Drone flights over customer gardens: aviation law first

Anyone flying a drone for a business is legally piloting an aircraft. The German Aviation Act expressly counts unmanned aerial devices that are not operated for sport or leisure as aircraft (Sec. 1 (2) LuftVG). For a landscaping business photographing its finished work for the website, that is the normal case: the flight serves the business, not a hobby. The duties under the Aviation Act therefore apply, liability insurance first among them, as do the European rules for operating unmanned aircraft in Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/947.

Aviation law does not distinguish between customer and neighbour, but between properties. The consent that Sec. 21h LuftVO requires for an overflight relates to the residential property concerned. The customer can release their own plot, but not the garden next door. That is exactly where conflicts arise: a drone that backs off a few metres for the full view quickly ends up above the neighbour’s patio, and whoever is sitting there will rightly ask what the camera above their head is doing.

Separate from this is the question of who owns the finished image and whether neighbouring houses, house numbers or people may appear in it. That follows copyright and personality rights, not aviation law. A business that wants to keep both clean therefore needs two releases: one for the overflight before take-off and one for publication after the images have been selected. The first settles whether the drone may fly, the second whether the result may go online.

Before the drone flies for the business, the operator has to register. The obligation applies to devices with a take-off mass of 250 g or more and to lighter devices carrying a sensor able to capture personal data (Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/947). The Federal Aviation Office names the camera explicitly as an example: a drone under 250 g with a camera is also subject to registration (Luftfahrt-Bundesamt). The only exceptions are devices that meet the requirements of the Toy Safety Directive. For aerial reference photos there is practically no way around registration.

It is the operator that registers, not the individual device, and several drones can be operated under one registration. For a natural person, registration costs 20.00 euros, for a legal entity such as a GmbH 50.00 euros (Luftfahrt-Bundesamt). Whether someone counts as a legal entity depends on the legal form, not on commercial activity; natural persons can fly commercially too. After registering, the operator receives an electronic registration number, the e-ID, and displays it on each of their unmanned aircraft (Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/947). The mandatory details include the name of the insurer and the insurance policy number (Luftfahrt-Bundesamt). The insurance therefore has to be in place before registration can be completed.

The remote pilot, meaning the person holding the controls, needs their own proof depending on the device. For class C0 devices and devices under 250 g, proof of competency A1/A3 is not required in subcategory A1; the Federal Aviation Office still recommends the free online course. For all remote pilots flying devices of 250 g or more in the open category, the EU proof of competency A1/A3 is mandatory (Luftfahrt-Bundesamt). It consists of an online course and a multiple-choice test with 40 questions (Luftfahrt-Bundesamt), costs 25.00 euros (Luftfahrt-Bundesamt) and is valid for 5 years (Luftfahrt-Bundesamt). Anyone wanting to fly closer to people with a C2 device in A2 also needs the remote pilot certificate A2, with a further theory test at a designated examination body.

Who flies within the business is decided by the operator: they must designate a remote pilot for each flight (Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/947). The minimum age for flying a drone in Germany is 16 years (dipul). Toy drones and very light self-built drones are exempt (dipul); otherwise, younger people may only fly under the direct supervision of a person who meets the requirements themselves. For young apprentices who would like to take over the drone, that is a limit worth clarifying before the appointment.

The use of airspace by unmanned aerial devices is free unless a regulation restricts it (Sec. 21h (1) LuftVO). The most important restrictions are listed as geographical zones in Sec. 21h (3) LuftVO. Before the flight, the remote pilot must obtain the current information on the geographical zones in which they intend to fly (Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/947). The tool for this is the Map Tool of the Digital Platform for Unmanned Aviation, which shows the zones as far as they can be displayed (dipul). For gardens on the edge of town and in rural areas, these zones matter most:

For residential property, the map alone is not enough. Who owns it, who rents it and whose consent the overflight needs is not shown in any map service; that is settled in conversation with the customer. File the result of the geo-zone check with the date in the project folder. Anyone flying contrary to Sec. 21h (3) LuftVO commits an administrative offence (Sec. 44 (1) No. 17d LuftVO), and the fine can reach up to 50,000 euros (Sec. 58 (3) LuftVG).

The regulation requires that the person affected has expressly consented to the overflight (Sec. 21h (3) No. 7 LuftVO). It does not prescribe written form. As evidence, a written version is still the more reliable route, because if someone asks, it lets the operator show that consent was given. An e-mail from the customer confirming date and purpose can be sufficient, provided it contains the essential details.

Do not mix the last point with the consent to the overflight. Agreeing to the flight does not mean agreeing to a photo of one’s garden appearing online. What the publication release looks like and what it has to cover is described in image rights for landscapers. If you collect consents through a form on your website, the duties involved are covered in data protection for trade websites.

And the neighbours? If you plan the flight so that the drone only hovers over the customer’s property, the overflight needs no consent from next door. If the full view requires crossing the fence, ask beforehand, with the same details. A friendly note in the letterbox the day before does not replace consent, but it prevents some surprises at the fence. What the camera captures from there remains a question of personality rights and belongs on the table when the images are selected.

Many businesses hire a drone pilot for the aerial shot. As a rule, the service provider is then the operator: they need their own registration, the e-ID on the device, the proof for the subcategory and the insurance. The customer’s consent to the overflight must still be in place, and in practice it comes through you, because you are in contact with the customer and arrange the appointment. Agree in advance who obtains the consent and who keeps it.

The last question belongs in the written order. Taking over an image from a photographer requires their permission for publication online, and that applies to aerial shots as much as to photos from the ground. A provider who answers these questions without hesitation has usually heard them many times before.

None of these mistakes shows during the flight itself. They only surface when a neighbour asks who was hovering over their garden, when damage has to be settled, or when a customer discovers their property in the gallery without knowing about it. Ticking off the steps before take-off gives you an answer in all three cases. If you already have aerial shots and want to bring them into your gallery, send us an enquiry about image preparation.