city) : there is a scanner at the exit of the airport (all our bags passed throught it)
Second plane from Saigon to Da Nang
Third plane from Da Nang to Hanoi
Fourth plane from Hanoi to Paris

I had prepared the possible issues :
. batteries stored in a dedicated Lipo safe bag
. maps of the different areas I planned to fly over (map from google maps, Vietnamese aviation regulations map, and Dji fly zones map)
. the flight authorization form that I asked to the Vietnamese army
. a printed sentence translated in Vietnamese telling who am I, what is the drone etc.. (in case of any Police issue)
. all the mavic air specifications (including batteries capacities) printed.

I flew my Mavic Air many times for a 2 hours total time (I bought it just 2 weeks before the trip, so I was not really confident with it)

I flew it over :
Hoi An (daytime & night time)
Da Nang (bridge)
Sapa Mountains
Ninh Binh
Cat Ba (monkey island)

I had absolutely no problem during the all trip !

I felt more comfortable with all the documents printed with me (to make me able to prove that I was serious and confident with the drone regulations), but I did all for nothing.

We saw very few cops and military during our trip.

After speaking with a lot of local peoples, they are getting used to see "fly cams" all over the country.

I have seen a Spark flying over Han Oi at night, and 2 mavic Air, over Ninh Binh and Cat Ba island.


I hope that it can reassure the next people who will want to fly their drone in Vietnam

 

[Clipper707]

Great report, d.raft. Glad you had many opportunities to fly. The past few weeks I've had my M2P up over Da Nang, Dien Bien Phu (outside of the NFZ in the city) and Duong Lam ancient village about 40km from Hanoi.

Would love to see a link to your Sapa and Ninh Binh videos when you get around to it.

 

[JAW]

Well, FWIW I have logged about 5000 hours in Vietnam in AH1-G Cobras

About the same in Huey's and G model snakes. Can't say I found it very attractive, but that was almost 50 years ago.

 

[Clipper707]

...
I flew it over :
Da Nang (bridge)
...

Which bridge was that? I tried to launch near the Dragon Bridge and the one north of that. My Mavic 2 told me it was NFZ because of Da Nang airport.