This article intends to provide a quick refresher and reference guide for aspiring drone pilots in German territory, particularly those from outside the EU.
Disclaimer: The author is not a law professional and assumes no liability, but strives to keep this guide up-to-date and factually correct. Please check the laws yourself before conducting a flight. No commission, referrals or similar awards have been provided to the author. The guide only applies to actual EU member states and Germany specifically, unless noted otherwise. The author has no knowledge about the edge cases Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and the UK - they may or may not have adopted the EU regulations. Please file a comment if you have corrections, questions, new edge cases or links to state-specific information.
German drone law follows the basic EU harmonized rules:
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Drones are classified by weight and capabilities by the manufacturer:
- C0 drones weigh below 250g (e.g. the DJI Mini 3 Pro using the small batteries)
- C1 stay between 250 and 900g (e.g. DJI Mavic 3 Classic)
- C2 drones stay between 900g and 4kg (e.g. DJI Mavic 3 Pro)
In addition, C0 and C1 drones are limited to a top speed of 19m/s / 68.4 km/h / 42.5 miles/h. This guide will not be dealing with drones of the classes C3 (e.g. DJI Inspire 3)/C4/C5/C6, simply because these drones cost so much money that they are far out of reach of hobbyists or there are no such drones/upgrade kits on the market yet.
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Drones that do not carry a certification because they have never been issued one by the manufacturer, are too old or homemade are also allowed to fly, but under a serious subset of limitations, even if they fall in one of the C-class weight brackets. You are not allowed to affix a C-class label on your own, the exception being if directed to do so by the manufacturer (such as DJI's C1 program). The limitations vary between member states and can be revoked at any time, so this guide will not be dealing with non C-classified drones.
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Drone pilots must be at least 16 years of age unless the drone is classified as a toy under the EU directive 2009/48.
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Owners of drones weighing above 250g and/or carrying sensors like a camera that are capable of recording or transmitting personal information (again, unless classified as a toy) must be registered at one EU member state's aviation authority per Article 14, EU directive 2019/947. The registration must be done only once per owner and is valid across the entire EU - so if you start your travel in Germany and register the drone there, and then tour across the EU, you do not need to register it in other countries. You can find out more at the Luftfahrtbundesamt. The aviation authority will supply you with an operator ID (e-ID) after about a week (they will check your ID card), which you have to affix to your drone - the way how you do this is left to you, you may use anything from a simple paper sticker with the e-ID written on it with a pen to an engraved metal disk.
- Operators of C0 drones do not need a license under Annex A, section UAS.OPEN.020, EU directive 2019/947
- Operators of C1 drones need at least an A1/A3 license. This license, like the operator e-ID, is valid across the entire EU, and can be obtained by passing an online training and exam at any member state's aviation authority. The Luftfahrtbundesamt has an information page here and offers both educational material and training exams for free (a day or two should be enough). Do note: while the LBA says they charge 25,- € for the license by sending you a bill ("Kostenbescheid") via postal services, in practice they haven't managed to bill anyone since the inception of the program. The author got told in May 2023 that it is expected to take "weeks if not months" by an LBA representative. Just do your exam, you'll get the license as a PDF immediately after passing. You can either print it out on your own or use third party specialized printer services, in Germany you can also carry it on your phone. Always have a valid government-issued ID card ready, the A1/A3 license is invalid without one.
- Operators of C2 and above drones need at least an A2 license which includes self-study, self-practice with a C2 drone and an exam. This license can only be obtained at an authorized institution, the Luftfahrtbundesamt has an overview. Again, the A2 license can be obtained in any EU member state and is valid across the entire EU. The author used ProFlyCenter with an exam under Polish authority, they have courses in English as well. Training reasonably takes about a week of which you'll invest most of the effort into learning to decode METAR messages (why this is a requirement in the days of weather apps is beyond the author's imagination capability). You have to fill out a self-declaration of training with a C2 drone as well - you can do the training flights under A3 conditions, see below.
Generally, all airspace in Europe from 0m AGL (above ground limit) to 120m AGL is free to use for civilian drones per Article 4, EU directive 2019/947. However, rules and restrictions apply (all legal references, unless noted otherwise, refer to the EU directive 2019/947).
Drone flights (called "operations" in the directive) can happen under five different categories: A1, A2, A3 (summarized as "Open category"), the "Specific category" which covers riskier flight scenarios where an operations risk management and authorisation by the aviation authority is required, and the "Certified category" where the drone, the owner and the operator(s) all have to be authorised by the aviation authority.
