Drones over residential areas, crowds and nature reserves: the rules at a glance

The neighbor’s garden, the town festival on the weekend, the moor behind the airfield: it is precisely the places that look appealing from above that are specially regulated for drones. In Germany, two sets of rules interlock here. The EU drone regulation determines how much distance you keep from people. The Air Traffic Regulations (Luftverkehrs-Ordnung, LuftVO) additionally define geographical areas in Section 21h – including residential properties, nature reserves and outdoor pools. This overview shows you what applies where, when consent is enough and why, for spotters, the drone stays in the backpack at many popular places.

The short answer

Over residential properties, you only fly a camera drone if the owner or resident has expressly agreed. Over crowds, you never fly in the open category – no matter how light the drone is. Over nature reserves, national parks and Habitats Directive (FFH) and bird protection areas, recreational flights without the consent of the nature conservation authority are ruled out, unless state law provides otherwise. Outdoor pools and bathing beaches are only free outside operating and bathing hours. And depending on the subcategory, you additionally have to keep distances to individual people and to built-up areas.

Two levels: EU rules and German geozones

EU Implementing Regulation 2019/947 divides drone operation into categories. Almost all hobby pilots fly in the open category with its subcategories A1, A2 and A3. These subcategories mainly govern how close you may get to people. Which subcategory applies to your drone depends on weight and class marking – the details are in the guide Drone classes C0 to C6.

On top of that, Germany adds a second level: Article 15 of the EU regulation allows member states to define geographical areas. Germany has done so in Section 21h(3) LuftVO with eleven types of areas. Residential properties are number 7, nature conservation areas number 6, outdoor pools and bathing beaches number 8. You’ll find an overview of all eleven areas and how to use the official map in the article Geozones and the dipul map.

What matters: both levels apply at the same time. Under EU law, a C0 drone may fly over individual people – but over a residential property it still needs consent under German law, because it has a camera.

Residential areas and residential properties

What Section 21h provides for residential properties

Under Section 21h(3) no. 7 LuftVO, operation over a residential property is only permitted in three cases:

1. With consent: The owner or another person entitled to use it, such as the tenant, has expressly agreed to the overflight.
2. With a harmless light device: The drone weighs at most 250 grams at takeoff and can neither record and transmit images or sounds nor record or relay third-party radio signals.
3. At a height of at least 100 meters – but only if all four conditions are met: the flight is necessary for a legitimate purpose, public or uninhabited areas can’t be used for it and obtaining consent can’t reasonably be expected; you take precautions against intrusions into privacy, for example by informing those affected in advance; you don’t fly between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.; and the noise guideline values of the TA Lärm (German noise-control regulation) are not expected to be exceeded.

For hobby flights with a camera drone, only variant 1 remains in practice. Variant 2 sounds like a free pass for mini drones, but it isn’t one: as soon as a camera is on board, it doesn’t apply. Variant 3 fits cases in which an overflight is unavoidable for a legitimate purpose – for a hobby photo of the sunset over the housing development, that can hardly be justified, especially since you can usually move to public areas instead.

Distance to residential areas in A3

Independent of the individual property, the EU regulation draws a second line in subcategory A3: if you fly there – for example with a legacy drone over 250 grams or a C3 or C4 drone – you keep at least 150 meters horizontal distance from residential, commercial, industrial and recreational areas. That simply rules out a flight within a town in A3. On top of that comes a horizontal minimum distance from individual uninvolved people: according to dipul, it is at least 30 meters, at least the flight height above ground and at least the distance the drone covers at maximum speed in two seconds – so the largest of these values is what counts.

In A1 and A2, there is no such blanket distance from settlements. There you may in principle also fly in built-up areas – as long as you keep the distances to people and don’t fly over residential properties without consent. Roads, public squares or fields on the edge of town are not residential properties, but can themselves be geozones, for example as a federal highway or railway facility.

