This information will help teachers, schools and educational providers understand what rules to follow when flying a drone at recognised institutions.
The requirements
Flying a drone or model aircraft for educational, training or research purposes at recognised institutions is considered 'flying for fun'. You can fly a drone or model aircraft up to 7 kg without needing:
- a licence
- an operator accreditation
- to register your drone.
You still must follow the drone safety rules.
However, if you get money for flying or are flying to promote or advertise your educational institution, you’re flying commercially and extra rules apply.
If your drone is 2 kg or less, you must:
- get an operator accreditation
- supervise anyone under the age of 16
- register your drone
- follow the drone safety rules.
If your drone is more than 2 kg, you must:
- get a remote pilot licence
- get a remotely piloted aircraft operator’s certificate
- register your drone.
If your educational institution owns or leases the land where you plan to fly, you may be able to fly under the landholder excluded category. This applies if your drone weighs more than 2 kg but not more than 25 kg.
Tips for teachers and educators
- We recommend using a CASA-verified drone safety app to check where you can and can't fly
- Make sure the students flying under your supervision always follow the rules
- You can use our classroom resources aligned with the Australian Curriculum to support students learning about drone safety
Consider:
- if there are other rules you need to follow from your education department
- risk of potential harm to the department, school, staff, students or the public
- health and safety requirements
- privacy and public liability insurance
- local and state laws
- property owner requirements.
Operations near an airport
If your educational institution is within 5.5 km of a controlled airport, the rules vary for flying a drone indoors and outdoors.
You can check how close your educational institution is to controlled airports by using a CASA-verified drone safety app.
Indoors
You can fly a drone indoors if it can't get out of the building.
Outdoors
You can fly a drone outdoors if it is:
- 250 g or less and not flown:
- in the approach or departure path of a runway
- higher than 45 metres above ground level
- within the airport boundary.
- more than 250 g and not within air traffic control tower hours.
You will need to apply for approval (fees apply) if you want to fly outdoors during air traffic control hours and:
- your drone weighs more than 250 g
- your drone weighs 250g or less and you want to fly in approach/departure paths
- your drone weighs 250 g or less and you want to fly above 45 metres.
11 Oct 2024