Apart from general drone laws - what are your experience of flying in those three countries?

Is it generally allowed or is it bad idea to fly in urban areas, national/ nature parks?

I'll be greatful for any do/ do not tips.

Thank you.

Seems I'm a bit late. Regardless, I can provide some information about Hong Kong. For your questions:

Apart from general drone laws - what are your experience of flying in those three countries? I've flown only a dozen or so flights, so I don't have much experience, but as far as I can tell as long as you're not blocking a busy road or something people will mostly just leave you be. That said I would not recommend flying in areas with heavy foot traffic, as (iirc) there is a law against flying over crowds, and people might get worried and confront you because of this. Is it generally allowed or is it bad idea to fly in urban areas, national/ nature parks? As mentioned above, I wouldn't recommend flying over busy pedestrian areas as that may not be legal and may invite confrontation. It is also hard to get a GPS signal within densely urban areas due to buildings blocking LOS to the satellite constellations. This may increase the risk of accidents, so if you do fly in urban areas be sure to carefully plan routes and keep high sitautional awareness. As for Country Parks, flying there should be completely fine. Just be careful of running into trees or hillsides, and keep an eye on the weather, as it can change quite quickly.

As a bonus, here's some legal information about Hong Kong. Drones below 250g (Classified as A1 Small Unmanned Aircraft, or SUAs for short) do not require registration or a registered pilot to fly, though they have to abide by more limiting in-flight restrictions (see below). Drones above 250g are classified as A2 SUAs, and must be registered with the Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department and must be flown by a registered pilot holding a Standard Rating or above. I'm not too clear on if there is an proper assesment or not for this, but from the legal wording it doesn't seem too challenging. They'll also require insurance coverage in the future, but as the time of this reply this has not yet been implemented.

Any drone above 7 kg is classed as a Class B SUA. To fly them, one needs an Advanced Rating, which requires further training by approved organisations. A flight with them must be approved by the CAD beforehand. Approval is also needed with any flight with a Class A SUA that flys within a restricted zone, has dropping of objects, or carriage of live cargo as part of the flight plan.

Flight restrictions, such as maximum height and speed, can be found here: https://www.cad.gov.hk/english/sua_safetyreq_operatingreq.html

Registration of the drone, operator, as well as a map of any restricted zones, can be done/found here: https://esua.cad.gov.hk/web/

Finally, here is an FAQ for any other questions: https://esua.cad.gov.hk/web/information/faq

GimiGlider Posted at 8-14 23:58
Seems I'm a bit late. Regardless, I can provide some legal information about Hong Kong. Drones below 250g (Classified as A1 Small Unmanned Aircraft, or SUAs for short) do not require registration or a registered pilot to fly, though they have to abide by more limiting in-flight restrictions (see below). Drones above 250g are classified as A2 SUAs, and must be registered with the Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department and must be flown by a registered pilot holding a Standard Rating or above. I'm not too clear on if there is an proper assesment or not for this, but from the legal wording it doesn't seem too challenging. They'll also require insurance coverage in the future, but as the time of this reply this has not yet been implemented.

Any drone above 7 kg is classed as a Class B SUA. To fly them, one needs an Advanced Rating, which requires further training by approved organisations. A flight with them must be approved by the CAD beforehand. Approval is also needed with any flight with a Class A SUA that flys within a restricted zone, has dropping of objects, or carriage of live cargo as part of the flight plan.

Thanks.
That was to expect. Those requirements are pretty much the same like in most countries.

I was rather concerned about the practical challenges as sometimes people around on the ground happens to be difficult despite all legal requirements are met.

Thanks anyway

gringa Posted at 8-15 00:03
Thanks.
That was to expect. Those requirements are pretty much the same like in most countries.

Sorry, missed the point of your questions. I've updated it to address them properly.

GimiGlider Posted at 8-15 00:10
Sorry, missed the point of your questions. I've updated it to address them properly.

I asked for the xperience, not the laws:

"Apart from general drone laws - what are your experience of flying in those three countries?"

gringa Posted at 8-15 00:59
I asked for the xperience, not the laws:

"Apart from general drone laws - what are your experience of flying in those three countries?"

Yeah, I got that after rereading the post shortly after posting my reply-I just got too excited to share what I learned about drone law and failed to correctly parse the question. My apologies for that.

GimiGlider Posted at 8-16 10:53
Yeah, I got that after rereading the post shortly after posting my reply-I just got too excited to share what I learned about drone law and failed to correctly parse the question. My apologies for that.

It's ok. I am sure it will be helpful for other people who'll read this post!