Flying a drone over people in Germany

What the rules say

Each line is resolved from published facts of Germany. "Not resolved" means the corpus does not answer it in a machine-checkable way — never that the law is silent.

• PermittedConditional
• ProhibitedNot resolved
• Authorisation requiredConditional
• Separation distance100 mConditional
• Aircraft class conditionConditional
• Weight condition12 kgConditional
• Access controlConditional
• Uninvolved person definedConditional
• ExceptionsConditional

What changes the answer

• altitude

  Flight altitude at or above 100 m

• weight threshold

  Max mtom kg at or below 0.25 kg

• location

  Distance to residential below 1.5 km

• location

  Lateral distance at or below 100 m

• weight threshold

  Take-off mass above 12 kg

• weight threshold

  Propellant mass above 20 g

The rules behind this answer

• Binding lawNational rule

  Inadmissibility of Asserting Deductible Against Third-Party Claims

  The agreed deductible cannot be asserted as a defense against a third party's liability claim.

  Open the requirement
• Binding lawNational rule

  LuftVO § 21h - section overview

  This section outlines the specific conditions and exceptions under which UAS operations are permitted within various geographical zones in Germany, including airports, industrial sites, government buildings, federal infrastructure, nature reserves, residential properties, and emergency sites.

  Open the requirement
• Binding lawNational rule

  Permit Requirements for Heavy, Rocket, Combustion, or Night Operations

  Operating model aircraft within an association requires a permit if the aircraft exceeds 12 kg, uses rocket propulsion with more than 20 g of propellant, uses a combustion engine within 1.5 km of residential areas, or is operated at night.

  Open the requirement
• Binding lawNational rule

  UAS Operations Near Government, Diplomatic, and Security Facilities

  UAS operations over and within a lateral distance of 100 meters from federal or state constitutional bodies, supreme/upper federal or state authorities, diplomatic/consular missions, international organizations, or police/security agency properties are only permitted with the express consent of the competent authority or operator.

  Open the requirement
• Binding lawNational rule

  UAS Operations Near Hospitals

  UAS operations over and within a lateral distance of 100 meters from hospital boundaries are only permitted with the express consent of the hospital operator.

  Open the requirement
• Binding lawNational rule

  UAS Operations Near Industrial, Military, Energy, and Bio-Safety Facilities

  UAS operations over and within a lateral distance of 100 meters from industrial plants, correctional facilities, military installations, central energy generation/distribution facilities, and biosafety level 4 facilities are only permitted with the express consent of the competent authority or operator.

  Open the requirement
• Binding lawNational rule

  UAS Operations Over Residential Properties

  Operation of an unmanned aircraft over residential property is permitted only if: (a) the owner or other person entitled to use the affected property, whose rights are affected by the operation, has expressly consented to the overflight; or (b) the take-off mass of the unmanned aircraft is up to and including 0.25 kg and the unmanned aircraft and its equipment are incapable of optical and acoustic recording and transmission and incapable of recording or transmitting third parties' radio signals; or (c) the operation takes place at a flight altitude of at least 100 metres and all of the following cumulative conditions are met: (aa) use of the airspace over the affected residential property is necessary to fulfil a legitimate operating purpose, public areas or properties that are not residential property cannot be used for the overflight, and the consent under (a) cannot reasonably be obtained; (bb) all precautions are taken to avoid interference with the protected private sphere and the right to informational self-determination of the affected citizens, which includes in particular that affected persons are as a rule informed in advance; (cc) the operation does not take place between 22:00 and 06:00 local time; and (dd) the noise immission guide values under No. 6.1 of the Technical Instructions on Noise Abatement (TA Lärm) are not expected to be exceeded.

  Open the requirement
• Binding lawEU/EASA framework rule

  Article 6 - section overview

  This section defines the criteria for classifying UAS operations in the 'certified' category, which is based either on specific high-risk operational conditions (such as transporting people or flying over assemblies) or on a risk assessment by the competent authority.

  Open the requirementOfficial source

Official sources

• Luftverkehrs-Zulassungs-Ordnung (LuftVZO) — Landesluftfahrtbehoerden
• Luftverkehrs-Ordnung (LuftVO) — Landesluftfahrtbehoerden
• Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/947Open

Known limitations

• 1 dimension(s) of this topic are not expressed in a machine-resolvable way by the published corpus and are reported UNKNOWN, never FALSE.

Other drone rules in Germany

• Do I need to register my drone in Germany?Registration in Germany is governed by a published mass threshold of 0.25 kg, alongside the further conditions cited below. Whether it applies to a given flight depends on those conditions, each cited to its rule.
• What is the maximum drone altitude in Germany?Drone flights in Germany are held to a published general height limit of 120 m above_nearest_obstacle. The limit is not absolute: the published conditions that change it are cited below.
• Can I fly a drone near an airport in Germany?Drone flights near aerodromes in Germany are governed by airspace and aerodrome restrictions: whether permission is needed depends on the airspace, distance or aerodrome type published below.
• When does a drone operation need authorisation in Germany?Whether an operation in Germany needs prior authorisation depends on the operational category, risk class or location: the published triggers below decide it.
• What training do I need to fly a drone in Germany?Remote pilot competency in Germany scales with the operation: which training, examination or proof of competency applies is set by the published conditions below.
• Do I need drone insurance in Germany?Drone insurance in Germany is published with a minimum third-party cover of 0.75 million SDR. Whether cover is required for a given flight depends on the published conditions below.

All drone laws in Germany