How to get a licence to fly a drone in the city of Prague for a week?

Question

I would like to take my drone and go fly in the city of Prague - it's super beautiful there during lockdown. (I'm close by anyway so don't worry, I'm staying safe) But -

According to Czech law it's illegal to fly a drone within city borders. You need to get an extra licence/allowance for that. My own shortcoming is, I cannot speak Czech.

Does anyone of you have any prior experience in getting this licence? I read that you can apply for such a licence, but I neither know where nor how. On the other side, I read that people already got into trouble, especially when flying in Prague (residency of the president, etc. etc.)

I do have a registration and the required European licence to fly a drone. I'm really looking for specific allowance for Prague.

(I already asked in travel and they were kind enough to forward me here)

Answer 1

Firstly, in addition to the common European rules, the whole territory of the Czech Republic is located in the LKR10-UAS restricted airspace. That basically means that the older stricter national rules remain in power in addition to the default lax European rules.

Secondly, most of Prague is a densely built area. The UA operation is forbidden with the exception of UAs in the SPECIFIC or CERTIFIED category that are licensed by the CAA (ÚCL). The OPEN category is not allowed. Toys that do not require registration are allowed.

Additionally, the territory of Prague is located in CTR Ruzyně where the rules for UAs in the controlled airport area must be observed. Thankfully, the operation of drones is possible up to 100 m AGL if farther than 5500 m from the airport.

Also, most interesting part of Prague is located in the LKR9 restricted airspace. You cannot operate a UA without an operation approval from the CAA (ÚCL). Do note that you will need the approval for each operation, you will not get a blanket approval to fly there for a week, at best for some specific repeated flights that follow some common pattern regularly.

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So realistically, you need to get your drone running in the SPECIFIC or CERTIFIED category in the Czech Republic and to get yourself certified to operate UAs in one of these categories. You wrote you have "a license" but from a certain naivety of the question I have to assume it is actually just a registration of a pilot and drone in the OPEN category, but do correct me if I am wrong.

Be prepared for a lot of paperwork. It is basically meant for professionals conducting for-profit aerial work in the area.

Then you can get approval to operate them also in the LKR9 airspace.

Answer 2

(Caveat - I don't understand Czech either!)

There does indeed appear to be a restriction on flying around Prague - this is mentioned in English on the Czech CAA website.

There also appears to be a country wide airspace restriction/notice relating to Unmanned Aircraft - see this PDF Document for a 'working translation' in English. There are details on flying within a number of airspace types, but it looks like Section I.2(e) is relevant for the Prague restriction:

Prohibited areas (LKP), restricted areas (LKR), dangerous areas (LKD), and temporary segregated areas (TSA) and temporary reserved areas (TRA) activated by another user

The UA operation shall not be conducted in LKP, LKR, LKD, and in other TSA and TRA activated by another user, or in restricted areas published in AIP SUP or NOTAM, except when it is permitted by an appropriate operational authorization issued by the CAA.

The UA operation UA in the LKR9 restricted area may be conducted without the CAA approval, provided that conditions of operation in CTR, in a congested area, or the conditions of other local areas are observed. The UA operation in LKR9 restricted area is also possible based on the operational authorization issued by the CAA.

Based on this (while accepting that the translation might not be finalised/accurate), you should just need an Operational Authorisation from the Czech CAA.

I believe this page contains documentation relating to Operational Authorisations - but is all in Czech!

It looks likely you will need some understanding of the language to be sure you are compliant. Your best chance for official guidance on this would be to contact one of the people listed at the bottom of the page from my first link; but again there is no guarantee you have a common language.