Now that I have managed to translate and understand how to navigate the site, I have contacted them to ask for clarification on the notices put on the area in which I would like to fly. Its says I need authorisation. The blue marker indicates where. After about 8-9 days I still haven’t had a response, so I’m wondering what to do next? Registration to fly in Europe is about £40. I see no point spending the money if I’m to be told I can’t fly there.
Any thoughts anyone?
Not flown in Austria but looking at the map you would be flying in two restricted zones and will have to seek permission by completing the forms. The hyperlinks will take you to them. Personally, I wouldn’t bother if it’s just for a leisure purpose.
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To fly in Europe, you need an EASA Flyer ID. I did mine with the Irish Aviation Authority and paid around €75. It’s free to do it with the Cypriot Aviation Authority (as I found out later) and flying in Austria would be covered by either (and they’re in English so no faff). I completely disagree with the previous posting about ‘not bothering’ as I have fabulous footage from Ireland, South Africa, France, Iceland and Cyprus. No issues with the drone and batteries in hand luggage - enjoy!! I didn’t take it to Kenya/Safari as they make a point of taking it off you on entering the country (Safari/poaching etc etc)
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Luxembourg is free and in English, a couple of hours online and you’re sorted (its where I did mine)
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@Andy401C I did say ‘Personally, I wouldn’t bother’. If you think it’s worth it, it’s your choice. I agree, there are many lovely places to fly around the EU without problems or potential hassle. You can fly a sub 250g drone in the Vienna control zone indicated by @Nikonitis but there is a max height restriction of 30 meters. That’s probably not high enough to see over most of the buildings. If you want to fly higher you need to get consent from Austro Control.
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That’s fair enough - always worth taking it though and flying sensibly to avoid any confrontation - everyone I’ve met whilst flying is genuinely interested in the views on the controller…. I’m just cautious where and when I launch👍
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@Nikonitis @PhilSN12 any updates to this? I am going to Vienna as part of my travels this year and drone will be in tow. I haven’t sat any EASE exam when I went to the EU last year, just registered on D Flight thought that was all you need to do.
Sit the exam and register in Luxembourg, its free and about 3 hours of your life
From this post down is some pointers
I can’t offer any further updates, as I threw in the towel after not having had a response to my initial request from the Austrian Authorities. From what I have learned, in Vienna there is a max height limit of 30m and no flying at night at all. The city centre itself is full of high buildings. Any thoughts of flying by St Stephens Cathedral are pure fantasy. it’s full of people and Authorisation is required to fly anywhere in the city as there are restricted areas all around. For me, there wasn’t any point.
Fair enough. Luckily I have a penthouse apartment and a long range… what could go wrong?
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Incidentally, where are you staying? This is where we stayed. Couldn’t be more central really.
Is it a pleasure trip or business?
In Vienna, very near the Hauptbahnhof train station. We went in 2024 and were there for 4 hours between trains from Czech to Hungary. Pleasure - family holiday travelling through 3 countries.
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Have you booked transport from the airport into town or are you using the bus service? If taxi, and you haven’t already organised something I’d highly recommend the one we used, to take us from and to the airport. Punctual, smooth and lovely drivers.
taxi-viennaairport.at
We will probably just use Bolt, they were amazing last time, but thanks
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Now in month 2 of my research and found this : dronespace.at – die Austro Control Drohnenplattform - General Information
What Regulations Must Be Followed When Operating My Drone?
For most hobby pilots and commercial operations within visual line of sight (VLOS), the “open” category is the simplest solution. As long as the operational limits of the “open” category (e.g., weight, flight altitude) are adhered to, no operational approval from Austro Control is required before the flight.
Looks like approval to fly direct from the authorities page themselves. I will delve further but printing off all this and taking your EASA certificate with you, must be three quarters of the way to showing reasonable efforts and regard to follow the rules.
And they replied straight away to my email asking them the lay of the land. I haven’t had the time to digest it all yet but in essence it says 249g or below no restrictions, fly away and keep below 30m - anything over that needs an abundance of paperwork and an application to fly that will cost 1000 euros.
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I have now got the bottom of Austria, and have contact details I can share. Hopefully the bullet points below assist others going forward as it is a very confusing country to deal with.
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Most of the internet says you can’t fly in Austria. You can however. Contact details for anything drone related are via email to “Dronespace@austrocontrol.at”. They also have a website in English - “dronespace.at – die Austro Control Drohnenplattform - Dronespace”. They have replied to my emails within minutes, but always the same day.
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Sub 250g drones can be flown without any permit or permissions under 30m and away from heliports. Anything above that weight / in any other airspace is proper grief, application process that takes a month or so as well as a 600 - 1000 euro fee.
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Just add the caveat that the pilot still requires to register as an operator in a member state.
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I guess so yes - I did the online EASA test and have the certificate. The emails I received from Austro Control did not stipulate this was a requirement - but I would still do it none the less. They state, quote - "as long as the following points apply, you may fly your drone in Vienna without a permit and without submitting a flight plan:
- The UAS weighs less than 250 g
- You are outside the vicinity of a heliport
- The maximum flying height is 30 m
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You forgot this bit
You must register as a drone operator if you operate:
- Drones weighing 250 g or more
- Drones (including those under 250 g) that can transfer kinetic energy of more than 80 joules upon impact with a person (so-called “high-speed drones”)
- Drones (including those under 250 g) that are equipped with sensors capable of collecting personal data
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