You must not fly a drone closer than 30 m to people who are not essential to its control and navigation. This distance is measured from the point on the ground directly below the drone, regardless of its height. You must never fly over a person.
People such as actors, athletes, or members of the public you are filming are not essential to the control and navigation of the drone.
Flying a drone in a location where it could pose an unreasonable risk to third parties or their property is also not allowed. In some situations, you may need to increase the distance to maintain safety.
In some cases, exceptions to these rules may apply.
Operations between 30 m and 15 m of a person (no CASA approval required)
You are permitted to operate an RPA closer than 30 m of another person, but no closer than 15 m, provided that you have a remotely piloted aircraft operator's certificate (ReOC) and:
- the drone weighs less than 150 kg
- the drone is not flown closer than 15 m from the person
- consent is provided by the person.
You must apply for CASA approval outside of these conditions.
Risk assessment
You must also make sure the drone does not create a hazard to people, property or aircraft. You should:
- recognise and minimise any safety risks
- do a risk assessment and apply mitigators that consider the capabilities and limitations of the drone, including:
- position holding
- obstacle avoidance
- failsafe systems.
Before flying
Before flying closer than 30 m of people, you must also:
- have documented practices and procedures
- give relevant instruction to the operating crew.
For tips on updating your operations manual to fly closer than 30 m to another person, see our RPAS sample operations manual.
Operations less than 30 m from a person (CASA approval required)
To operate within 30 m of a person without consent, or closer than 15 m to a person with consent, you must get a CASA:
- approval to fly near people
- exemption to fly in a populous area, in some cases.
To apply, you must:
- have a remotely piloted aircraft operator’s certificate (ReOC)
- fill out the RPAS multi-purpose form
- include supporting documents and risk assessments
- pay the estimated fee following the review of your application (additional fees may apply if we need to travel to complete the assessment)
- undergo an assessment of your application.
Follow these steps to apply: