James D J I Posted at 2018-4-29 21:06
Hi i need a bit of help

i sent my application off in February as at the time web was saying 12 weeks to register

have you tried calling the CAAT to confirm or check with them?

Hi ye i called them 4 times sent the whole pack off 3 times and still got no joy

So i took a risk and took my Drone with me with all the paperwork

Hi ye i called them 4 times sent the whole pack off 3 times and still got no joy

So i took a risk and took my Drone with me with all the paperwork

i went straight to the N B T A office in Bangkok and registered my drone all in all it took 4 hours with the Travelling i had to do due to not having the right information and not having the right photos of my drone

too make things longer they now have new Paper work so any thing you find on internet may be wrong  and they will not accept the old paperwork you have to complete the same thing on new forum

i tried 4 time to post and just get a message saying inappropriate so i gave up

Just back from Thailand and here's my thought's about all this drone thingy in Thailand.

1. I did get drone insurance for 2000 bath, fee included sending all information required to the CAAT and NBTA. So far after 45 days, there is not even confirmation letter about documents being received ( though I have sent them my self also, just in case)
2. I did try to register it in local Krabi town police station. I took all documents, pictures and went through 3 police stations and only in the last one they knew something about it. But the officer who can do that was on holidays so they asked me to come back after 1 week I have also used my taxi driver to communicate with police since he was very good in English.

So with all above said I did fly the drone without registration. And there was not a problem at all. But what is a problem that even if you will get registration in place, you will not be able to fly it in most beautiful island around Krabi such as Phi Phi or Monkey beach or others. Nor you will fly it around island located outside Koh Samui. Because they all are in the National park and on every single island you will see a big sign "No drones" and fine 1000-2000 bath. So the whole registration purpose losing its point. Since you can fly from you hotel backyard without problems to take the pictures of your location surroundings, but not where you were intended to use it most.
However, I did manage to take nice pictures and video around all those mentioned places. We have hired a private longtail boat and other few days private speedboat. Then we either were stopping on wild small beaches close to those beautiful islands, or I was flying it from the boat. Which is a nightmare when it comes to landing if you add wind and waves to the picture

Bottom line - I think I just wasted 2000 bath for drone insurance that was absolutely unnecessary in my experience.

Thailand registration stalled to basically not being bothered.  I had my stuff submitted for 7 months (even legit work permits etc to back it up), never heard anything back, after lots of chasing eventually someone admitted they're swamped and basically the whole system ground to a halt.

That said the above post is nonsense.  There are plenty of places to fly, most of the country in fact. Like most countries they have laws about flying the things in built up areas and not flying near to or overflying large crowds or congested areas.  The tourist traps of phi phi, krabi and so on as well as being built up areas also have several thousand people on the beaches at the same time so of course its not allowed.  Most countries ban overflying large crowds for good safety reasons.
The good news is there are several thousand other islands and coastline that look just the same where its perfectly legal to fly.
National parks drones are banned (just like the US).  Some of it is fairly pointless as its uninhabited jungle and a lot of the smaller park areas (james bond island with 1000 people on a rock 100m across or similans with 5000 people crammed onto 2 x 100m beaches on 2 small islands for example) would fall under crowds and congested places anyway.  The good news again is most of thailand is mountainous jungle and rain forest.  You can quite legally stop near to the park or in fact, pretty much on any rural road and have exactly the same scenery and fly completely legally.  It takes 2 mins more effort than being lazy and just flying it from the car park.

Yes you also cant fly over prisons, royal palaces, military bases and government buildings but pretty much all countries ban that.  Luckily they make up a tiny, insignificant proportion of the land area.

I'm not against the bans on the main tourist traps.  They're already massively overcrowded to the extent you cant even sit on some beaches as they're full.  The carnage and safety issues of tens of drones buzzing overhead, possibly flown by idiots along with the noise just wouldn't be sensible.

A lot of the "i cant fly anywhere" posts seem to be people after instant gratification for zero effort.  They dont want to make the effort to walk, hike or even drive a few mins away from where they happen to be in order to fly.  They just want it *now*, where they are, with zero exertion.

