Mallorca Spain: British man facing €30k fine after filming popular Correfoc event in Palma with unlicensed drone - what are the rules?
A British man is facing a €30k fine after filming a popular Mallorca event with a drone.
The 40-year-old Brit is facing a hefty fine after he filmed the popular Correfoc (festival of fire) event in Palma last month with an unlicensed drone in a restricted area. A police officer spotted the "drone pilot" close to the Paseo Mallorca in central Palma flying his drone over the Correfoc.
According to the Majorca Daily Bulletin, the officer asked the man to stop which he did and then he enquired whether he had a licence to film using the drone, which he allegedly didn´t. The officer then told the Brit that he was filming in a restricted area and therefore he could have broken data protection rules.
The British man protested his innocence but the officer told him that he faced a big fine. There are strict laws and regulations regarding the use of drones in Mallorca.
There is no longer a distinction between professional and recreational flying, so anyone who wants to fly drones in Spain must take into account the same considerations. Listed below are the general restrictions for flying drones in Spain:
There are also general flight limitations that apply to all of them. These are listed below:
- You must always fly the drone within visual range (VLOS), except if you are using ‘follow me’ mode or have a spotter, in which case you may make use of first-person view (FPV) devices.
- You may not exceed 120 metres above the surface.
- In the event of an encounter with a manned aircraft, you must reduce your altitude, perform evasive manoeuvres to avoid a possible collision and land the drone as soon as possible.
- The overflight of groups of people is not permitted.
- The transport of dangerous goods is strictly forbidden.