Madrid, 07 August 2024 (EASA)

On Tuesday 25 June 2024, Royal Decree 517/2024 implementing the legal regime for the civilian use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) entered into force. That Royal Decree UAS entails, inter alia, the definition of new geographical areas of UAS, which correspond to volumes of airspace in which UAS operations may be permitted, restricted or excluded for reasons of public security, protection of infrastructure and other airspace users, protection of privacy and the environment.

The geographical areas of UAS that establish the conditions of use of airspace and the requirements for additional equipment have been established in Chapter V of Royal Decree 517/2024, where recreational and professional activities are equated, unifying the requirements and limitations for all UAS operators, regardless of whether the activity is EASA or Non-EASA. For non-EASA activities, a number of exceptions are provided for in certain cases.

All information is available in the UAS Geographic Areas section of the AESA website.

The types of UAS geographical areas are divided into general and particular:

• General UAS geographical areas. These are areas established through the corresponding national regulations, which establish the limitations and operational conditions for each of them. These include areas such as:
   
  • Prohibited, restricted and associated with the management of the flexible use of airspace, defined in Royal Decree 1180/2018;

    These areas include prohibited and restricted zones for defence (defined in ENR 5.1 of the AIP), restricted zones for environmental protection (defined in Article 19(2) and (3) of Royal Decree 1180/2018), restricted zones for photographic flight ZRVF (defined in ENR 5.7 of the AIP) and airspace structures associated with the management of flexible use of airspace (defined in Article 17 of Royal Decree 1180/2018). 

    Prior coordination with the relevant manager is necessary in these areas.
     

  • For reasons of military security, national defence and State security;

    These areas are defined in Article 38 of Royal Decree 517/2024.
    Activities with UAS within these areas can
    only be carried out with the prior and express permission of the owner or the responsible manager.
     

  • For the protection of facilities and infrastructure providing essential services to the community;

    These areas are defined in Article 39 of Royal Decree 517/2024. In general, when these infrastructures are linear, a protection volume of 25 horizontal meters and 50 meters high above the highest obstacle is defined. When it comes to non-linear infrastructure, the protection volume extends horizontally up to 10 meters in any direction and 50 meters high above the highest obstacle. Activities with UAS within these areas can

    only be carried out with the prior and express permission of the owner or the responsible manager. For more information, please refer to section 2.3 of the UAS Geographical Areas Guide.
     

  • For reasons of citizen security and the protection of people and property in urban environments;

    These areas are defined in Article 40 of Royal Decree 517/2024 and are applicable only for EASA activities.

    According to point 3 of Article 40 of this Royal Decree, all activities with UAS, regardless of the operational category, must be communicated to the Ministry of the Interior 5 days in advance. In addition, activities with open-category UAS must apply for a building overflight permit from building owners and in some cases, depending on the relevant subcategory, respect a minimum horizontal distance from buildings. For more information, please refer to section 2.4 of the UAS Geographical Areas Guide.
     

  • For reasons of safety in the environment of aerodromes or heliports, civilian or military;

    These areas are defined in Article 41 of Royal Decree 517/2024 and are applicable to all activities with UAS.

    In these areas, the operation of UAS is prohibited, unless, through the coordination operational procedures between the UAS operator and the aerodrome or heliport manager, it is agreed to carry out UAS operations in these areas in accordance with the provisions of the coordination procedures. For more information, see Section 2.5 of the UAS Geographical Areas Guide.
     

  • For safety in controlled airspace and flight information zones (FIZ).

    Operations may not be carried out in these areas unless the VLOS operating conditions, maximum height 60 metres AGL and outside geographical areas are met for safety reasons in the environment of aerodromes or heliports (in this case, these operations are exempted from the submission of a flight plan (FPL) and from prior air traffic control (ATC) authorisation or communication to aerodrome flight information personnel (AFIS)); or that the security of the operation is ensured through a coordination procedure established with the relevant ATS provider (Operational Risk Assessment and Mitigation (EARO) or similar), and the operation complies with that established through that operational procedure. In the latter case, a flight plan must be submitted unless the provider does not consider it in the operational coordination procedure.

    For more information, see Section 2.5 of the UAS Geographical Areas Guide.
     

• Geographical areas of particular UAS. These are areas, approved by the Interministerial Commission between Defence and Transport (CIDETRA), for reasons of general interest and on a permanent basis, although their activation may be temporary, provided that the reasons for their establishment are not satisfied through a general UAS geographical area.

Detailed information on flight requirements and limitations in each of these UAS geographical areas is provided in the Guide to UAS Flight Requirements and Limitations by Location of Operation (UAS Geographical Areas).

ENAIRE, makes available to UAS users the ENAIRE Drones web application (also available for Android and iOS mobile devices). This application presents, on the map of Spain, the geographical areas of UAS and the prohibitions and limitations of flight to UAS.

On June 26, the Spanish Aviation Safety Agency (AESA), in collaboration with the DGAC, in its commitment to public service, held the first information day for EASA Operators. In it, the main changes produced with the entry into force of the new Royal Decree UAS were detailed, in addition to resolving the main doubts of the attendees. For all those people who want to revisit the day, it is available through the AESA YouTube channel, at the following link.