Flying a drone near airports in Portugal

What the rules say

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

• Distance restrictionNot resolved
• Aerodrome permissionConditional
• Controlled airspace permissionNo
• Protected facilitiesConditional
• Digital authorisationNot resolved
• Altitude relationshipConditional
• ExceptionsNo

What changes the answer

The published rules distinguish the open category of operation.

The rules behind this answer

• Binding lawNational rule

  Altitude Limits in Airport Protection Zone - Area 1

  In Area 1 of airport protection zones, RPA flights are limited to 30 meters above the surface, or up to the maximum height of an obstacle within a 75-meter radius if the obstacle is taller than 30 meters, unless authorized by ANAC.

  Open the requirementOfficial source
• Binding lawNational rule

  Altitude Limits in Airport Protection Zone - Area 2

  In Area 2 of airport protection zones, RPA flights are limited to 60 meters above the surface, or up to the maximum height of an obstacle within a 75-meter radius if the obstacle is taller than 60 meters, unless authorized by ANAC.

  Open the requirementOfficial source
• Binding lawNational rule

  Altitude Limits in Airport Protection Zone - Area 3

  In Area 3 of airport protection zones, RPA flights are limited to 80 meters above the surface, or up to the maximum height of an obstacle within a 75-meter radius if the obstacle is taller than 80 meters, unless authorized by ANAC.

  Open the requirementOfficial source
• Binding lawNational rule

  Altitude telemetry in CTR

  RPAs flying inside a CTR must have real-time altitude telemetry, or otherwise be restricted to flying below the height of the nearest natural or artificial obstacle within a 75-meter radius.

  Open the requirementOfficial source
• Binding lawNational rule

  Cascais Airport Protection Area 2 Altitude Limit

  In Cascais Airport Protection Area 2, RPA flights are limited to 60 meters above the surface, or up to the height of obstacles within a 75-meter radius if they exceed 60 meters, unless authorized by ANAC.

  Open the requirementOfficial source
• Binding lawNational rule

  Faro Airport Prohibited Area

  RPA flights are prohibited inside the Faro Airport Prohibited Area, except under the conditions specified in Article 11(2).

  Open the requirementOfficial source
• Binding lawNational rule

  Faro Airport Protection Area 1 Altitude Limit

  In Faro Airport Protection Area 1, RPA flights are limited to 30 meters above the surface, or up to the height of obstacles within a 75-meter radius if they exceed 30 meters, unless authorized by ANAC.

  Open the requirementOfficial source
• Binding lawNational rule

  Faro Airport Protection Area 2 Altitude Limit

  In Faro Airport Protection Area 2, RPA flights are limited to 60 meters above the surface, or up to the height of obstacles within a 75-meter radius if they exceed 60 meters, unless authorized by ANAC.

  Open the requirementOfficial source

Official sources

• Regulamento n.º 1093/2016 (ANAC) — condições de operação de aeronaves civis pilotadas remotamente (vigência condicionada: artigos 5.º a 7.º e 11.º relativos a zonas geográficas) — Autoridade Nacional da Aviação CivilOpen

Known limitations

• Binding law and official guidance disagree on airport_airspace.controlled_airspace_permission; the binding position is published.
• 2 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 Portugal

• Do I need to register my drone in Portugal?Registration in Portugal 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.
• Do I need Remote ID in Portugal?Remote identification in Portugal is framed by a published mass threshold of 25 kg, together with the aircraft and operation conditions cited below. Whether a given flight must carry or broadcast an electronic identity depends on those conditions.
• What is the maximum drone altitude in Portugal?Drone flights in Portugal 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.
• When does a drone operation need authorisation in Portugal?Whether an operation in Portugal 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 Portugal?Remote pilot competency in Portugal 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 Portugal?Drone insurance in Portugal 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 Portugal