Most if not everything a civilian wishes to do can be done under the Open subcategories.
Note that the following sections exclude common-sense requirements for brevity.
- The drone has to be classified under a C-class (see above, letter a)
- The drone has to weigh below 25 kg (Number 1, letter b)
- The drone has to be kept at a "safe distance" from people (both horizontal and vertical, letter c)
- You have to maintain VLOS at all time - and that doesn't mean you have to stay in a range where you could see your drone, you have to keep your eyes on the drone all time. If you can't (e.g. because you have to compose a photo or video shot), you have to employ a second person ("observer") that keeps their eyes on the drone and communicates with you directly e.g. if unexpected other parties enter the airspace, birds come near the drone or other dangers arise (letter d). The observer must be "alongside" the pilot (Article 2) and not use aids like cameras or glasses.
- The drone is limited to 120m AGL height (letter e), except when overflying artificial obstacles such as buildings or towers
- Don't carry dangerous goods on a drone, don't drop payloads such as flyers, grenades or pesticides (letter f)
Requirements for the owner of a drone to be flown under the Open subcategories (Annex A, section UAS.OPEN.050)
- Make sure the operator(s) have valid and applicable licenses (number 3)
- Keep geo-fencing systems and remote ID systems up to date and active, where applicable (number 5)
- For flights under A2/A3, make sure that everyone in the flight area knows what is going on and has agreed to accept the risks (number 7)
Requirements for the operator of a drone to be flown under the Open subcategories (Annex A, section UAS.OPEN.060)
- Check for NOTAMs and "no-fly zones" ("geographical zones", number 1, letter b). Each EU member state has their own. This guide will be explaining the German regulations on these below.
- Don't drink/toke and fly (number 2, letter a). Beware: Some EU member states have 0.0% BAC thresholds. You may get charged with serious crimes and your drone be permanently confiscated.
- At night, keep at least a flashing green light active at the bottom of the drone (number 2, letter g)
Open category A1 allows a drone operator of a C0 or C1 drone to fly over people not involved in the flight (but never ever over assemblies of people - so no flying over rallies, riots, concerts, sport events or other masses of many people). To fly under A1 (see Annex A, section UAS.OPEN.020, EU directive 2019/947), the following conditions apply:
- C1 operators need the A1/A3 license (number 4, letter b). You have to take care to not fly over uninvolved people, but should they appear unexpectedly (e.g. they exit a building) you may fly over them but have to keep the time in which you fly over them as low as possible (number 1)
- C0 operators do not need a license although they should be familiar with the manufacturer's instructions (number 4, letter a). The drone may fly over uninvolved people (number 2).
- Both C0 and C1 drones can be operated outside of VLOS (i.e. BVLOS) if they operate in a "follow-me mode", the distance for that is limited to 50m (number 3).
tl;dr: You can fly over people with C0/C1 drones but please be sensible at it.
Open category A2 allows a drone operator of a C2 drone to fly near people not involved in the flight. To fly under A2 (see Annex A, section UAS.OPEN.030, EU directive 2019/947, the following conditions apply:
- Keep 30m distance from uninvolved people (number 1). If the drone is in a "low-speed mode", you can come up to 5m if the situation allows for it.
- The operator needs an A2 license (number 2).
tl;dr: You can fly near people with C2 drones.
Open category A3 allows a drone operator of a C0, C1, C2, C3 or C4 drone to fly far away from people not involved in the flight. To fly under A2 (see Annex A, section UAS.OPEN.040, EU directive 2019/947, the following conditions apply:
- Keep your flight in an area that reasonably doesn't endanger anyone (number 1)
- Keep at least 150m distance from "from residential, commercial, industrial or recreational areas" (number 2)
- The operator needs an A1/A3 license (number 3)
tl;dr: Keep far away from people and buildings with C3 and above or unclassified drones, and you may also fly freely with C0-C2 drones if you keep these conditions.
The EU and specifically Germany barely has any idea what to do with these yet, there are players on the market dealing with certifications and authorisations but it's all going very slow and very expensive. The really interesting scenarios to watch for are pesticide spraying, banner towing, using live camera drones in large venues, remote and autonomous industry inspection and autonomous parcel delivery.
