Flying a drone near airports in United Arab Emirates

What the rules say

Each line is resolved from published facts of United Arab Emirates. "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 permissionYes
• Protected facilitiesNot resolved
• Digital authorisationNot resolved
• Altitude relationshipConditional
• ExceptionsNot resolved

The rules behind this answer

• Binding lawNational rule

  Airport and Helipad Clearance

  The UA pilot must stay clear of airports and helicopter landing pads.

  Open the requirementOfficial source
• Binding lawNational rule

  Airspace Approval Requirement

  The UA operator must obtain UA Airspace Approval prior to any UA operation, unless the flight is conducted within interior building space, exterior building airspace (within 10 meters of the facade or 5 meters above the roof outside airport boundaries), or an active Drone Fly Zone.

  Open the requirementOfficial source
• Binding lawNational rule

  Standard Airspace Approval Limitations

  Standard UA operations under an airspace approval must be conducted during daytime, under Visual Line of Sight (VLOS), at or below 400 feet AGL, with a maximum take-off mass of 25 kg, and without transporting dangerous goods.

  Open the requirementOfficial source

Official sources

• GCAA CAR-UAR Issue 04 — Unmanned Aircraft (UA) recreational flights — Dubai Civil Aviation AuthorityOpen
• GCAA CAR-UAD Issue 02 (corrected) — Unmanned Aircraft (UA) demonstration operations — Dubai Civil Aviation AuthorityOpen
• GCAA CAR-UAEX Issue 02 (corrected) — Unmanned Aircraft (UA) experimentation operations — Dubai Civil Aviation AuthorityOpen
• GCAA CAR-UAC Issue 02 — Unmanned Aircraft (UA) commercial and governmental operations — Dubai Civil Aviation AuthorityOpen

Known limitations

• 4 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 United Arab Emirates

• Do I need to register my drone in United Arab Emirates?Registration in United Arab Emirates depends on the aircraft and the operation: it applies once the published conditions below are met, each cited to the rule that sets it.
• What is the maximum drone altitude in United Arab Emirates?Drone flights in United Arab Emirates are held to a published general height limit of 121.92 m AGL. The limit is not absolute: the published conditions that change it are cited below.
• When does a drone operation need authorisation in United Arab Emirates?Whether an operation in United Arab Emirates 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 United Arab Emirates?Remote pilot competency in United Arab Emirates 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 United Arab Emirates?Yes. Published rules in United Arab Emirates require insurance cover for the operations covered here.

All drone laws in United Arab Emirates