Flying/travelling to Thailand

[jimmy johnson]

Roger that. I think I may take the steps from this post and see if I can bring some kind of document with me if cops get involved to at least show some due diligence.
How to register your drone in Thailand

I have never lived in Thailand. I have only ever visited Phuket more than 20 times over the last 20 years. I am not trying to contradict kindnation just give you my observations. I have been pulled over by police on a few occasions. I was fined twice for not having my drivers licence with me while riding a bike. On both occasions there were lines of Thais and non Thais of about 20. Most of them for not wearing a helmet or no licence. On these two occasions and the other times I observed no bribes or any such indications of one by Thais or none Thais. We were told to pay the same amount depending on the crime. Under these circumstances I would never entertain the idea of offering a bribe and would advise others not to either. On my last day in Phuket last week I sat at the Red Bar on the main junction at the top of Bangla Road for about three hours. Three cops were pulling over any one not wearing a helmet again Thai and non Thai. Every one paid or agreed to leave their bike and off they went to the station to pay their fine later return and rode off with helmets. Again no hint of bribery was taking place, and I had a camera and zoomed in, I was only 20 meters away away. I strongly suspected by everyones attitude that the offer of a bribe would have meant immediate arrests and marching off the cop shop. Bribery takes place in every country in the world and a lot more so the poorer the society. But don't think you can rely on it and take care. If I was with a small group of Thais and one cop and was pulled over for an offence and every one was getting along fine with no agro I then might test the water a little and may offer a sorry donation rather than a heavy fine or a spell in the cop shop. But I would be very carful, respectful and polite.
Very few Thais are as yet aware of the laws concerning drones. But that is going to gradually change. I am going to do my best to get registered if I do this I am then not breaking the law. If you can get something in writhing from the aviation authority or anyone in standing that you have applied and are awaiting approval you should be fine. Just use common sense and enjoy flying. Even Phuket is a big place

 

[John Gowland]

That my friend jimmy johnson is one of the best web sites and sources of information I have ever seen.
Love it. No advertising, no profit making, no media hype, no bs, a labour of love. Just "buy me a coffee" pay pal link.
I am going to search every part of the site and check him out as best I can, but it looks like I will be buying him more than a few coffees even though I am only a part time teacher myself.
This is the way to go.
As far as I can make out, drone flyers need to adopt this as a bible for Thailand.

 

[kindnation]

Good judgement and tea money goes a long way in Thailand. There are obviously cases where it’s difficult to bribe or not advised to do so, but if you’re away from the crowd, within the rules, no one will ever approach you anyways. If you’re doing dumb things with your drone and someone calls the police, you will not be able to bribe your way out.

The police have things to do (i.e., hit their quota) so they are going after low hanging fruit. Unless a police dept or cop can get a dependable stream of money busting drone pilots, they most certainly won’t bother unless you’re being obvious.

 

[kindnation]

If you feel safer submitting the forms for your drone, by all means do so.

I’m not advocating breaking the law. I’m just giving you a perspective from someone who is Thai that speaks the language natively and have lived here over 20 years.

 

[jimmy johnson]

If you feel safer submitting the forms for your drone, by all means do so.

I’m not advocating breaking the law. I’m just giving you a perspective from someone who is Thai that speaks the language natively and have lived here over 20 years.

kindnation, thanks for the insight on how it is from a thai's perspective. I do not really want to submit any forms but I will monitor how things are going for drone pilots there and play it by ear. As long as customs is not confiscating drones, then it is probably not going to be an issue. My first island stop will be Lanta and it does not seem overcrowded with drunken idiots like Phi Phi so I hope they do not care. Koh Yao as well.

 

[Etopsflight]

Gents

I took my Mavic to Koh Lanta last year. No real problems except from German tourists who had a lot to say about drones.

I'm off to Phuket later this year and have just submitted my form. A bit cheeky asking your salary in "details"!

I expect with some low key flying I should be ok again to fly in the land of the smiles.

