Rules and permits

Learning goal

Before sending a drone up, you will be able to know where to learn the current rules of the civil aviation authority of the country you will fly in, and what to check. You will learn that in Türkiye this authority is the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (Sivil Havacılık Genel Müdürlüğü), that drones can require registration, a pilot certificate and flight permission depending on their weight and purpose of use, that these rules change from time to time and have to be looked at again before every flight. You will check on a map the restricted zones around airports, military areas, official buildings and crowds. You will know that looking from above makes visible the private life behind a wall, a garden or a window, and respect it. You will plan every step of the flight minding the safety and privacy of the people on the ground.

The question

As soon as they get home, your friend orders a small, folding drone. While they open the box and fit the propellers, a club member sends a message: "Look at the rules before you fly. You can't fly everywhere; some drones need registration and permission." Your friend opens the map of their neighborhood: an airport a few kilometers away, a military area at the far end of the coast, a square that gets crowded at weekends, a national park at the edge of the city. They don't know which is forbidden and why, or which document is obtained from whom. What do you need to fly a drone?

Context

In the law section you saw that using a photo of a recognizable person requires a model release, and the commercial use of a private place a property release (Lesson 29.2). In the street and privacy lesson we talked about how a recognizable face can also be personal data, and the relationship of frames shot on the street with privacy (Lesson 29.3). In the first lesson of this track you also saw shooting a family on the beach from above after getting their agreement before flying over them (Lesson H.1).

A photographer working with a camera on the ground is usually responsible only toward people and property. A drone, on the other hand, is an aircraft: it concerns the safety of planes, helicopters and the people on the ground, and so it is subject to its own rules. These rules differ from country to country and are updated as technology changes. This lesson doesn't make you memorize a list of rules; it teaches you where and how to learn the rules, and what to ask before a flight.

Simple explanation

Where are the rules learned?

A pre-flight rules check is reviewing, before every flight, the current rules of the civil aviation authority of the country you will fly in and the state of the place you will fly. In Türkiye this authority is the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, and in the rules it publishes for unmanned aircraft, classes according to drones' weight and purpose of use, registration obligations, pilot certificates and flight permission processes are defined. If you will fly in another country, that country's own authority's rules apply.

The details of these rules, for example above which weight registration is mandatory, up to what height you can fly, or which document is needed, change from time to time. That is why this lesson gives no numbers: instead of a number read on a forum, on a seller's page or in an old news story, you have to look at the current text the authority itself publishes. Flying for a commercial job, that is, selling photos to a client, asks for more documents in most places than a personal flight.

Where can't you fly?

Restricted airspace is the areas where drone flight is forbidden or subject to special permission: around airports and helipads, military zones, some official buildings, prisons, power plants, above crowded events, and often national parks and protected areas. The boundaries of these zones are shown on maps; many drones' apps also mark these zones, and some prevent takeoff in them.

An area looking free on the map doesn't mean everything is free there. Flying over the crowd of a wedding, a market or a game means a vehicle falling in a failure hitting people; that is why it is forbidden in many places and against common sense everywhere. In a national park, a drone disturbs both visitors and wildlife, especially birds.

What shouldn't we see from above?

Aerial privacy is minding that a drone can make visible private spaces not seen from the ground, a garden, a terrace, a pool or the inside of a window, and that this can be an invasion of private life. On the ground a wall, a fence or a curtain gives people a sense of security; a drone can take that security away in a few seconds. Someone sunbathing in a house's courtyard, children playing in a garden or a family sitting on a terrace can become uneasy when they see a drone above them.

A frame of a recognizable person, even shot from above, can be personal data, and sharing it can require permission. People sunbathing on a beach, whatever the color of their skin or their bodies, shouldn't be shot from above without permission and from close up; this is one of the moments when a person feels most vulnerable. Not flying low over private property without its owner's permission, and not waiting at a height that watches people from close up, keeps the drone a tool rather than an eye.

Visual evidence

Before flying the drone, your friend opens the current page of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation on unmanned aircraft and reads what is required for their own drone's weight. They complete what registration needs, and note which additional document will be needed if they shoot for a commercial job next weekend.

In the drone's app they open the map of their neighborhood. Around the airport is red, the military area red, the square looks free but on Saturday a fair will be set up there. They plan the flight for a morning without crowds, at an empty cove on the coast. When they learn that flying in the national park requires permission from the park administration, they postpone that plan.

When they send the drone up at the cove, they see two people sunbathing in a corner of the beach. Without passing the drone over them, they steer it to the other side of the shore. While choosing the frames, they decide to publish the frame where these two people appear far off as small dots, their identity not distinguishable; they don't share without permission any frame shot from close up where faces can be picked out.

Common mistakes

Summary

Flying a drone first requires a pre-flight rules check: the current rules of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation in Türkiye, and of their own authorities in other countries, set registration, documents and permits, and because these rules change they are looked at again before every flight. Restricted airspace and the space above crowds and protected areas are closed to flight or subject to permission. Aerial privacy reminds us that a drone can make private life visible, and requires not shooting anyone, whoever they are and whatever their skin and body, at a vulnerable moment without permission.

Mini assignment

In this assignment you will plan a drone flight on paper, even without a drone.

1. Find the current page of your country's civil aviation authority on drone rules; note in your own words what a drone requires according to its weight and purpose of use, and write the date.
2. On the map of where you live, mark the restricted airspace, the areas that get crowded and the protected areas; choose a place and an hour where you could fly safely.
3. Write a flight plan for this place: state where you will take off from, in which direction you will fly, and how you will avoid passing over private spaces and people.

Check yourself

• Did you learn the rules from the authority's own current text?
• Is the place and hour you chose outside the restricted zones and crowds?
• Does your plan mind private life and people's safety?

Glossary

Mini quiz

1. Which authority sets the drone rules in Türkiye?

• A) Municipalities
• B) The Directorate General of Civil Aviation
• C) Drone sellers
• D) Photography clubs

2. Why are the details of drone rules checked again before every flight?

• A) Because they change from time to time and old information may be wrong
• B) Because they change every day
• C) Because drones get heavier with every flight
• D) Because checking isn't required

3. Which is an example of restricted airspace?

• A) An empty beach
• B) Your own garden, with its owner's permission
• C) A field with no one in it
• D) The area around an airport

4. Why is flying low over sunbathing people wrong?

• A) Because the light isn't enough
• B) Because the battery runs out quickly
• C) Because it invades people's private life at their most vulnerable moments
• D) Because the frame comes out blurry

Answers

1. B — This authority sets the registration, documents and flight rules for unmanned aircraft.
2. A — Numbers and processes can be updated; only the authority's own text is current.
3. D — The area around an airport is closed to drone flight, or subject to permission, for the safety of air traffic.
4. C — Looking from above without permission and from close up takes away the space a person believes is protected.

Summary card

• A pre-flight rules check before every flight: the authority's current text.
• In Türkiye the Directorate General of Civil Aviation; in another country, that country's authority.
• Registration, documents and permits vary by weight and purpose; commercial work asks for more.
• Restricted airspace: airport, military area, crowd, protected area.
• Aerial privacy: don't fly over private spaces or vulnerable people.

Bridge to the next lesson

Your friend makes their first flight at an empty cove. As the drone moves away over the sea, the wind suddenly picks up, a battery warning appears on the screen, and the drone becomes a small dot and disappears from view. Their heart stops. What should you watch out for so as not to lose a drone? The next lesson takes up flying safely while minding the weather, the battery and keeping the drone in sight.