I just came back home from my India trip. I did entered India via Indra Gandhi Airport in Delhi and manage to pass through airports security without any problem. The security did not even checked my luggage. To me bringing a drone into India is not a problem the real problem is to fly over there. I've got an advice from one of the members from this forum who just came back from Delhi. According to him that we now can fly in Delhi but must avoid attraction/crowded places. So I've brought my MA with me. Since I wasn't be able to fly near the attractions so I decided to fly just around my hotel. To avoid people attraction, I decided not to fly in public area but I went to the rooftop restaurant of my hotel instead.

With the permission of the restaurant staff, I manage to launch my drone but here the exciting story begin. Less than 5 minutes my MA on the air, suddenly I was visited by a bunch of people including 1 policeman. The policeman seized my drone and checking my phone. I have apologized to him saying that I did not know that I couldn't fly around there and offered to delete the footage from my phone. He agreed but with 1 condition. I've got to pay him INR5,000 to get back my drone. So I paid him then I get back my drone with the original footage still in it.  It's not my intention to promote corruption here but I just wanted to avoid any difficulties and at the same time to tell others how corrupt their Police was.

So if any of you has a plan to fly over Delhi I would say DON'T ever think about it!!!. It's too risky. A guy who let you to fly is the same guy who called the police. He might get a commision from that Policeman I guess. So please be careful.

Good to know entrepeneurism and police initiative is alive and well in india  

Wished it was that easy here.

I had an altercation with a house owner when I filmed a local landmark a few days ago.

I of course complied with CAA rules other than that my take off point was around 25 meters from his house  across the road instead of the stipulated 50 so for perhaps 5 seconds I was in range. I chose it for flying visibility/safety.

Anal.

Here is some info of tbe tower if anyone is interested. Incidently it is for sale for the small amount of around £3.5m if anyone here has a little loose change ... .

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/14599496.amp/

Hard lesson learned. You should always check the laws before flying in another country.

https://www.uavsystemsinternatio ... y/india-drone-laws/

saviour Posted at 2-26 00:19
Hard lesson learned. You should always check the laws before flying in another country.

https://www.uavsystemsinternational.com/drone-laws-by-country/india-drone-laws/

Yes I totally agreed with you, hard lesson learned.

Be careful.

It's a good idea to stay as far away from people as possible, your story proves it well.

i think real lesson here is to not visit a country who's government is well established itself as seriously corrupt.   also this is the inherent risk of asking for permission before flying, wont surprise me in the least if that was money to their ears, specially given how quick the police arrived

Well at least you left with your drone.

General rule of thumb before travelling with a drone is to actually google the rules.

there's a number of posts on here that detail India, as said you're lucky to have gotten away with just a fine; hopefully you'll learn for next time.

Just like our corrupt country

That's a crazy story. Glad you got your MA back.

It's getting to the point were you feel like a criminal every time you use your drone, and you're looking behind your back to see who is going to give you crap. Maybe I got into this hobby too late.

Hi, we're sorry to read about what happened during your trip. Your story that you've shared to us would be very useful information to our other valued customers who are planning to fly their drone in Delhi in the future. Please let us know if you need our assistance. Thank you for continued support.

You cannot fly more than one UAV at a time  <---- ????


Do not fly your drone within 50km of a border <---- ??? WTF?

MagicRide Posted at 2-26 08:23
It's getting to the point were you feel like a criminal every time you use your drone, and you're looking behind your back to see who is going to give you crap. Maybe I got into this hobby too late.

Maybe so MagicRide, The golden days are certainly over.

When it comes to corrupt authorities confiscating drones, this is another reason for having DJI drones require a password to power-up after ## number of hours have passed.
At least drone would be a brick door stop should corrupt authority decide it would make a nice personal toy.  Also cut down on theft of DJI drones by thieves.  Admittedly, stolen drone could be sold for parts.  But main control board would be worthless.

Many years ago I was in transit through Mumbai airport on the way to Europe.
As we left the departure lounge on our way to re-board the aircraft an Indian private soldier who was on duty informed me that my Sony portable CD player was a prohibited item and so had to be confiscated.

I pulled out my military identity card and barked at him "Is this the way you speak to a Warrant Officer?. Stand to attention and polish your boots. Where is your Sergeant?"

Poor bloke quaked in his boots and apologised for his 'joke'. The other passengers clapped.

I don't like to pull rank but this bloke deserved it for trying to con me out of CD player

I wonder how many other times he got away with this scam?

Thanks for sharing your experience

MagicRide Posted at 2-26 08:23
It's getting to the point were you feel like a criminal every time you use your drone, and you're looking behind your back to see who is going to give you crap. Maybe I got into this hobby too late.

It's true. Day by day I started to feel less fun flying. No matter where, every time I launched my drone I felt like a criminal.. ppl looked at me like I was doing something bad. That was the reason I stopped flying for a while. I seldom used my drone lately. My last flight was 2 months ago before my India trip.

I did fly my MP and Inspire 2 during my recent visit to Mumbai. Sorry don't know about Delhi. I have FAA 107A . I don't think so that would be of any helpful but I just carried with me.  

You should have told them you have a permission but they are not entitled to require any; then ask the policeman to call for the aviation authority -- and I fairy doubt the would move forward this that way.

You should have told them you have a permission but they are not entitled to require any; then ask the policeman to call for the aviation authority -- and I fairy doubt the would move forward this that way.

Nicely done - thanks again for sharing!

Boffin Posted at 2-26 15:21
Many years ago I was in transit through Mumbai airport on the way to Europe.
As we left the departure lounge on our way to re-board the aircraft an Indian private soldier who was on duty informed me that my Sony portable CD player was a prohibited item and so had to be confiscated.

I am not sure he ever got away with it, it appears he was still trying to get his hands on his first CD player!!  he certainly only wanted one of them....  Honest guy like he was.

You can be as safe as possible, get the permissions from the hotel staff but can't factor in the snide and corrupt officials - as you have sadly found out.

FanOfFlight Posted at 3-2 13:09
I am not sure he ever got away with it, it appears he was still trying to get his hands on his first CD player!!  he certainly only wanted one of them....  Honest guy like he was.

It was a Sony Discman, Very small and portable, my son saved for ages to give me this state of the art device of it's day for my travels. Indian soldier had an ancient Lee-Enfield .303 on his shoulder, I actually felt sorry for him.

When we landed in Mumbai the aircraft taxied to the far end of the runway, we dis-embarked and all passengers were required to identify our luggage which had been lined up along the runway.

In the terminal we heard a bang. That was the unidentified luggage being detonated!

Quite an interesting trip

Why would you consider flying over a highly crowded urban area in the first place?!
Well done the authorities for acting correctly.

This tale is sorta useless without the video.  

It cost $70 bucks so, lets' see it.