To fly as safely as possible – Air Safety

In aviation, situational awareness (SA) is often discussed. Situational awareness refers to the pilot (in your case, the remote pilot) being in control of the entire situation – the flight, the aircraft, the surroundings, the airspace, etcetera. You must be able to understand what happens during the flight and what may affect it: other pilots, weather conditions, the drone’s and the remote pilot’s limitations, etcetera. The better the situational awareness, the safer the flight.

Taking the environment into account

You are not allowed to fly your drone as you please. There are many areas and airspaces that are closed, either during certain periods or constantly. You may be able to unlock some of them through the use of an app or via air traffic control towers, while some of them will always stay closed.

It is important that you are very familiar with the environment and the route in order for the flight to be as safe as possible. Don’t forget to notify people nearby that the flight will happen.

You can read more about this in Section 5: Operational procedures.

Be healthy and focused

As a remote pilot, you must be sober and well-rested. Drinking alcohol or using drugs or medications that may affect your performance during flight, is prohibited. It is important that you understand how external and internal factors may affect you and your ability. You can read more about this in Section 4: Human performance limitations.

Always fly within your visual line of sight (VLOS, Visual Line Of Sight)

One concept that you may come across when flying drones is visual line of sight (VLOS) . In addition to being able to see your drone while flying, keeping the drone within your visual line of sight means that you must also keep a safe distance to people, animals, buildings, vehicles and other aircraft. You are never allowed to fly higher than 120 metres.

Don’t carry dangerous substances, gases or liquids as payload

In the context of drone flight, you may also come across the concept of dangerous goods. This refers to such objects or substances carried by the drone, which could be dangerous in case of a crash or an accident. Flying with dangerous goods without a permit is prohibited. Explosive, flammable, toxic, radioactive, corrosive or contagious substances, gases or liquids are all examples of dangerous goods.