Thnx
I used Drone Cover Club 
I created an area for Madeira in eAAN and I’ll see what happen now
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Yes it’s look like that, I mean I’ve got only one area… I did tick box for no fly over beaches and I think now maybe I should do another one just in case because I’m not really interested at the moment in flying over beaches but some cliffs might be described as a beach. Is the status “submitted” changing for “approved” or similar later on? How long does it take?
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I did a very large area - probably a fifth of the Algarve. It was approved quickly. I did it over a number of days to give myself flexibility with weather etc.
Well it did on my second attempt once I had removed faro airport!!!
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If you wish to fly over coastline and / or beaches, you need permission from the Portuguese Coastguard, the following statement is from the Portuguese Nacional Aviation Authority:
"Regarding Autoridade Marítima Nacional you need to ask their permission every time you want to fly over coastline/beach area, since that areas are under their jurisdiction.
Usually they ask the AAN authorization to give their approval."
Once approved it becomes deferred:
“Your request 9021 was deferred, which mean that it was authorized by AAN and you can now do your flights in that specific area.”
Its usually quite quick to be approved, just keep checking your account. My Madeira requests are still awaiting approval as I have over 180 days to go, nearer the time, they should get approved.
As you can see, from application to deferred (approval), this took less than 24 hours.
Thnx
I created another area for flying at a coastline and sea and I emailed Capitania do Porto do Funchal asking for permission
is it something else to do as well? ;p
National Data Protection Commission (www.cnpd.pt) ?
Permission from National Parks?
I start wondering how many drone users actually doing things like we doing here for flying there? 
cheers!
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You’ve pretty much covered it all. Request permission from Maritima Nacional for coastlines and oceans, then request permission from Nacional Aviation. That way, only need 1 permit request. As for national parks, dont think so unless TOAL from their property. As for data permission, shouldn’t need that unless you are going to record stuff that requires data protection release? As for everyone else doing it by the book, or the right way, probably not. I do it out of respect for the country I visit, the same way I expect visitors to respect the laws when they visit mine.
i got into this chat quite early just before my hols near Albraferia this year and as advised , did my european qualifications through Luxembourg very easily and registered on Aan web site for several areas including area with large castle in it. on day i visited castle intending to fly drone, castle attendants refused me permission, saying council needed to ok it. i went to town Hall and very helpful lady gave me email address of person i needed at council to ask. i did email ( in Portuguese, thanks Google translate) and had reply following day inviting me back to do my flights, so brilliant response
the only one thing i had no answer to was from Coastguard etc. never even had reply to my email reference flying certain beach areas ( which i did anyway at end of holiday ) so all in all, your help and advice was spot on and very very helpful. cheers guys
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OK big question. If I create an Area in eAAN for circular flight for 400m radius and then I select on map location of flight… Is my flight going to be approved just for that 400m radius in the specific point on the map (location) or for the whole island?
Thank you
Just for that area you select. You’re giving the Portuguese Authorities your intended flight plan for that day and time. No different to BA giving their intended flight plan from Gatwick to Manchester then flying elsewhere, gives the Civil Aviation Authority concerns.
Cant see any reason why you cant apply for more plans though.
I always block an area far larger than the flight I intend.
There isn’t a maximum size that you can select, as long as it doesn’t cover restricted areas.
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They emailed me yesterday that I had wrong GPS coordinates from center of Portugal instead for Madeira… I thought that GPS coordinates set correctly automatically when I selected Madeira and Funchal … Now I’ve created new areas and selected manually half of the island and see what will happen. I wonder how quick they respond for my request 
my holiday is just behind the corner ;p
That happened to me too, I wanted the Algarve and got two rejections! I learned that when it came to selecting co ordinates, the red pointer was automatically set to mainland Portugal. I moved the pointer manually to where i wanted it, The Algarve, and submitted my request. This then got deferred, approved.
I have attached photos to show choosing Madeira. My submissions for Madeira were done this way so fingers crossed 
My first Madeira submission with the co ordinates automatically selected near Lisbon. Hopefully, this will be rejected.
My re submission with the red pointer manually moved to where I will TOAL in Madeira, hopefully this will be approved.
My two submissions have been rejected and one approved. Two large areas where I have selected half of the island without red restricted airport zone been rejected due to “potential risk of collection and dissemination of aerial imaging of sensitive sites for the national security”. One small area approved is that one what i have created by misunderstood the eAAN website
If there is some sensitive stuff it should be marked as a red zone on a map I think…
In my opinion system is inefficient. They should review submissions earlier so there is no error in them and give approval later on closer to the date of flights. On top of that I could add only three flights per day. So now because I’ve been waiting a week for approval I have no time now to apply for new smaller areas for my flights I created new areas just one minute ago but its not enough time for me now. I don’t know where I’ll be on my holiday and where I decide to launch my drone. It’s difficult to know now where I’ll be flying and I can’t cover most of the island in permits
I’ll try to add more areas but I think I’ll end up ignoring permits and fly in places where I feel is safe to do so and use common sense. I really would love to fly within all the rules but it’s not design for using drones I’m affraid.
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My first two applications were rejected as follows:
"Good morning You are hereby notified that the Office of the National Aeronautical Authority has refused the application for Aerial Surveys formulated by Mr Gavin Hyland , which was registered under number 8631/2022.
Your application was refused on the following grounds of fact and law: The requested area contains mismatched data (it was indicated that the operation would take place in Portimão coastline/beach, but the requested coordinates are in the district of Castelo Branco municipality of Vila de Rei - geodetic center of Portugal)."
I think if you make the area too large they may think that you’re surveying, hence why the reason of potential risk of collection and dissemination of aerial imaging of sensitive sites for the national security.
I checked the map on E-AAN and the only red zone is the airport and surrounding air flight zone. I get what you’re saying though about wanting to photograph most of the island and the system not allowing that. I would suggest you just go for it.
Did you try polygonal which, i believe, allows a larger area than circular, over 9999 metres? I was also able to put in 9000 metres as a radius when choosing circular, however, i have not submitted this info, as was just testing based on your experience.
Yes I used polygonal for large part of island, I used maybe seven points to select the area. Circular allowing for 9999 m area and my next submissions are circular 5000. I think if I could create 30 areas, each of them 5000 radius or less, then I think I could be approved for most of them. But to make it happen I need 10 days just for adding areas in a system
I’m currently away with my mini 3 in Portugal as it’s 249 grams do I have to register it?
You will need to do the EASA test (to fly anywhere is Europe) - suggest via Ireland or Luxembourg as both in English
Register with AAN Portugal via e-AAN - Login
Display your EASA number on the drone and then fly in any approved area by AAN (you need to apply to fly in each area)
See this topic for more information on rules in Portugal.
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