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2 days ago, the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) has made a post on social media to urge the public not to fly any unauthorized drone operation on the Merdeka Day (31st August) to prevent any potential collision with the Royal Malaysian Air Force (TUDM) low altitude formation flights. However, is it illegal if you fly a drone above your house?
1.It's illegal if you can't meet certain criteria
According to Malaysia's Civil Aviation Regulation 2016, Part 16 Unmaned Aircraft System Regulation 140, you're not allowed to operate your drone unless you hold a permit from the Director General (currently the DG of CAAM is Datuk Captain Chester Voo Chee Soon). Nonetheless, according to the provision "Regulation 206 of the CAR 2016", a fine of RM500,000 and/or 3 years of imprisonment could be the penalties for an individual who contravened the provision "Regulation 140".
However, that is only true if your drone is flying at an altitude higher than 400ft (122 meters) "above the surface of the Earth", as stated in the CAR 2016. In a simple way, if you're just operating your drone above your house's rooftop, it's actually okay as long as you don't fly it beyond the 400ft barrier.
2.The other criteria if you don't want to apply for a permit and stay lawful:
a) you're not doing it for a mission (Regulation 141)
b) visual contact with your drone is a must (Regulation 142)
c) not operating it too close (within 150 meters) to restricted area, people, others' vehicles and any assembly of more than 1000 people (Regulation 143)
d) if your drone is heavier than 20 kg, you have to apply for permit (Regulation 144)
And for sure, I'm not a lawyer, a disclaimer here would be "I'm not here to give any advice regarding law, just sharing my knowledge, and not legal advice". Anyway, it's always safer to apply for permit if you want to fly a drone.
3.Drone around airport, a big No?
If you have been to Anjung Spotter, you may have seen this sign regarding the prohibition of drone operation at WMKK(KLIA).
Image above shows the drone prohibition sign at WMKK(KLIA).
Bird strike is a huge hazard in aviation, including US Airways 1549 (the A320 that ditched on Hudson River after all engines failed due to bird strike right after take-off), thousands of incident and even accident in aviation industry are resulted by it. Nevertheless, drone is similar to birds, a drone strike is even more dangerous as it's often metallic with battery loaded. A huge aircraft cannot avoid it even if they could see it due to the poorer maneuverability at low altitude and the difference in their size.
Consequently, the drone will damage the engine if they are ingested into it and downgrade the safety of aviation industry. Therefore, the airport is a restricted area and any unauthorized drone operation is prohibited, even if you are flying below 400ft.
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