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Portugal - any advice about permits?

dawgpilot

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Hi everyone! I have a planned vacation to Portugal early next year and was looking into the legal requirements to fly my Mavic Air there. Does anyone have any advice about the need to apply for permits? I am just flying for fun, but maybe will share some of my photos/videos on social media.

I'm mainly going to Lisbon but also will take trips to some other areas of the country like Sintra, maybe Porto, etc.

I downloaded the app "Voa Na Boa" to my phone which seems to show some of the airspace and restrictions around Portugal.

From my research, it looks like there are multiple agencies that I might need to get permits from:
AAN: To be allowed to take photos/videos anywhere? Also to be allowed access to military airspace like Sintra area?
ICNF: to fly in parks or protected nature areas?
Portuguese Maritime Authority (Autoridade Marítima Nacional) - to fly at the beach/ocean?

If anyone could offer tips or advice, I'd appreciate it,

Thank you!
 
I flew in Portugal in the summer and didn’t apply for anything. I was on the Algarve but not in a majorly tourist spot - still plenty of people about. Made multiple flights on multiple days.

Barely saw any police and only had one woman complain when I was flying over the beach. I just packed up and moved on.

I would have been somewhat more cautious if I were in a more built up area but where I was no one batted an eyelid (except said woman).
 
I flew in Portugal in the summer and didn’t apply for anything. I was on the Algarve but not in a majorly tourist spot - still plenty of people about. Made multiple flights on multiple days.

Barely saw any police and only had one woman complain when I was flying over the beach. I just packed up and moved on.

I would have been somewhat more cautious if I were in a more built up area but where I was no one batted an eyelid (except said woman).

Yeah, from my research, I've found a lot of people saying roughly the same thing about not even bothering to get permits, and not being bothered by anyone. (or people getting the permits, but no one ever asking to see them) I generally try to comply with the law though - especially when I'm a guest in someone else's country - so I'm a little uncomfortable with "going rogue" if it can be avoided. At the least, I might try to apply for the easier (free) ones. Only the "maritime police" one seems sketchy, I saw a YouTube video where a guy was asked to wire 40 euros to the local maritime police captain to get that permit to fly over the beach/ocean. Pretty weird especially since I couldn't find that fee documented anywhere official.
 
Yeah, from my research, I've found a lot of people saying roughly the same thing about not even bothering to get permits, and not being bothered by anyone. (or people getting the permits, but no one ever asking to see them) I generally try to comply with the law though - especially when I'm a guest in someone else's country - so I'm a little uncomfortable with "going rogue" if it can be avoided. At the least, I might try to apply for the easier (free) ones. Only the "maritime police" one seems sketchy, I saw a YouTube video where a guy was asked to wire 40 euros to the local maritime police captain to get that permit to fly over the beach/ocean. Pretty weird especially since I couldn't find that fee documented anywhere official.

To be honest I didn’t see any rules about permits etc.

When I went to Cyprus I did register my drone but again no one batted so much as an eyelid.
 
What I found out, they respond VERY fast. I sent out the requests for taking pictures and to the national park and after few hours I got my approvals. The AAN responded in two hours with all the permits.
 
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Hi everyone! I have a planned vacation to Portugal early next year and was looking into the legal requirements to fly my Mavic Air there. Does anyone have any advice about the need to apply for permits?

I'll be in Lisbon teaching a beginner photography workshop in March 2019 so I've just gone through this. Here is what I did.

I sent email with my request for permission, including name, address and website) to [email protected].

I got this response:

"Please note that we intend that the operators comply with regulation. Saying that, only in very specify situations an authorization will be granted depending of the risk level, since the operators have ways to operate without requiring an authorization (Operating under general operating rules of Art.º3 of the regulation n.º1093/2016 of 14th of December). Please read carefully the information of frequent questions Perguntas Frequentes . You can use automatic chrome webpage translation to ensure that you know the regulation.

In Sintra/Cabo da Roca you can fly up to 120m AGL during the day, VLOS and avoiding assembly of persons whiteout authorization of this authority, but you must avoid airport protected areas (Cascais). Additionally to fly in Natural park (Sintra) you need an ICNF authorization and to fly in that zone, since is Military Airspace (Sintra Air Base), and to take photos and record videos, you must get proper authorization from AAN (www.aan.pt ).

Google earth files with those areas are available in www.voanaboa.pt , additionally you may install VOANABOA APP (IOS/Android).

Have a pleasant day.

Fábio Camacho"

I take this as permission for me to fly within the laws and limits in the areas specified. Hope that helps.
 
Hi all,

TLDR:
- ANAC - Permission to Fly or go beyond he specified limits (fly 60m in an 30m high zone)
- AAN - Permission to film/photo


The reality nowadays in Portugal is a little different. If you fly a drone everyone start looking at you funny... Police have started to ask you for your license to fly a drone.

You should ask for permission to fly and have to state the Zones where you'll be flying with ANAC contact them here:

https://www.anac.pt/vPT/Generico/Contactos/Paginas/Contactos.aspx


Besides that after you've received the authorization from ANAC you need to go to AAN:

Contacts: https://www.aan.pt/subPagina-AAN-001.003.005-contactos

Forms: https://www.aan.pt/subPagina-AAN-001.002.002.002-formularios

Then you can go fly....

Now a little on the procedure:

If your drone has a fixed camera (not removable from the frame) you'll always have to go to AAN and ask for permission to film or take photos.

The ANAC on the other hand is a different story. You'll only need to ask them form permission if you go beyond the limits they've defined or if you want to fly in an NFZ.

you can check out the limits in:

https://www.voanaboa.pt/codigo-drone

This is an ANAC sponsored site. Just slide down the page and you'll see a google maps with the zones.

Special Authorisations:

- fF you fly near a heliport or whatever you need to ask for permission to the Heliport Manager
- If you fly in a Natural Park you need to ask permission to the National Park Authority
- If you fly in a beach you, sometimes, have to ask for permission to the "capitania" (Port Authority)
...


Don't you just love burocracy ???

That's life in Portugal.

AH! Footnote! -> We'll be getting a new law about the weight of the drones that stats that if you'r under 250g there no need for authorization but you can only fly 5m high and 30m long (if I am not mistaken), if it is between 250-900gr you need to have it registeresd If is is more than 900gr you need it registered and have insurance for it. - This is for National Persons. For tourists it is a little different. Ask ANAC and they'll let you know.


Hope this helps.

regards,

Pedro.
 
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