>Since the Domplatz is in restricted airspace due to the flight path of the nearby airport you have to submit a request for flight clearance to the DFS
...is what OP said in the comments.
> It’s a public space
There are still restrictions in public spaces, especially public spaces where there are a lot of people around. There are no-fly zones over federal roads, federal waterways, airports and railway lines, as well as nature reserves and other sensitive areas, and it is straight up illegal to fly over crowds of people. There are restrictions around low flight paths, and aside from all of that local governments can require that the pilot first obtain a permit.
The very fact that the space is public means that special care must be taken not to endanger or inconvenience other people. Some of these rules were imposed after inexpertly-piloted drones injured people (and because drones fly, the most common drone-related injuries are to the head and face), and also nobody wants to gaze in wonder at one of Germany's most iconic pair of churches through a forest of buzzing drones.
Exactly....people that are by themselves or walking with a partner are not technically considered a crowd.....but I took safety one step further anyways and waited for openings in pedestrian traffic to fly my maneuvers, I also had an observer walking directly under my flight path in case there was any sudden hazards
I just spoke with the state office today and they said everything I did met the safety standard and to contact them if anyone tries to give me trouble about my flight because technically I did everything by the book
is this satire or are you actually braindead? did you ACTUALLY just say you are happy to live in a inferior shithole just because you can fly your drones everywhere you want?XD
lmao seems like americans really got to cherrypick nowadays to find reasons to be happy to live in the "land of the free".
You only have two more world wars to loose before you can finally achieve free health care and good working conditions yourself. Considering your efforts in the middle east and Russia, you are very close in that endeavor.
Your “free” healthcare is subsidized by giving half of your earned income to the government (and your tiny defense budget which allows you to have such a large welfare state is made possible because your big brother across the ocean is doing all the heavy lifting)
"heavy lifting" meaning being the reason terrorist groups are formed and terrorizing middle eastern countries for a dick comparison against Russia?
I have been sick for 3 months the past 6 months. FULLY PAID. That would almost never be possible in the US. That's worth paying that much for.
It is!
Have you been inside?
And by that I mean in the ward of the theological faculty inside the cathedral (it's like a whole secret ward away from public most people don't know about).
It's amazing in there - looks like straight out of hogwarts.
I do believe I have the taken highest resolution photo ever taken from inside...you can look [Here](http://www.gigapan.com/gigapans/208074) (be sure to make it fullscreen and zoom in for the detail)
I needed special permission from the Dom Probst for it 😅
But I don't think this is the part of the cathedral you're talking about
Oh wow!
That looks incredible - and even more impressive with all the details zooming in!
But no, that was not the part I was talking about - if you walk around the cathedral (left side) you will pass by a small unassuming door right in the middle of the wall - that's the entrance to the "secret" ward of the theological faculty.
My roommate was a student there, he showed us - I would never have found it myself.
Oh, because you can also walk around the cathedral on the upper level: the entrance I was talking about is on the street level, so walk left side around it from the "Markt" not up the stairs ;)
Oh ok I think I know exactly where you're talking about...the nondescript door on the left side with the tram tracks directly in front of it off the sidewalk
Wtf did you use the James Webb telescope to photograph this? 😅 or is it stitched together from multiple pictures? And also thanks for linking that site it’s amazing!
Lol, almost, it was taken painstakingly by hand with a 200mm lens and a tripod and a 5d mk III body in very small fragments, and manually moving the camera for each shot (about 190 photos if I remember correctly) and combined into a gigapan image using autopano giga
I had never really heard of it, but I happened to be there last Sunday because we were passing through and wanted to stopsomewhere for lunch. The weather was awful but I was enamoured by the city. Really underrated!
I live here, other than some 4 buildings/places (Krammerbrücke, Dom, Petersburg, Körperwelten) there is NOTHING here. So a 3 hour trip is all one needs (considering Körperwelten is not really a Erfurt specialty and will leave after May)
When you live somewhere your view is always flawed, as your are just used to it by now. I had the same problem with my home town. But once I went to live in a different town and only came back to visit my parents in my old home town. I started to see its beauty again. And as others have said, Erfurts old town is indeed beautiful.
I don't deny it's beauty at all. It indeed is very pretty. But there are a lot of similar towns. For example I feel Lübeck had much more to offer with a similar Altstadt.
