UK Class Marks, Remote ID and drone regulation changes: What you need to know for 1st January 2026

The 3% is probably in the EU C0 class mark. But yes, I checked the current 249g rules, and there’s no tolerance there.

Personally i can see alot of backlash around it, makes me wonder if i should of gotten the air 3s and not the 5

Do we have any clarity on the fate of C1 drones after 2027? As far as my reading and watching clarification vids tell me, after that date they revert to Far from people (50m) A3, while the heaver mavic 4 pro can be flown 5m at low speed with a2cfc

So.. that being the case it would seem more advantageous to fly mavic 4 than air3s from a regulatory point of view? Which seems counter logic to me?

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Who knows, after all we didn’t expect the more ‘relaxed’ stance in 2026

giphy

Being new to the drone scene, its a query

I have a mini 5 pro, which as we know has some controversy around its weight oweing to the eu allowing a 3/4% tolerance and the uk being 0 tolerance

I looked into A2 CofC, however a few things ive seen suggest that as of january it will no longer apply to uk drones and other things saying you can if you want

All im trying to do is ensure i stay safe and legal with my flights, the whole weight topic around the 5 pro has had me concerned i could inivertantly break the law

Thanks in advance guys n gals !

Hi All,

A broad question it would be great to get your help with. I am new to drones and will be making a living from adding Drone work into my portfolio as a photographer, general digital artist work.

Jan1 the rules change so I am weighing up Air3S or Mini 5 Pro. I am currently thinking Air3S as the 250g rule changes so the Air3S can be used where the Mini 5 pro would be used.

The Air 3S has better optics and although rated as the same wind resistance as the 5 pro a few examples have shown it clearly being better in the wind.

I know an Air4 should be announced in Nov but factors such as Jan 1 regs and general availability mean the time before I could purchase and make money from it are unknown. So the known quantity seeems a safe bet.

Any thoughts here before I do some damage to my plastic card……

TIA, YT :smiling_face_with_sunglasses:

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@YT-Chester I’ve moved your question over to this existing thread on the subject, as this very question has been posed a couple of times :smiley:

Very unlikely :blush:

Very much so, and as per the details further up in this thread, the Air 3S will gain a lot more freedom on 1st Jan and if money is no object, it’d be my choice over the Mini 5 Pro.

Bear in mind though, there’s only a two year transition window, so here’s how it’ll play out with this “strange but true” fact:

Take a look at the first post in this thread and you’ll see two videos.

The second video covers the Air 3S specifically :slight_smile:

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Thanks for helping out here, I know the Air 3S will only have a 2 year life, my view is when used commercially it should easily pay for itself over that time.

Holding on for a Air 4 is an unknown and therefore could end up loosing opportunity i.e. i can secure work with a 3S in a short period of time

Plan so far for me, is to keep the air3s for a couple more years and then make a decision. Air3’s C1 benefits will last at least until end 2027. my A2CoFC ends in 2028 and by then we’ll know the situation with UK class marks, A2Cofc etc, and status of any Air 4 or even Mavic 5 pro. Worst case I replace early if regulations make it wise to.

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A sound plan Neil @nxsynjs :smiley:

image
:man_shrugging:

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Begs the question, what if your air3s is in the air videoing the new years fireworks.. :wink:

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Come midnight you can get closer to the action ;o)

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CAA, can’t agree anything

The BMFA appear to have included an article on the new rules in their November magazine (page 13) and it looks like certain parts of it are wrong, such as where you can fly sub-250g drones (as well as some of the spelling and punctuation):

The author seems convinced that, after 1 January 2026, he’ll have to fly his DJI Mini 2 in the A3 sub-category (or use the BMFA’s Article 16 authorisation).

It’s good to see that the largest model flying association in the UK is being careful not to add to the confusion…

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I’d rather read it from the horses mouth (CAA) than a member of a flying club.

You and me both but it rather concerns me that they’re sending out erroneous information to their more than 36,000 members.

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There is a thread on this on the official DJI Forum. Post #9 claims that the CAA are taking the European view and an EASA C0 Mini 5Pro will be classed as a UK0.

Good news if true, but the only report I’ve seen on it so far!

https://forum.dji.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=348167&extra=page%3D1%26filter%3Dtypeid%26typeid%3D915%26typeid%3D915

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Yes, it’s true, it was discussed here a while back when the CAA published their last update :slight_smile:

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In simple terms, my 5yr old brain can understand, what is going to change to flying my Mini 4 Pro come January?

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