General Rules for Flying Drone in Estonia
Now that you know different conditions, you might be interested in knowing about the main terms and conditions imposed on drones by the Estonian government.
This is a guide for Estonian drone laws in 2023 (updated every year) where you'll get a clue about what you can or shouldn't do while flying and traveling through this country.
Drone use is legal in Estonia, however, it is subjected to heavy regulations. With more users embracing the use of drones in the country, headlines of drones disrupting flights in airports generated enough noise and suspicion to warrant policymakers to rein in on the industry. What this means is anyone flying a drone will be treated as a pilot.
Therefore, if you want to fly your drone in Estonia, no matter whether for recreational purposes or for business, you need to follow the rules and regulations otherwise you will end up getting yourself in trouble.
Drone laws and regulations are under the Estonian Civil Aviation Administration. They are responsible for the regulation and enforcement of unmanned aircraft.
You can get in touch with them through:
Lõõtsa 5, Ülemiste City 11415 Tallinn Estonia.
Phone +372 6103500
E-mail ecaa@ecaa.ee
The rules and regulations are quite clear and concise compared to many countries, and if you make sure to respect the following rules, you're good to go.
Any other rule I might have left out can be downloaded.
Rules I would recommend every drone pilot to follow regardless:
Now you must be thinking, with all these restrictions, you might be thinking about how to apply for a flight restriction waiver. The process is relatively simple, and you can find the application from the links below:
Apart from the above instructions, you should keep in mind that the application process should cost €45, and if granted the permit will last a year. This clearly means that if you want to fly your drone after one year you will have to follow the above-mentioned steps again.
Now that you know different conditions, you might be interested in knowing about the main terms and conditions imposed on drones by the Estonian government.
The following are some of the general rules that you should know about before flying a drone in Estonia:
So those were the main rules that you need to keep in mind every time you want to fly a commercial or a recreational drone inside the Estonian airspace.
According to the Estonian Civil Aviation Administration, there are three different categories of drones that you need to know about before flying one.
The following are the three different categories of drones:
This is the most basic category of drones, and it covers all the small drones that weigh less than 25 kg. If you want to fly a drone for recreational purposes, then this is the category that you need to go for.
You don’t need any special permission or license to fly a drone in this category. However, you still need to follow all the general rules and regulations that are mentioned above.
This category covers all the drones that weigh more than 25 kg. If you want to fly a drone for commercial purposes, then this is the category that you need to go for.
You will need to get a special permit from the Estonian Civil Aviation Administration to fly a drone in this category. Apart from that, you also need to follow all the general rules and regulations that are mentioned above.
This is the most advanced category of drones, and it covers all the drones that weigh more than 150 kg. If you want to fly a drone for industrial or military purposes, then this is the category that you need to go for.
You will need to get a special permit from the Estonian Civil Aviation Administration to fly a drone in this category. Apart from that, you also need to follow all the general rules and regulations that are mentioned above.
So those were the three different categories of drones that you need to know about before flying one in Estonia.
The next thing that you might be interested in knowing is the process of registering as a drone pilot or operator in Estonia.
As you may already know, according to the European Regulation (EU) 2019/947 All drone flyers must register themselves before taking off with their drones otherwise they will be violating the laws.
However, the process of registration is quite simple and you can do it in just a few steps.
The first step is to go to the website of the Estonian Civil Aviation Administration. Once you are on the website, you need to create an account by clicking on the “Register” button.
After that, you will be asked to fill in some personal details such as your name, address, email address, etc. Once you have filled in all the required details, you need to click on the “Submit” button.
After that, you will be asked to pay a registration fee of 45 euros. You can pay the fee through a credit card or a bank transfer. Once the payment is done, you will receive a confirmation email from the Estonian Civil Aviation Administration.
So that was the process of registering as a drone pilot or operator in Estonia.
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