As far as using a longtail and speedboat, they're easy drone platforms to fly from.  If you hand launch and hand catch the mavic they're about the best platform you can use to get to an area where you want to fly.  Its only a nightmare if you lack hands or arms.  This is how i'd recommend most people do it in the areas - long tails are generally cheap to charter (1400 baht) so divide that between a few of you and its nothing.  The boat will then take you where you want to go, allow you to fly provided you aren't overflying the banned crowded areas and wait as long as you need.

Thailand ranks as probably the most scenic and open place ive been able to fly my mavic so far but the registration system currently is in chaos and basically isn't happening.

Aren't you captain obvious? Which part of my post had you titled? I posted about natural tourist places and drones restrictions in there. I do have no doubt that you can fly a drone in Thailand in the middle of nowhere. Thought I have serious doubt about legitimacy of your statements. As you mentioned 1400 bath chartered long-tail boat? You must be very thought negotiator. The cheapest we got was for 2500 bath for 6 persons. And with long tail boat you only go around the islands that is close to the main land. And most of them are in National park area.
With all that said your post is something mix of decent information and bs.

"Middle of nowhere" you mean 200m or so away from where you're moaning you cant fly.  Thats the middle of nowhere?  Really?  Make the effort and spend 10 mins walking or driving then magically the whole country opens up for you.  Stop being lazy.  Quite clearly you didn't bother making any effort to actually move outside the prescribed tours.
1400 baht for a long tail is the stated price at the national parks.  If you got charged 2500 you got utterly ripped off id guess by not doing research or just driving to the first pier you saw and taking the first price quoted.  Is even listed on the NP websites for Phang Nga and Khao Sok !
The islands are in the national park, in most areas including the one you mentioned, the ocean ISNT so perfectly legit to fly from a boat providing you dont contravene the rules over the islands or crowds.
Again it seems you just did no research at all then moaned about not being able to do what you want without making the slightest effort to actually do this.
NP maps and boundaries are online.  Charter boat prices are available online.  The various pier locations are available online.  Scooter rental is $5 a day or car rental $25 a day.  This stuff is easy with minimal effort.

Not being able to fly from main overcrowded tourist beaches isnt a Thailand thing, most countries have rules about congested area flying.

travelrikk Posted at 2018-1-26 10:22
I managed to apply for a permit and also got drone insurance for about 150-200e, permit valid for 2 years and insurance 1 year. This way I'm able to fly legally wherever it's possible. Met a lot of people who fly without a permit but I wouldn't risk it personally as there are park rangers on watch ready to fine you and possible even jail you. You should apply 2 months before going for the permit to be issued on time but even if you don't you will have an official stamp that you applied for a permit and that's always better than nothing  I can send you the company I did it if you'd like but there are a few around Bangkok I think.

Hi there,

I'm off to Koh Lanta and a few other spots next March. Never heard of this permit before and wasn't aware any country required this but my drone has only been to Ireland and Germany so far and obviously i didnt need any kind of additional permits or whatnot there...... I would rather not shell out for extra insurance at £200 for a 2 week break ideally either! I am happy to do this permit application though if you recommend it?
Where do i find this form?

JT-SkyHigh Posted at 2018-2-1 21:48
Thanks for the info - were the forms you had to submit to the police station the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Registration Application and Consent to the Disclosure of Personal Information?

I'm going to Khao Lak in a few weeks and trying to work out what to do so I can fly my Spark.

Yo. How did it pan out>? I'm going next feb

travelrikk Posted at 2018-2-5 14:21
Insurance is required in order to register. I've go insurance from back home but it doesn't include liability insurance!! It's important to have in case you hurt someone, not worth risking thai jail.

I got mine from a company called drone thai insure on facebook. Super helpful and friendly company, they even train people how to fly drones professionally. It's cheap for an extra $100 I would definitely do it. There's a lot of similar companies but that's the one that replied straight away and I went with them. Now I have a permit valid for 2 year and insurance which is valid for a year.

As a DJI SPark pilot do i really need the pricey public liability insurance for Thailand? Bearing in mind i will not be selling my shots or videos or flying over towns/cities or villages or crowds at all.

djiuser_N2fkzb83L9Ab Posted at 2018-4-23 12:27
I guess we will leave ours at home due to conflicting information.