Etopsflight

 

[John Gowland]

If you feel safer submitting the forms for your drone, by all means do so.

I’m not advocating breaking the law. I’m just giving you a perspective from someone who is Thai that speaks the language natively and have lived here over 20 years.

So are you going to submit the forms? I was going to but you indicated that it is not wise to or a waste of time, effort and money?
You can not fly in public without the form that would be a silly risk, however small. I am tending towards submitting. Even if I get asked questions at immigration I can always show the form. What are your thoughts?

 

[collins]

The current situation is Thailand is a little 'uncertain' and I will explain why.

Background
1) It has been a regulation that all drones with a video camera should be registered for nearly a year with the CAAT. As of about 4 months ago about 700 out of an estimated 50,000 had been registered.
2) Then at the beginning of October, the NBTC (Broadcasting ie wifi signal) got involved and said it was compulsory to get your drone registered. They were giving 90 days for everyone to register their drone (which could be done at police stations or NBTC offices or the CAAT.)
3) That 90 days is now up (as of Jan 9th - two weeks ago) and the NBTC issued a 'stern' warning....

NBTC warns over unlicensed drones

...blah blah all unregistered drones are grounded... no more than 5 years in prison blah blah...
(And actually 9,000 drones are now registered.)

So this is the reason I say things are uncertain. There are a lot of rules and regulations in Thailand they usually tend to be 'flexible' or 'negotiable'. But occasionally there are 'crackdowns' when they are enforced - bar opening hours are a good example. And crackdowns sometimes involve making an 'example' or ten. And given that these new registration requirements have just come into force we might find that we are in for a short period of crackdown/enforcement... But, genuinely, who knows? (And I seriously doubt the police in Nakhon Nowhere are conversant in Thai drone regulations.)

So what to do if you are visiting Thailand as a tourist?
1) Well you could not bring your drone to Thailand which always brings with it the least risk (rather like never using it.)
2) Bring it (no registration) and chance it. Probably you will be fine, probably if you get pressed on the subject, a warning, a little 'tea money' (more like Starbucks coffee money, nowadays) will cover the issue. I dont think you will run into airport problems (afterall the regulations dont say you cant have a drone, only that you cant fly one) and I rather think if a drone or two get confiscated we will all hear about it. (If I was visiting as a tourist, I would go this route but then I am a rebel.)
3) The 'easiest' most 'official' route is to go to say the DJI Store, 2nd Flr Discovery Center with your drone and passport (edit: supposedly they also want to see your purchase receipt), fill out the forms, they will sell you some expensive insurance (Bt3k) give you an insurance certificate and a copy of the forms they submitted (to the CAAT) and you are good to go. (Takes about 30 minutes.)

As a resident I got my Mavic registered (ok I am not much of a rebel) but what you do is up to you...

 

[jimmy johnson]

I just got back from Belize which does not allow tourist use of drones and I did read reports of them grabbing and holding Phantoms and Inspires at customs which are much bigger, conspicuous drones than the Mavic. However, I saw someone flying what might have been a Spark on the caye I was at and the divemasters said they welcome them and people bring them on the boats. So I left my drone at home and probably could have gotten away with bringing it in (customs did not look at my bags) so I am annoyed that I played it risk free with option #1 although it was probably the "smart" thing to do.

Since Thailand is not grabbing them at customs yet, I want to bring it there. For option #3, I am landing in Phuket but going straight to the islands so I'm not sure what store I could go to for legitimate registration, although I would be going back to Phuket after a week. So other than going to a police station on one of the islands I'm not sure how I could get any kind of legitimate documentation since I have heard the email route takes forever. I guess I could fill in that NBTC form and carry that around in case any authority figure ever asked but I have no clue how I could do the CAAT form and submit that as a tourist. Anyway, it's not a clear process for tourists, seems like residents are the ones doing it from what I can tell since they live there and can navigate the system better.