Privacy: aviation law is only half the story

Even if a flight is permitted under aviation law, you may not record everything. If you film into other people’s gardens or windows, you affect the residents’ personality rights; when publishing, data protection and the right to one’s own image come into play. How to deal with recognizable people in photos is explained in the guide People in spotter photos. For drone footage this applies by analogy – with the difference that people often don’t notice a drone at all or don’t know who is flying it.

People and crowds

Uninvolved people

The EU rules distinguish between involved and uninvolved people. According to EASA’s explanations, someone is only involved if they have expressly agreed, know the pilot’s instructions and emergency measures and can keep the drone in view. Everyone else is uninvolved – walkers, bathers, spectators and even drivers who could be distracted by a low-flying drone. A notice on the ticket that drones are used at an event is not enough for consent.

Depending on the subcategory, this applies:

Subcategory	Typical drones	Handling of uninvolved people
A1 with C0 or legacy drone under 250 g	Mini drones	Overflight of individual people permitted, but avoid if possible
A1 with C1	Drones up to 900 g with C1 label	No planned overflight of uninvolved people; if it can’t be avoided, as short as possible
A2 with C2	Drones up to 4 kg with C2 label	No overflight, at least 30 m distance, 5 m in slow-flight mode
A3	C2, C3, C4, legacy drones up to 25 kg	No overflight, no uninvolved people in the flight area, 150 m from built-up areas

Which qualification you need for which subcategory is covered in the guides to the EU A1/A3 certificate of competency and the EU A2 remote pilot certificate.

What a crowd is

Over crowds, you may never fly in the open category. There is no minimum number of people. EASA looks at whether the people are so close together that they can no longer move freely out of the way of a falling or out-of-control drone. As typical examples it names:

• sporting, cultural, religious and political events
• beaches and parks on sunny days
• shopping streets during business hours
• ski areas, slopes and cross-country trails

For spotters, the transfer is obvious: an air day or an airshow is an event with a dense audience, and so is a full visitors’ hill on a summer Sunday. If you photograph there, you do it from the ground – tips are in the article Photographing airshows. At large events, time-limited flight restrictions published via NOTAM are often added; how to read them is covered in the guide Reading and understanding NOTAMs.

Nature reserves, national parks and Natura 2000

The rule from Section 21h no. 6

Over nature reserves, national parks as well as sites of community importance (FFH areas) and European bird protection areas, drone operation is only permitted if

• the responsible nature conservation authority has expressly agreed or
• state law regulates operation differently or
• – except over national parks – all of the following conditions are met: the flight is not for sport or recreation, takes place at more than 100 meters height, you know the protection purpose of the area and take it into account, and the overflight is unavoidable for the purpose.

For you as a hobby pilot, that means: the third variant drops out, because recreational flights are expressly excluded. Without the nature conservation authority’s consent or a deviating rule of the federal state, a hobby flight over such an area is not allowed. Over national parks, even the commercial route via the conditions is blocked.

Why so strict here?

Many birds perceive drones as a threat, similar to a bird of prey. Nesting or resting animals can take flight, abandon clutches or lose energy they urgently need in winter. That lawmakers and authorities take this seriously is also shown by Section 21h(5): the Federal Ministry of Transport and the Federal Environment Ministry regularly evaluate the rules on nature reserves and residential properties, among other things with regard to noise and disturbance and scare effects on animals.

For spotters, this is not an abstract topic. Many airports border wetlands, heaths or river floodplains that are protected – at some sites the protected area lies directly behind the fence. If you want to know more about animals and nature around the spotters’ hills, you’ll find notes in the article Nature at the airport’s edge. And on the ground, too, this applies: in nature reserves, the paths are often prescribed – more on this under Right of access to open countryside.

Outdoor pools, bathing beaches and other areas in everyday life

Number 8 of Section 21h is quickly explained: over outdoor pools, bathing beaches and similar facilities, you may only fly outside operating or bathing hours. An empty beach in February or early in the morning is therefore something different from a full swimming lake in July – and the full beach is a crowd under EASA’s reading anyway.

