What are the laws & regulations concerning small photography drones (e.g. Mavic Pro) in Taiwan?
I read that basically, <15kg drones are regulated by local governments. I could find zero information on such regulations though. So what does that mean now?
Also, what are some places where drone flying is prohibited (preferably with sources if you have them)? I suppose anything military & government & airport. But apart from that? What about 101? The city where lots of people are? Any rules here?
I cannot remember where I read this, but i think drones are limited to parks and open areas and cannot be flown after dark.
Oh wow, that I have not found in any of the online sources I searched. If you think of where you read that, that’d be great.
So I just found these:
台北市「目前未有」設立規模禁飛無人機的地區，但空拍機用家務必留意，仍會受其他法令限制，部分地區其實並不容許放飛無人機
https://www.dronesplayer.com/41285/台北市無人機法案-2016-年底出爐-專管-15-公斤以下飛行器/
Meaning currently Taipei City has no places specifically forbidden for drones yet (as I mentioned above, <15kg are governed by local governments). But there are plans to do so before the end of 2016 (for 101 new years firework mostly). Also, there may be other laws that prevent you from flying some places, like anywhere in the Songshan airport range >60m (which includes the 101), or YangMing Shan (National Security Agency of Taiwan operates there).
There’s a great map here, and a list of five currently forbidden places:
https://www.dronesplayer.com/41285/台北市無人機法案-2016-年底出爐-專管-15-公斤以下飛行器/
Here the pink area is an absolute no-fly, while the yellow area is regulated to flying <60m high (which is not very high, and sucks because it just include NTU campus).
Taipei 101 is forbidden, even though it’s in the <60m zone. So sad… Apparently there have been multiple people crashing their drones into 101. The article says the situation was thus “slightly undecided”. Apparently someone from the CAA stated that >60m is forbidden, and they “hope that ppl flying <60m apply for a permit first”. Make of that what you will.
An area centered at the presidential palace. Sadly, this include the train station, Jiang’s memorial hall and the 228 park.
Yangming Shan National Park, as mentioned above. What a disappointment.
Nuclear Power Stations. Potentially not including the fourth, which is not active (might be an interesting location?)
Any Military stuff.
Hope it helps others. The site may be the goto place for drone infos in Taiwan – but in Chinese.
Might have been this
Yea I read that too, but it was all very vague, except for
As an example, Lin said that drone operators would have to apply for
permission from the CAA if a flight was to take place at night or near
an airport. Should a flight take place above a crowd during a
demonstration or rally, drone operators must secure permission from the
local administration, he said.
Seems to be just fine to fly in a city park, maybe not too close to buildings.
Have you bought the drone yet? I am considering the Mavic or the Karma, but will wait for more reviews on Youtube first. I think DJI is a bit ahead in terms of features, though the footage I have seen so far are quite soft compared to the Phantom IV.
I have not – they start shipping mid October. If you saw e.g. Casey Neistat’s comparison, he failed to focus the camera of the drone (tap to focus). I think many people forgot that for their first reviews. When in focus, it seems to look slightly less sharp but very similar to the Phantom 4 (it’s the same sensor). I also LOVE the colors it gives.
So while the Hero 5 Black may (or may not) be slightly better as a camera, the Mavic is clearly the superior drone (about 1/4th of the size, 3/4 the weight, made by THE drone manufacturer as opposed to a newcomer). For me, Mavic vs Karma is really a no-brainer.
I found this review very informative:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrIv-i9qpFA
EDIT:
Also this guy. Amazing footage – as good as it gets imho.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7V5K_-0Un4
Also, the little Karma footage I have seen was very poor; not sure why.
Only real great pro for the Karma seems to be the handheld gimble.
Yeah, I thought that is a neat feature, but the new GoPros have image stabilization built in, so not sure how much better footage will look on that gimble. The Mavic also has better battery life and better crash avoidance features, I think. I am definitely leaning toward the Mavic that’s for sure.
As to the regulations, I will wait and see what the laws are at the end of the year. My guess is that you get away with a lot (this is Taiwan after all). No one will chase you around, when spotting a drone in a no-fly zone, unless it’s directly above a military site or an airport. If you crash the drone, however, and someone gets hurt or sues you for damaging property or invading privacy, that’s when you could get in real trouble.
No drone within 5km (maybe 1.5km) around any airport. That is what DJI salesperson told me.
Just yesterday I went to the park across the street with my two year old daughter. A man was sitting in the middle of the play area operating a drone. He had it hovering at about 2 meters and the children made a circle around the guy and the drone. The 40+ year old man was instructing two and three year olds (there were probably 12 kids around) to keep away !!!
My girl was safely away playing on the slide but I still made the guy stop flying the thing. He got all huffy and even in my face. He told me to call the police but I didn’t because in the 30 minutes we remained in the park he didn’t fly.
The guy looked like a novice but even with experience you can’t control the mechanics, technology, or wind.
If you injure my child a lawsuit is going to be the least of your immediate worries.
If you fly a drone around my daughter you can expect a confrontation.
I doubt anyone in their right mind would fly a drone – particularly one that relies on purely manual control and hence might get out of control – in the immediate vicinity of people – especially children, except they know exactly what they are doing (say, they want to film their kid). The higher end drones, like the Mavic, automatically adjust for wind, and can stay stable in very strong winds and gusts.
Btw, that guy does not seem to know that, but just seems to be trying his toy, in an entirely inappropriate place (“play area”).
That drone looks like it’s going to crash soon after take-off…
I read my post again. This was the park just outside of my child’s school. It is a city park open to the public.
Hi, do you have any update on the drone rules in Taiwan? I can’t find anything on the internet right now. I bought a DJI Mavic and not sure about the rules.
By the way, if you guys want to drone together in Taipei, I’m open to that.
Just what I researched last time and wrote above. Seemed detailed enough for me to be comfortable. Where did you get the Mavic? On the DJI site or at a retailer? Still not sure where to get mine. (Busy atm anyways though.)
Sorry to report that in early April 2016, another guy and I were told to stop flying (DJI Phantom 3) drones over DaHu Park in Neihu. Some park official came running over to let us know that it was forbidden. “Didn’t you see the sign by the entrance?” he said. “Actually, our drones are over the lake, but we did not go through the entrance,” I said, which was true; we were beside the park, but not in the park. But our drones were over DaHu lake, which must count as park. We promised not to do it again.
DJI retailer Coolfly sells the occasional Mavic. Nanjing W. Rd. No. 460. www.coolfly.tw Coolfly Mr Dong3 also has a table at GuangHua ShangChang, in the alley between BaDe Rd. and the new GuangHua building. I think he runs the table on weekends.
As of today, 30/6/2017 the Taiwan CA are reviewing drone rules, you can see the news story in the Taipei Times, it’s an online news
CA A, sorry