1. Several media sites say you can register in one of 3 places - CAAT, NBTC or police station.

Exactly the questions i need answering, i did not think it would be this complicated!!!

I have a dji spark so i'm hardly flying an inspire 2 and earning a living. I'll probably post a few images to instagram and get around 35 likes!!!!! So i'm feeling leaving it at home seems the most sensible resolution but thats a depressing prospect so i'm gonna carry on researching this complex situation!!!!!

PLUS - I really don't want to spend around £200 on insurance for a two week holiday!!

It took for me 6 month to get a cert from Thailand (Mavic Pro 1!) .... if you have questions send me a PM

Could you register a Drone in Thailand as a company or a club, so different people could fly with the drone?

hello pleasure andrea I would be interested to know how you did to register the drone to fly in Thailand I do not know how you do you could help me please? I would like to know the procedures that there are to do and who to send the documents

Hi guys! not too sure if its too late for most but I think I can answer some of the questions here. Firstly I'm a foreigner but travel to Thailand on a monthly basis and each time I bring either my spark or my mavic pro along. As many have mentioned, Thailand is 1 of the countries which is very frustrating and no direction from the authorities. BUT its entirely up to you if you want to risk it. I have had friends who have got busted flying their mavics in Saraburi. Authorities are getting a tad strict on this.

Long story short, I managed to get all my drones registered and this is how.

1. The process takes minimum 3 months so those visiting for a holiday and intend to do this last minute, its real unlikely
2. Those of you intending to call the authorities to verify, you'll be lucky if they even pick up and in the unlikely event  they do, they will send you chasing your own tail, so if I were you, don't waste your time
3. If you need an insurance for the drone, YES if not they will bin your application without batting an eyelid (I did this by contacting an insurance agent)
4. It will cost you THB 2,400 and a hell lot of patience (yeah it cost alot i know but i used the same insurance cert to get a permit to fly in Israel and jordan so for me it was worth it)
5. It would help very much if someone who understood thai language can help you

All forms can be found at the caat website.

Cheers and blue skies!

I have a couple questions for anyone (hopefully) with knowledge/experience registering *in-person* in Bangkok

1) I understand that when you register via CAAT on their website, it may take months (i.e. >=4) to get a response.  But when registering at the CAAT office in person, presuming you have all the necessary paperwork (i.e. insurance, etc), do they give you something on-the-spot that entitles you to start flying?  Or does that simply start the same x-month process as registering online, and any receipt/document they give you that day is NOT valid to allow you to start flying until after the x-months have elapsed?

Basically, I am arriving in Bangkok for a ~3 week trip, and am trying to determine if it would be worth physically going to CAAT on the first day to register.  If the office doesn't actually give any kind of documentation that entitles you to start flying right away, there would be no purpose & I just wouldn't bring my drone.  But if they *may* give documentation during an on-the-spot registration, then it's definitely worth at least trying.

2) Similarly, I've read in many places that you can also register your drone at a police station.  Is this still possible? If so, same question as above: does it give some evidence that can be used to fly right away, or it's still not legal to fly until I receive some follow-up determination?  If it is possible, does anyone know of any specific police stations (preferably in the vicinity of DMK) where they were able to do this?

Thanks in advance to anyone who might know!

Hi. May I know which agent I should use to apply for a Thai drone permit? I'm currently searching for one and the only one I found is Drone Thai Insur / Danny (which is unresponsive). Are there any other companies/agents except for Danny? Thanks beforehand!

travelrikk Posted at 2018-1-26 10:22
I managed to apply for a permit and also got drone insurance for about 150-200e, permit valid for 2 years and insurance 1 year. This way I'm able to fly legally wherever it's possible. Met a lot of people who fly without a permit but I wouldn't risk it personally as there are park rangers on watch ready to fine you and possible even jail you. You should apply 2 months before going for the permit to be issued on time but even if you don't you will have an official stamp that you applied for a permit and that's always better than nothing  I can send you the company I did it if you'd like but there are a few around Bangkok I think.

Hi, did you get thai insurance or foreign? Do you know if they accept foreign drone insurance? Thank you