Thought I’d update here. I decided to take a risk and take my Mavic Air with me. It’s below the Turkish weight limits for unregistered pilots. I packed the drone, without battery, into my hold luggage. I have the hard shell case from the flymore combo and I had it in the middle of the case protected by clothing. The batteries I had down to around 25% power and packed them into a lipo fireproof bag (about £7 off Amazon) and into my hand luggage. I put some electrical tape over the contacts as suggested in other posts. At Manchester Airport I had to empty the lipo bag out to go through the scanner, no issues or questions at all. At Milas Bodrum Airport on the return I did the same thing, I was certain I’d be pulled and questioned but no problems. There were 3 security points. The first one was just a case of putting my bags through a scanner. The second was similar. At the gate was more thorough, they went right through my bag emptying it. They removed the lipo bag and looked inside. No issues and no questions.
I only flew it the once whilst there, 8am off a jetty at my resort. I’d very likely have been fine when it was a little busier but I’m quite shy about it and don’t ever want a shitty confrontation so I’m very careful.
Anyway thought it was worth updating my experience for anyone else ever looking into taking a similar drone to Turkey.
I’m due to fly to istanbul turkey in December and I want to take my mavic pro,I’m flying with Turkish airlines,am I aloud to take it? If so what do I do with my batteries and how do I pack?
Hi,
Did you have any issues taking your drone to Turkey?
I Plan on going there (Antalya) in July - all things being equal - and have a mavic mini that I’d like to take
Cheers
No problems at all mate took mine to Istanbul however I’d recommend only taking 1 battery, take that on board with you and then place the drone in your checked in luggage that goes under the plane
Had the drive with no batteries in the main suitcase, took all 3 batteries, discharged and in a little fireproof battery case in my hand luggage. No issues at all.
Im im Ankara, I came here in October for work.
I would love to fly my MP here but its such a government / military zone I imagine it would be shot down before the return to home was set.
There is an english guy on youtube who did a set about drones in Turkey, he completely put me off.
Its a shame because Cappadocia would be tremendous to fly over.
I’m going to be DJ’ing at a week long soul/dance music event/holiday in Turkey in October and I’m going to be taking the drone (Mini 2)
Does anyone have first hand experience of getting it past the Turkish authorities? What hoops I may have to jump through, palms I may have to grease? You get the idea.
Not strictly in the EU but I’m off to Turkey on Sunday and taking the Mini 2. As far as I can asertain there are no restrictions or special requirements I have to meet in order to fly out there.
That applies to all drones with a MTOW or more. Sub 250g drones the rules are pretty much as they are here.
I’ve read that to mean that tech confirmation is only required if over 500g and you want to take it through customs as you can’t register it with teh Turkish gov because you don’t have a Turkish ID
One piece of good news is that, according to the Turkish DGCA website, if your drone weighs less than 500 grams, it is not required to be registered, and it is not subject to confiscation from customs officers on entry to the country. Basically, if you want to bring in a drone under 500 grams, you are free to do so with no hassles.
The other good news is that your drone won’t be seized by customs if you have received technical confirmation for your drone from the Turkish DGCA. In short, you need to apply for technical confirmation before you go to Turkey so that you can take your drone there without it being seized by customs.
Happy to report. Now in Turkey and had absolutely no problems getting through UK or Turkish customs and security with the Mini 2 and have flown 3 times in the past 24 hours with no problems at all.
I don’t how much use this will be but I went through UK customs with no issues, flew at three different locations in Turkey and no one batted an eyelid, and returned through Turkish (Dalaman) customs with no issues at all. I just took the precaution of putting the batteries in a Lipo bag.
Instanbul or any one of the other airports may be different, this is just my recent experience.
Hi
I don’t know if anybody else has had experience with this and I know there are previous posts on here about it but most iv found seem to Be about five years old and things change. I’m going to Turkey in three months time. I was just wondering what experience people has had or taking their drones there.? Any feedback is appreciated
You get the idea.
Not for the first time 