- Drone owners must carry an insurance for all drones that are not classified as a toy per §43 Abs. 2 LuftVG. This applies for drones from non-German countries (both EU and non-EU) as well. You can buy drone insurances through comparison portals like Check24; for travellers or fresh drone owners wishing to try it out the insurance company HDI offers a short-term insurance.
- The basic EU harmonized rules apply per §21h Abs. 1 LuftVO.
- Virtually all exceptions from the "All airspace from 0m AGL to 120m AGL is free for use" arise from the sub-sections of §21h Abs. 3 LuftVO:
- Keep 1.500m away from airfields unless you have obtained a (preferably written) permit from the aviation authority, the airfield controller or the airfield owner/operator or you have a Specific Category authorisation (number 1)
- Keep 1.000m distance from the sides and 5.000m distance from front and back of airport borders if you are not operating in the Specific Category under authorisation. You cannot operate below these limits under Open Category even if you would manage to get an authorisation. (number 2)
- Keep 100m horizontal distance from the border of industrial areas, jails and prisons, psychiatric wards, military installations, energy utility installations and power lines and biosecurity laboratories unless you have obtained a (preferably written) permit from all operators/owners in whose airspace you encroach (number 3)
- Keep 100m horizontal distance from the border of properties of parliaments, courts, civil authorities, consulates and other diplomatic missions, police and other organisations of security unless you have obtained a (preferably written) permit from all responsible persons in whose airspace you encroach (number 4)
- Keep 100m horizontal distance from highways, transit waterways and rail unless you're in the Specific Category under authorisation (number 5, letter a), have obtained a (preferably written) permit from the responsible owners/operators (number 5, letter b), keep at least 10m horizontal distance and have a horizontal distance greater than your height AGL (number 5, letter c), or in the case of transit waterways, keep at least 100m height AGL and cross the waterway without flying over ships or maritime installations (number 5, letter d)
- Keep out of nature protection areas unless you're flying commercially (number 6, letter a), keep at least 100m height AGL (number 6, letter b), know what is protected by the specific easement and enact reasonable steps to not counteract that protection (number 6, letter c) or it is vital for the purpose of the flight (i.e. SAR missions, number 6, letter d)
- Do not fly over residential property unless you have a (preferably written) permit from the owner or a renter (number 6, letter a), the drone is below 250g and doesn't carry cameras, microphones or RF sniffers (number 6, letter b) or keep at least 100m height AGL and fulfill a whole set of other conditions (number 6, letter c).
- Do not fly over outdoor pools, beaches or similar sites during their hours of operation (number 8)
- Do not fly in controlled airspace unless you have a (preferably written) permit from the responsible flight safety authority (number 9)
- Keep 100m horizontal distance from hospitals unless you have obtained a (preferably written) permit from the responsible owners/operators (number 10)
- Keep 100m horizontal distance from accident/disaster areas or other areas where police, military or other organisations of security are working unless you have obtained a permit from the site leadership (number 11)
- Additionally, §17 LuftVO bans all kinds of air traffic including drones from no-fly zones.
Generally, all the no-fly zones mentioned above as well as temporary no-fly zones established via NOTAM are published inside the "dipul" platform operated by the German Flight Safety authority (Deutsche Flugsicherung). It has a website at maptool-dipul.dfs.de and in cooperation with Droniq an app usable on Android and iOS devices. Nature protection sites are different, you'll have to check with the respective state/regional authority for these.
Larger temporary no-fly zones are also published at the DFS AIP VFR site, section SUP.
To check the weather and wind conditions on a prospective flight site, the author recommends the WarnWetter app by the German Weather Service - you will need to unlock it for about 1€ via in-app purchase since an extremely dumb court case. The fully legally compliant way to obtain meteorological flight information is to create an account at flugwetter.de - this service is run by the DFS and German Weather Service and records what data has been retrieved for compliance. It costs about 67€ per year.
Always check the dipul map/app before heading out to fly, and again before taking off, because NOTAMs might have been filed in the meantime!
The author prefers to scout for flight locations using Google Maps satellite view first - no one cares about anything in an area that's basically just farm fields, and you're not a danger to anyone else either. Then, you can check on the dipul map if there are unexpected issues (e.g. transmission power lines) or an airport control zone are noted. Warning: Only 110 kV and above power lines are noted on the map and classified with the 100m no-fly zone. Overhead 220/380V local distribution and 10/20 kV regional distribution lines as well as overhead phone and fiber runs are not noted on maps anywhere. You have to check on your own for these.