 

[collins]

I just got back from Belize which does not allow tourist use of drones and I did read reports of them grabbing and holding Phantoms and Inspires at customs which are much bigger, conspicuous drones than the Mavic. However, I saw someone flying what might have been a Spark on the caye I was at and the divemasters said they welcome them and people bring them on the boats. So I left my drone at home and probably could have gotten away with bringing it in (customs did not look at my bags) so I am annoyed that I played it risk free with option #1 although it was probably the "smart" thing to do.

Since Thailand is not grabbing them at customs yet, I want to bring it there. For option #3, I am landing in Phuket but going straight to the islands so I'm not sure what store I could go to for legitimate registration, although I would be going back to Phuket after a week. So other than going to a police station on one of the islands I'm not sure how I could get any kind of legitimate documentation since I have heard the email route takes forever. I guess I could fill in that NBTC form and carry that around in case any authority figure ever asked but I have no clue how I could do the CAAT form and submit that as a tourist. Anyway, it's not a clear process for tourists, seems like residents are the ones doing it from what I can tell since they live there and can navigate the system better.

The deadline for registration through police stations and/or NBTC offices has passed as of 9th Jan. The registration process is being streamlined to the extent that when you buy a new drone in Thailand, you fill out the forms and register through the retailer (who submits the forms to the CAAT) I believe.

Now that drone registration administration is all geared up and in full force, there is a strong likelihood that someone, somewhere will try to enforce it. Still you have to weigh up the very small probability of running into trouble against the much larger probability of 'wish I had brought my drone, this place would be perfect'. I actually havent heard (yet) either by ear or forum of anyone being asked to show their registration.

I like your idea of carrying a photocopy of the filled out forms that you 'submitted' (large inverted commas) to the CAAT... Good one...

 

[paulrawlingson]

If you need to register & insure your drone (most drones according to Thai Rules) quickly.. these guys can do it all for you Buy Drone Insurance | DJI Phantom Thailand

 

[John Gowland]

Is that not for a resident of Thailand, Paul?
It was is in Thai, google offered a translation which converted it to 5,000 UK but it did say Bhart in the original "B"
which is only 200 AU$.
Google translated the first part of the document but not the second which looks like it was an image.
So Is there an English version and can it be used by tourists and for how long.
If all of these are positives I would be extremely happy as would a great deal more pilots.

 

[paulrawlingson]

Is that not for a resident of Thailand, Paul?
It was is in Thai, google offered a translation which converted it to 5,000 UK but it did say Bhart in the original "B"
which is only 200 AU$.
Google translated the first part of the document but not the second which looks like it was an image.
So Is there an English version and can it be used by tourists and for how long.
If all of these are positives I would be extremely happy as would a great deal more pilots.

It's for anyone and the price is indeed 5000Bath ; you can also do it yourself (I've detailed how here) but this might take up to 15 days and require more homework. The permit seems valid for 2 years. The link from DJI Phantom Thailand was found in another blogpost (I think TripAdvisor) but remember very well the result & authorisations came in a few days.

 

[John Gowland]

All the reports I have read of people trying to do it by themselves have failed, I think except for one person who I think had a Thai girlfriend who helped.
Since the bottom part of the document is in Thai I am still not clear how it works. I would rather pay the few hundred dollars for some one to do the documentation correctly.
If I can send them my personal info along with the s/n and details of the drones I want to fly, that would be perfect.
So is that the case? And has any tourist actually done this?

 

[paulrawlingson]

All the reports I have read of people trying to do it by themselves have failed, I think except for one person who I think had a Thai girlfriend who helped.
Since the bottom part of the document is in Thai I am still not clear how it works. I would rather pay the few hundred dollars for some one to do the documentation correctly.
If I can send them my personal info along with the s/n and details of the drones I want to fly, that would be perfect.
So is that the case? And has any tourist actually done this?

I beleive the contact [email protected] , his name is Danny - let me know how you go.

 

[John Gowland]

I will do, and thank you very much.