Too bad in most parts of the EU is illegal to fly drones. You can do it if you are far from populated areas but you need to go trough a complicated bureaucracy and obtain a permit before each flight.
This is not true as a blanket statement unless you are talking about commercial flying, large drones or restricted airspace. I'm not sure what country you are referring to but I haven't personally come across one that requires a per flight permit outside of higher risk commercial operations. Most EU countries are pretty harmonised on drone rules at this point.
Sub 250g drones such as the DJI Mini series and the Autel Nano will give you the most flexibility in places you can fly legally.
> I haven't personally come across one that requires a per flight permit outside of higher risk commercial operations
Portugal requires approval from the coast guard if your planned flight is within certain distance from a beach/the sea, which is quite easy in a coastal and islands country.
I don't read Portuguese but there's nothing specifically regarding beaches in their courtesy translation [1] beyond avoiding areas next to SAR helicopter bases (which is fair enough) and there's nothing on their UAS restrictions map [2] that would be unusual in any other EU country.
I have flown (below 120m obviously) in Portugal near the beach with a <250g drone after checking their UAS map so it would be good to know what I missed? Possibly you are referring to some additional local restrictions?
Hm, can't find anything about it now, but it was the case in 2021, at least for the Azores. If memory serves me right I even had to send some signed papers via the post because their online portal wasn't ready yet (which it seems to be).
I am a registered pilot. Had to do an online course and learn about restrictions, took an hour and was free and is valid across most countries in EU. Most stupid restriction is that for FPV, a spotter is required. But if I stay away from people/buildings I am permitted to fly up to IIRC 6kg drones
Is being in the vicinity of roads okay? And what does "stay away" mean, just not fly up to or over them, or maintain hundreds of metres distance?
I remember the Dutch laws said, before European alignment in 2020: 150 meters from any uninvolved person, any road, or any building. Since fields generally have less than 300 meters between two roads, that means you can try to fly between trees in some forest (somehow making sure there's not a person in a 300 meter diameter from the quadcopter) or inside your own four walls. It was essentially banned outright. Not to mention that a large percentage (majority?) of the population lives inside of airport no fly zones because there's smallish airports sprinkled everywhere, but that's understandable even if the omission of a height restriction is a bit silly (if you would be allowed to stay below the height of a large flat and are several km from the airport, any plane would be striking buildings sooner than your device... but people are stupid and we probably need this hard rule with safety margin)
I think the location rules are more relaxed now but I don't know them by heart anymore. Stopped taking them seriously during the total prohibition period. If it is now only about people and buildings (and perhaps highways or such), the location rules are making more sense at least.
If I recall correctly, the wording is "people and structures". If you want to fly close-by (10m or so) buildings and people, you can file for a special class/permit which requires an in-person exam. I might do that at some point, but haven't yet. Otherwise it's about what you said, couple hundred meters.
A 5" fpv quadcopter is already terribly dangerous, it happily pulls up to 50A, goes above 100km/h easily, and the rotors shred through flesh like butter, so it makes sense to at least regulate it somewhat. When I started, I had drones fall out of the sky because my battery connection was not firm enough and while I have by now quite some confidence in my soldering and building abilities, that's always something that can happen, so I naturally stay away from roads, regardless the rules.
For flying 5" drones, I usually take a trip to the country side where there's plenty of space. It's already stressful enough, and that way you can enjoy your flights much more without endangering people. Nobody ever asked for my permit, though, and nobody ever measured my signal strength and asked whether I have the required HAM license (which is far more involved getting). I don't fly in densely populated areas, at least not with my bigger drones. Sub-250g drones are barely regulated, and while they can hurt as well, the risk of serious injury is quite low - so you can try tinywhoops (which come even under 50g)
It's crazy how the US is almost the opposite. Flying in populated areas is permitted with some restrictions (airports, ports, defense) but flying over unpopulated national parks or BLM land is illegal or restricted.
That's not true at all. You can fly in many places in the EU without any permit, esp. for sub-250g drones. You can't fly over groups of people (isolated people is ok), over towns and near airports and airfields. (And yes, it can be annoying if you live in a big city center.)
For FPV flying it's a little bit different. In theory, it requires to have a "spotter" who will watch the drone when you fly, and the same other rules apply. But if you're flying in your backyard, close to the ground, or indoors, nobody will notice or care.
Not sure for FPV (don't own one), but it's quite trivial to get an operator license/registration, and you don't even need one for a certain smaller / more toy-like class of devices.
And this covers most parts of EU.
For 99% of flights you also don't need any per-flight "bureucracy".
There are some limitations, like X height in city, not above crowds, no "no-go" zones, but totally not "illegal to fly in most parts of EU".
In france, Drone less than 250gr are legal without any documentation in autorized places (or more exctely where it's not forbidden) but you need to be able to see the drone. So FPV is legal as long as the drone isn't too far.
The line of sight requirement prohibits FPV altogether, unless you have someone else maintaining the line of sight requirement for you
You're not looking at the drone when you're looking at your goggles, or at least that's how Dutch laws were explained when I last looked into them, and nowadays they're aligned in the EU or maybe EEA (edit: looked it up, it's still like this but I think what changed is that your spotter can be the line of sight fulfiller and they needn't be able to pilot the device, they just need to be able to tell you of danger nearby)
The list of authorized places is a very arbitrary. With my DJI I can take off in half of my garden, but the other half is not authorized. Apparently it falls in a nature reserve, but actually the entire reserve is in a residential area with no other restrictions.
To have line-of-sight. Actually being able to see the drove is usually not possible - seeing a small drone at 40m high is near impossible after a couple hundrend meters away, especially as it moves.
Of course nobody actually tries to be able to really see the drone.
the law translated by deepl is more strict than in my memory:
> The drone must be visible to the naked eye and remain within the pilot's field of vision. Immersion flights (FPV) and the use of follower drones are possible, provided a second person is present.
Sub 250g drones such as the DJI Mini series and the Autel Nano will give you the most flexibility in places you can fly legally.