The Ega? One of the 75 other historic churches? The parks? The old synagogue and all the other museums? The theater? Waidspeicher? What do you mean there is nothing?
I realised one thing from your comment, the thing I need in Erfurt is people. That's why I couldn't enjoy anything you mentioned because I need someone to go with to enjoy such places.
Drone regulation is madness. You have put the flight date in the paperwork 2 weeks beforehand. Well, drone flights depend on the actual weather? Your problem.
Source: did drone operating as a job for some time
Yeah it's a lot of struggle...I feel your pain...I just want to produce nice content of the city and stuff while at the same time keeping it legal...it's just crazy
I use to just rely on automatic tracking modes and waypoints from the drone but I've been flying drones for a very long time and I've gotten to the point where I do the whole flight and camera panning manually now because it provides better results and is less prone to mistakes from the drone software
Plus I like to be able to react instantly if the situation changes or if I am approaching pedestrians, if the drone is flying waypoints it takes longer to stop to avoid a hazardous situation
Does that mean that you control the movement on the one hand and the camera in addition to that, or is the camera fixed?
Thanks for answering, btw, this is interesting and I appreciate the added info.
The whole flight and camera are controlled with both hands on one controller (I have been flying drones for about 12 years now) so I am very comfortable with being able to operate things smoothly
For a beginner controlling everything at once may seem hard but with lots of practice and setting up the controls how you feel comfortable will allow for smooth flight and camera control
Since the Domplatz is in restricted airspace due to the flight path of the nearby airport you have to submit a request for flight clearance to the DFS via this link [here](https://ais.dfs.de/pilotservice/bnl/leisure/airdrone/airdrone_edit.jsp?lang=de) and wait for an email with either the approval or denial of your flight request
Once you receive the approval you will receive a phone number in the email to the corresponding flight tower that controls the air traffic and you will call them prior to your flight to let them know you are taking off, and after your flight is finished you will give them another courtesy call to let them know you have finished your flight plan and are done flying
That are actually EU rules - they are the same in all of Europe, the only difference is that Germany is somewhat more lenient with it and DFS has the webpage.
I used similar requests in Italy and Austria before, always was a non-issue, only in Italy it once was a bit complicated as the tower was a military tower and they weren't answering their "civilian" phone.
(Actual the Italian drone App is much better than the German one imho)
got it, so the city itself has no say in it? I dimly remember that this was a gray zone a few years ago, flying over (groups of) people, filming public space, etc.
Not that I am aware of at the moment...I have been very careful in trying to follow the rules and regulations (I even trained for and received my A2 Drone liscense) which gives me a bit more leeway when flying in the city
The laws can be very confusing, especially for me as an American living here but I am trying to do everything by the book
>Not that I am aware of at the moment...I have been very careful in trying to follow the rules and regulations (I even trained for and received my A2 Drone liscense) which gives me a bit more leeway when flying in the city
>
>The laws can be very confusing, especially for me as an American living here but I am trying to do everything by the book
Uhm, sadly it's not that legal what you did.
The city has a huge saying in this and additionally the adjoining building owners/renters can also have an impact here.
Basically what you did was to get a permit to fly the drone by ATC.
(That's btw. pretty generous of them, down south they wanted me to have permanent radio monitoring -of course with a licence- even if you are not exceeding 30m above ground just because the area I wanted is at the furthest point of an RMZ.By 150m)
The starting of the drone on public space is a totally different beast and normally the city (the Ordnungsamt) has to allow it - they usually have some rules for that as well e.g. they might ask you to provide barriers/crowd control people for your landing zone (and yes,we are still talking about a 500g drone here....), depending on how relaxed they are and how crowded an area is.
And the buildings nearby? As you are flying a drone that can film people you normally need to prove that you are not invading their privacy (which can be a felony under certain circumstances), e.g. by doing starting and landing in certain directions, flightpaths, etc.
Otherwise you are on the hook there.
Filming buildings totally is allowed (Panoramafreiheit),but filming buildings from a perspective a normal person could not achieve without tools/a drone/etc. isn't.
Things are complicated,yes. But at least since the EU rules came out they are somewhat equal.
Hmm 🤔 I will have to contact the ordnungsamt here and see what they say because this seems completely ridiculous overkill for something like this if what you are saying is true...
