10 June 2019 - According to the recent statement of the Civil Aviation Agency of Montenegro published by local News Agency TVCG, the individuals who conduct illegal use of drones - uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAV) will face steep fines.
While they originated mostly in military applications, the use of drones is rapidly expanding to commercial, scientific, recreational, agricultural, and other applications, such as policing, peacekeeping, and surveillance, product deliveries, aerial photography, smuggling, and drone racing. Civilian UAVs now vastly outnumber military UAVs, with estimates of over a million sold by 2015.
Although 266 drone operators have been registered in Montenegro, the number of unmanned aerial vehicles in use is much higher. To introduce as many operators as possible into regulatory frameworks, the Civil Aviation Agency of Montenegro has launched an educational campaign on ways to safely manage drones. The representatives of the Agency highlighted that the cases of illegal use of drones will be punished.
"The use of drones is experiencing real expansion, not only for aerial recording, but they also prove to be very useful in controlling infrastructure, forests, agricultural goods, road traffic and the like. However, it is important that all those who operate the drones comply with certain rules, in order to avoid unwanted events, such as an airplane crash or dropping the drone to the ground, which could endanger the lives of people and property, "the representatives of Civil Aviation Agency explained.
As they pointed out, in order to prevent the illegal use of drones, the Agency signed an agreement with the Police Directorate.
"This agreement creates the conditions for more effective control of the use of drones by conducting joint activities,” states the report from the Agency. As they emphasize, it is of great importance to emphasize once again the basic regulatory requirements that are placed before drone operators:
- All operators whose drones have a mass of more than half a kilogram with a range of over 15 meters and height over 10 meters, should be registered with the Agency;
- The registration of the drones is free of charge;
- The approval of the Agency for carrying out an operation using drones is only necessary when it comes to heavyweight drones and if they fly closer to urban areas or gatherings of people;
- It is forbidden to operate a drone at night;
- It is forbidden to operate a drone near the airport;
- It is forbidden to throw objects to the ground during the flight.
Additional rules include the fact that "the drone must be within the field of vision of the operator and within 500 meters of the horizontal distance and up to 150 meters above ground or water. Also, the drone must be at a distance more than 150 meters from people’s gathering of and more than 30 meters from people, animals, facilities, vehicles, vessels, other aircraft, roads, railways, transmission lines and similar objects. In the event of illegal use of drones, there is the possibility of fines and court proceedings for violating public order and peace, "the Agency said.
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