Regulations in Germany (2018) and reliability of Airmap

[szh]

I am looking for reliable, complete, and up-to-date information on drone regulations in Germany, as well as practical advice on flying there.

There are several web pages and forum posts on this topic, but most seem incomplete, or they do not fully agree with each other. I do not speak German and cannot read the actual law.

I am familiar with the rules in France, which are made very easy to understand through a government issued leaflet (in English and French) and an official altitude restriction map. Is there something comparably clear and easy to follow for Germany?

There's a mobile app called Airmap, which has a detailed map for Germany. Does anyone know where they get their data from, and whether it is safe to rely on them?

AirMap Web App

Both their maps and listed regulations are quite inaccurate for France, and it's clear you shouldn't rely on it. But Germany is a major focus for Airmap while France isn't. So perhaps it's a good source for Germany?

Sadly, my impression so far is that the German rules are fun killers ... nature parks are off limits, waterways are off limits. I haven't found any mention of cities (strangely), but private areas seem to be off limits and one must stay away from people, i.e. in practice they seem to be off limits.

I also wonder about that private areas rule. Does it apply to all privately owned land, even an unfenced corn field in a rural area? If yes, how do you determine which area is private?

 

[Kanga]

dfs

 

[Marco Cantieni]

I use AirMap and an app named „Kopter-Profi“. Both clearly indicate that in Germany the fun has been significantly reduced. If DJI is taking over this data in their DJI go app I sell my machine

 

[szh]

I'd also love to hear suggestions about nice locations to fly at in Sachsen.

 

[Marco Cantieni]

I'd also love to hear suggestions about nice locations to fly at in Sachsen.

You could check Youtube if someone has already filmed something nice there. This area is nice for sure.

Sächsische Schweiz – Wikipedia

 

[szh]

Sächsische Schweiz​

Very nice indeed, and also off-limits (not only according to Airmap, but also according to their website). I do wonder about the Czech side though, across the border. That would be another question though, about Czech regulations.

It's disappointing (and puzzling) that rivers are all off limits too ...

The problem with simply searching YouTube is that it tends to turn up lots of hits which would be illegal to film (either because they became illegal since filmed, because they were created with special permission, or because some people just do it anyway: like this—very nice images and completely illegal flying)

I dislike recklessly ignoring very clear rules because it will lead to one thing: more rules to ruin the fun for the rest of us.

 

[Marco Cantieni]

So it all comes to what can we do about it. Fly regardless and only avoid those fly zones in the DJI go app or stay 100% to the rules?

 

[szh]

I found a page for Sachsen which is in German, but the machine translation is reasonably easy to understand. This is from an official source, and less confusing than some of the forum posts that are floating around.

Drohnen und Flugmodelle | Achtung: Betrieb mit unbemannten Fluggeräten!

 

[Marco Cantieni]

This is nice but seem not to tell us anything we Germans don‘t know already. The stunning parts in Sachsen are NFZ.