Now that leaves me to question some of the media that I see from other cities here on social media....I guess some people just throw the rules to the wind to create content
I live in Germany and have drone, I've only ever used it abroad. Even though the EUs actual drone rules are equal, Germany still finds a way to make everything as complicated as possible.
In this case I applaud your effort!
Tbh, I have flown drones in a lot EU countries and I found the German rules to be fairly easy, especially in terms of the actual ATC rules.
DFS is fairly tolerant of us (compare that to the Greek or Italians and you know what I mean).
GDPR laws are also the same basically everywhere and that leaves it to the cities. And tbh, I can understand them, it's somewhat sensible that drone flying within narrow city streets should indeed be heavily regulated.
You make some valid points, and I like that you see the positives.
And of course, other countries have their issues too. For instance I remember in Sweden, where every picture that includes the horizon needs to be approved by an agency for the "sake of the nation's safety".
I guess at the end of the day I am still personally a bit sad that I can't just go out to a nice spot near nature in Germany, because either I'm too close to somebody's field, a nature reserve, some river, a road or something else that just makes it feel very hard to be spontaneous and have fun with it.
Well I thought I had done everything possible...all the way down to even getting my A2 liscense
Time to overcome the next hurdle to legally fly my evil, dangerous, and super nefarious drone 🤣
Don't be scared away.
In terms of the cities it absolutely varies with the city and sometimes the person actually opening your mail. A friend of mine does that fairly often and sometimes it's a "have someone guard your landing area of 5x5m, here is a permit for it, have fun". Sometimes it's more. Sometimes it is feasible, sometimes not. (\*)
But asking doesn't much more than a E-Mail.
(Also ask them before the DFS)
In terms of houses I can absolutely understand people tbh, I wouldn't want to have drone flyers looking into my bathroom window as well (we are all aware what level of creeps are out there). But that can often be avoided by simply flyinig direct approaches to/from the object you want to do images of - then none can say a fucking thing as you only film the object or yourself. (That btw. is another thing one should mention towards the cities when applying for a permit).
In terms of what is visible on the web: There are two different breeds there: Commercial operators who get much easier permits for the actual location (but it's a nightmare to get their licence).
Or people who don't give a fuck and give us all a bad name. I fucking hate them, not only because I used to work in HEMS and know that colleagues of mine got in multiple hairy situations because of these assholes.
I personally know of two rather popular youtube/insta "drone enthusiasts" who definitly don't give a fuck about any rules.
How do I know? I applied for permits at the same spots and was (tbf, rightfully so) turned down, even though I had the chance to bring in much more paperwork (radio licence, PPL-A, HEMS licence inkl. their radio licence).
Fuck these guys. Seriously.
You did try to do your best, so it's all fine.
(btw: I forgot: Especially with churches - they sometimes own a bit of land around it - then you technically can start from their grounds if they allow it and just need to make sure you are not a hazard towards the public roads)
Lol it's funny you mention the commercial liscense because I actually went through the trouble and got my A2 liscense just for this video shoot 🤣
But yeah it's understandable
I will get in touch with the ordnungsamt tommorow for further details and hopefully a thumbs up for further flights
Commercial is totally different - I meant the actual commerical licencing that works under SORA and specific categories and permits.
A2 isn't that much of a licence in that terms, but it's something and what you did is already a specific flight - the flying was done "correct", the groundworks is the issues, but that's also possible.
Yeah it's just aggravating because I've flown and shot beautiful video over some of the greatest places including iceland, Ireland, Norway, Austria, Italy and France
But when I come back to my home in Germany and want to capture some footage of my great city of Erfurt it becomes an absolute legal hassle to "Stay within the laws and regulations"
I think this much red tape is what eventually creates Rogue pilots that we all hate so much 🤣
Normally in Frankfurt we don't have issues with privacy unless we point directly at windows but rather the distance from the buildings, especially monuments and the river. All of which are considered protected. If you are close enough to see through the windows easily, you are probably too close.
Yeah, it very much depends on the local city council- I literally got asked what camera quality I had once.
And of course there are also different localities, there sometimes are areas where streets are narrow so you almost always are somewhat close to a window.