In everyday life, you also often stumble over these areas:

• Hospitals: 100 meters distance, unless the operator expressly agrees. Rescue helicopters approach low there.
• Accident and emergency sites: 100 meters distance, unless the incident command agrees. Gawking by drone obstructs rescue workers and can endanger helicopters.
• Federal highways, federal waterways and railway facilities: 100 meters distance, with exceptions, for example with consent or if the flight height always stays smaller than the lateral distance and the latter is more than 10 meters.
• Authorities, industrial and energy facilities: 100 meters distance, unless with express consent.

The full list with all eleven types of areas is in the guide Geozones and the dipul map.

And the mini drone under 250 grams?

Light drones enjoy some relaxations in the EU: in A1 they may fly over individual uninvolved people, and without a camera you don’t even need a competency certificate. For the areas discussed here, though, weight hardly helps:

• Crowds remain off limits.
• Residential properties still need consent for a camera drone, because the exception applies only to devices without recording and transmission functions.
• Nature reserves, national parks and pools are regulated regardless of weight.

What mini drones may and may not do otherwise is summarized in the article Drones under 250 grams. Incidentally, you also have to register as the operator of a camera drone under 250 grams – how that works is covered under Registering your drone.

Exceptions and permits

Most of the areas described here are not absolute bans. One route almost always leads through consent: from the property owner, from the operator of a facility or from the nature conservation authority. For nature reserves, an early inquiry with the lower nature conservation authority of the district is worthwhile; expect that breeding and resting seasons play a role and that consent is tied to conditions or refused.

If you can’t meet the conditions of an area, the locally responsible aviation authority of the federal state can, under Section 21i LuftVO, allow an exception in justified cases – provided flight safety and public safety are not endangered. Nature conservation law remains unaffected. Over crowds, by contrast, there is no route in the open category – the specific category with an operational authorization is intended for that, which hardly matters for hobby pilots.

Also keep the basics ready: drones of 250 grams and up and all camera drones need an operator registration, and in Germany, liability insurance is mandatory for every drone – details in the guide Drone insurance.

What violations risk

A violation of the LuftVO rules is an administrative offense under Section 58 LuftVG. The law allows fines of up to €50,000; how high a fine turns out in an individual case depends on the responsible authority and the circumstances. Further consequences can follow: claims for injunctive relief or damages from the neighbor, proceedings under data protection or nature conservation law and problems with the insurer if you deliberately violated conditions. It gets considerably more serious around airports and in flight restriction areas – more on this in the article Drones near airports.

Common mistakes

• “Under 250 grams I can do anything”: The weight limit exempts you neither from geozones nor from the ban on flying over crowds.
• “My garden, my rules”: You may fly over your own property, but as soon as the drone crosses the property line to the neighbor, you need his consent.
• “It’s only brief”: Even a short overflight of a festival or a full beach is an overflight.
• “The path is public”: A hiking trail through a nature reserve doesn’t change the fact that the airspace above it is protected.
• “The map shows nothing”: An empty query on the dipul map is not a permit, and no map shows crowds.

What this means for spotters

For plane spotters, the rules coincide at the most interesting places. At the Munich visitors’ hill or the Monkey Rock in Hamburg, you’re in the airport’s restricted area anyway; on nice weekends, the public is added, which can form a crowd. Around Munich Airport or Hamburg Airport, residential developments and in part protected areas also border the site. The drone is therefore better suited to landscape and travel pictures far from the airport. At the fence, the telephoto lens remains the tool of choice.

Conclusion

Over residential properties, people and protected areas, EU law and German geozones interlock. You fly over residential properties with a camera drone only with express consent, over crowds never, and nature reserves, national parks and FFH and bird protection areas are closed to recreational flights without the nature conservation authority’s consent. Outdoor pools and bathing beaches are only free outside bathing hours. Depending on the subcategory, distances to individual people are added and, in A3, the 150 meters to built-up areas.