Also, check on the state's nature protection agencies where nature protection sites are (not all of them are marked on dipul, sadly):
Check how you can get there and where you can park your car/bike without blocking off a lane. Do not block farmers' paths, do not walk through fields unless to recover a crashed drone (in which case you should call the police anyway so that they can coordinate with the farmer for damages). Take care of birds, some may be territorial and react aggressively upon seeing a drone. For heavens sake do not operate drones inside of forests, even if you would be allowed to.
The author also likes to wear a yellow hi-viz vest emblazoned with "DRONE PILOT" to reduce the chance of people bothering around.
Flying in such areas is a whole different game that you should only do for commercial operations (e.g. an outdoor shot of your office) or to do an aerial inspection (roof, thermal) because of the sometimes insane amount of effort involved. Most recreational areas (parks) are classified as no-fly zones by local ordinances ("Allgemeinverfügung", "Parksatzung", "Grünflächensatzung" or similar), so if you want to fly recreationally the author seriously recommends going out to the countryside.
For the first part, usually cities and regional administrations have "Filmbüro" departments (moviemaker office). These coordinate with police, EMS and traffic authorities to get you a film permit. You have to deal with the other potential issues (i.e. the §21h LuftVO list) yourself, expect about two to four hours of work per no-fly zone to deal with finding out how to contact the responsible person and to talk with them to explain what you want and that you need their permit (particularly consulates have proven to be extremely incompetent there). Do not fly without all permits in written form, either printed out or on your phone. You will usually have to pay the administration entity a fee for the film permit and in some cases also a rental fee ("Sondernutzungsgebühr") for the 1-2 m² of designated take-off and land area.
Additionally, at least in the case of Munich, as a condition for the film permit you will also need a certificate showing you have the knowledge on how to secure roadworks (because you have to mark the takeoff site using traffic cones). This is called a "MVAS/RSA21 Zertifikat", which is available at different levels - you will need at least the "Grundausbildung innerhalb geschlossener Ortschaften und Landstraßen". You can obtain these in online courses for ~120-150€, e.g. here, or if you want a more professional-looking certificate, at DEKRA.
Part of the film permit will usually be that you notify the police department by phone or email in advance prior to the lift-off. Do not forget this or you may be held liable should someone call the cops on you.
If you are only filming your own (or a friend's) house, say to inspect it or for sales shots, as long as your take-off site is inside your property zone and you don't fly over the property of another neighbor, you fall under the permit of Abs. 3 Nr. 7 letter a §21h LuftVO and only need to check for generic no-fly zones (the ones on dipul and nature protection zones). Generally, the author recommends to check with the neighbors as well, don't be a winged wanker.
- Berlin: The center of Berlin has a permanent no-fly zone called "ED-R 146", it's 3 nautical miles around the Bundestag. If you wish to fly a drone in the area between 1 and 3 NM for commercial purposes and keep below 100m height AGL, there is a general permit in effect; everything else needs an ED-R 146 permit. You will have to inform the police center at a specific phone number (mentioned on the page) at least two hours prior to lift-off, no matter if you fall under the general permit or have a dedicated permit.
- All other drone flights in an ED-R zone need a ED-R mittels UAS permit
- For operations in an airport control area or near airports and fields in general, find out more regarding permits at the DFS. There's a common permit allowing flights in the control zone between 1.5-5km around the airport/field under specific conditions. For operations inside the close control zone (i.e. less than 1.5km) you will need to have a radio certificate for pilots (AZF/BZF) yourself or your spotter/assistant has to. Please always look up the information at DFS before planning a flight in such areas and note that the DFS requires 2-3 weeks advance notice.
- The states Baden-Württemberg, Bremen, Hamburg, Hessen, Niedersachsen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Sachsen-Anhalt and Schleswig-Holstein have a general permit for A2 holders that eases a lot of the restrictions on the §21h LuftVO list, find out more here or download the form directly here.
- For a single permit for A2 holders in these states, find out more here or download the form directly here.
- If you need an exception for §21h Abs. 3/4 LuftVO areas in Bavaria, find out more here or download the form directly here
- Farm spraying drones have a standard scenario called DE.STS.FARM - find out more at dipul and the NfL 2022-1-2649 .
- To obtain a film permit on/near railways, contact the Deutsche Bahn AG film office
- To obtain a film permit on/near highways, contact the Autobahn GmbH
- Film permits near hospitals, jails, prisons and psychiatric wards are almost impossible to get.