Fans of aerial photography take note this year has seen rules regarding drone flying in China enter force. It’s a move reflecting the sheer number of drones out there, as well as a tendency for increasingly daring and dangerous drone maneuvers.
On 1 January, 2024, the “Interim Regulations on the Management of Unmanned Aircraft Flights” entered effect in China. We’ll just call them the “Regs”.
Therein, Article 10 stipulates that owners of civil-unmanned aircraft shall conduct real-name registration, while Article 12 stipulates that public-liability insurance must also be purchased. That’s irrespective of the size of drone or the use to which it is put.
Data shows that as of the end of August, 2023, there were already more than 1.11 million registered, civil-unmanned aircraft. Then there is the number of unregistered drones that is almost impossible to estimate.
While the registration of drones obviously holds owners responsible, it can also enable authorities to issue proactive behavioural warnings. For example, those whose drones exceed an altitude of over 120 metres shall immediately receive a reminder text message.
Such a message shall be sent by the Information Centre of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), warning of illegal-flight behaviour. It should be further noted that altitudes above 130 metres in China are deemed controlled airspace.
So what else can happen to those who violate the new Regs? Article 47 states that anyone who conducts flight activities without the real-name registration shall be ordered to make corrections by a public-security organ and may be fined not more than ¥200.
If the circumstances are serious, a fine of any amount between ¥2,000 and ¥20,000 may be imposed, as the Yangtze Evening News reports.
Meanwhile, the possible financial penalty is the same for those failing to purchase public-liability insurance, as per Article 48.
As far as The Nanjinger is concerned, the Regs could not have come a moment too soon. In a whopping coincidence, this correspondent had today barely written two paragraphs of this article before hopping on the back of an e-bike that came upon directly in front, at speed, a drone hovering just just 1.5 metres above a busy road. The alertness of both on the e-bike avoided mutilation.
