International comparison of drone usage regulations

Abstract

Nowadays nobody gets surprised to see a picture on a social media taken on an event or of a nice nature scene from an interesting perspective taken with a drone. However, the increase in popularity and quantity of drones requires regulations. Not only because of dangerous situations generated by a drone flying in a wrong place in a wrong time (like in the vicinity of airports) but also because it raises serious questions around data protection and privacy. The subject of pilot-free flying vehicle is a very large one, thus in our paper we will study only the drones used for private, hobby and sport purposes, limited to remotely operated, weaponless flying vehicles equipped with a camera. First, we will review the regulations used in the European Union, with a focus on the Hungarian regulations, followed by regions the regulations of which differ from the ones used in the European Union, such as the United States of America, Australia, Thailand and Russia. The main guidelines for regulation comparisons will be the weight of the drones, flying height and distance, as well as specifications of forbidden areas. Finally, we will review countries in which the usage of drones in the airspace is completely forbidden.