In our productions, we often use aerial shots to add variety to the frames and add a new perspective to the film production in progress. Drones are the future. They are used in many areas of life starting from the military, agriculture, transportation or finally in the film industry. Aerial shots are a new perspective of film shots. It’s a new perspective on the frame, a new look at a building, beach, city, mountains or landscape in general. Showing a new perspective is very impressive and appealing to the eye. An example is our recent showreel of aerial shots:

In order for these types of shots to be created, one must ask oneself at the outset.

When can you fly a drone?

If you fly a drone for fun or during a sports competition then you can take flights:

• without a UAVO qualification certificate
• within visual range VLOS
• without aero-medical examination

However, it is important to remember that when flying you are responsible for exercising extreme caution for the sake of air traffic safety and public peace and order.
Another important point is to fly only equipment that is technically sound. Only the operator is responsible for the safe and lawful use of the drone.

Flight rules.

Currently, if the weight of your drone does not exceed 600 g, keep a safe distance from the development of villages, cities, settlements or from outdoor gatherings of people and people, vehicles, construction objects that are not under your control. If the weight of your drone exceeds 600 g you should follow the following rules:

keep a horizontal distance of not less than 100 m from the buildings of towns, cities, settlements or from gatherings of people in the open air (you can fly in the city if you find enough free space);
maintain a horizontal distance of not less than 30 m from people, vehicles or buildings not under your control (you should not fly directly over people).

Regardless of the weight of the drone, you should also maintain visual contact with the drone so that you can easily determine its position in the air and, if necessary, avoid colliding with other airspace users or obstacles (you may temporarily lose visual contact with the drone when checking the flight parameters transmitted by the devices that are equipped with the drone).

By the way, in terms of weight, the drone is a great companion on vacation trips. It is worth having it with you at all times to capture breathtaking corners of the world. Then it is worth getting equipment with a good-quality camera built into a fairly small and portable body like the DJI MAVIC 2 PRO. Below is a sample travel video from Norway.

Where can’t you fly a drone?

Remember that there are also places in Polish airspace where you can’t fly for safety reasons, or you have to get special permission to fly in a particular zone.

• Airports, training grounds and military units – you may not fly over these objects
• Zone P – (Prohibited Area) – you can fly in Zone P only with the permission of the manager of the facility covered by the zone and under the conditions specified by him;
• CTR Zone – (Control Zone) – controlled zone of an airport and ATZ Zone – (Aerodrome Traffic Zone) – airport traffic zone – in CTR and ATZ zones you may fly only under the conditions specified by the air traffic service provider or with the consent of the manager of the facility covered by the zone and under the conditions specified by him; and

In the CTR zone, you do not need approval in the case of:

• Performing VLOS line-of-sight flights with drones weighing no more than 25 kg at a distance greater than 6 km from the airport boundary and up to an altitude of no more than 100 m above ground level;
• Performing VLOS line-of-sight flights with drones weighing less than 600 g at a distance of more than 1 km from the airport boundary and no higher than 30 m or up to the height of the highest obstacle, including trees or buildings, within a radius of up to 100 m from you;

More zones with restrictions:

• Zone D – (Danger Area) – you may fly in Zone D only with the permission of the zone manager
• Zone MCTR – (Military Control Area) – controlled zone of a military airport – in this zone you can fly only with the permission of the zone manager
• Zone MATZ – (Military Aerodrome Traffic Zone) – military aerodrome traffic zone – in this zone you can fly only with the permission of the zone manager
• Zone R – (Restricted Area) – restricted zone is a zone covering the airspace located directly over the area of a national park, in this zone you fly with the consent of the manager of a given national park and under the conditions specified by him
• ADIZ zone – (Air Defense Identification Zone) – this zone is located along the entire, eastern border of Poland. You may fly in this zone after informing the air traffic service (ATS) – (Air Traffic Services) authority responsible for the space in which the flight is to be performed, or AMC Poland (Airspace Management Cell – Airspace Management Center at the Polish Air Navigation Services Agency) about the location and time of the flights;