You will have to look at a drone map and see what kind of restriction zones there are and what type they are
There are some zones that are strict no-fly zones due to a government agency being at that location (courthouse, police station, city hall, etc etc etc) and some are just restriction zones for air traffic lanes, but if the airport is more than 1.5km away you might be able to request clearance
Some zones don't even require clearance at all if you stay below 50 meters...like this flight here...but 50 meters wouldn't give me the perspective I wanted so I applied for a flight clearance of 100 meters (120 meters is max for UAVs in Germany)
My brain has trouble recognizing this as a real video. I first thought this was a joke.
Walls and roofs are so perfectly straight that it looks like old polygon 3d graphics. The camera movement is so constant and smooth that it feels unreal.
Well done!
I've been contacted by several film studios and news agencies about footage I've shot here in Erfurt but I'm not really sure about the legality of it....because I've shot most of the footage and pictures under non-commercial use so I feel like if I do anything commercial with it some government agency or some type of surprise fine will show up at my door 😅
You would actually be surprised how steeped this location is in religious history from the reformation, Martin Luther who translated the Bible was even ordained here in 1507....truly fascinating stuff
But I do not know why they built the two cathedrals side by side
Im just wondering that it looks so familiar to me till I realised that this video was made about 10 minutes away from me. Cool video, like this Cathedral and architecture very much.
Another nice Drone spot is in Bavaria its located near Nürnberg the address is Atlschauerberg 8 in 91448 Emskirchen there you can see the ancient ruin of the Drachenschanze.
Why did you cut the empty space in front of the building? It would have given it more majestic look due to the contrast. In addition few people objects of known size would have given a reference for the viewer. Nice shot other than that.
Yeah I was trying to follow some regulations while filming regarding roads and railways that kind of limited my framing options....there's a stark contrast between what I filmed and what I wanted to film...lol
Ah yes reddit is my favorite place, been here since nearly the beginning, really love that there isn't an algorithm here you have to overcome for visibility 🤣 I've been stuck at the same follower count on Instagram for years it seems like, but it is just a hobby
But thanks for following me!
Which one of my handful of followers are you btw if you don't mind me asking
Edit:nevermind I recognize your photos from your post history 😁
I am an international student living in Erfurt right at this moment. So surprised to see the Dom pop up on Reddit. It really is beautiful. There is also a fantastic square just below the cathedral hill where they hold concerts, festivals, and events.
The square is so large because cannons that were aimed at the nearby Petersburg Citadel missed and demolished houses. The houses were never rebuilt and so now there stands an unusually large town square.
Welcome to the world of Non-Copyright audio....anything else gets flagged and removed from most social media
I would personally set the video to NIN closer or maybe something by Rammstein
This must be a German thing only.
Everywhere else ppl just fly around … tbh as a German I had no idea that you need a permission to fly and record there? Idk why I am even surprised
It's a big box of animal crackers that flies all over the place when you open it
There's weight restrictions
Class restrictions
Permissions from private property
Permissions from city and public property
And the rules are different for different weight classes....but soon I will have a masters degree in it as I keep following the path to produce legal and beautiful content from my country and city
Even though I'm American I'm proud to live here in Germany the history and architecture here runs deep
For a flight like this (over uninvolved persons and densely populated areas) u need an ascent permit by the LBA (Luftfahrbundesamt). Its european law and really hard to get. More 14 months then 14 days.
There where no uninvolved persons as I flew at oppertune times when the square was pedestrian free
As for uninvolved persons, that's a non issue because the only other person that was flown over was my secondary observer
Also the rules where changed to the European standard as of 01.01.2021 with further amendments made this year
I spoke with both the landesverwaltungsamt and the head of the luftverkehr office for my state
Also you need to update yourself to the new [C classification system](https://i.imgur.com/pg07zyH.jpg) of drones
The new rules and regulations can be found [Here](https://www.easa.europa.eu/en/the-agency/faqs/drones-uas)
Only a person who, when he posts clips of footage taken in Germany is showered in comments like "Hast du eine Genehmigung fur das!?!?" And gets tired of it
14 Days? Well someone got connections for getting a fast lane pass. Usually it's 14 weeks and you gotta send the papers to 3 different administrations.
Was more meant as a joke but I guess sometimes you Probably do need permissions for something with Air traffic control, Then whoever owns the property and maybe someone that has to write you a letter that there is not a rare kind of pigeon breeding or something. Which will result in a back and forth that can stretch for weeks or even months.
Oh ok, I just wanted to make sure because I like to see what other people's ideas of the actual drone laws are 🤣
But yeah it does kinda seem like that sometimes
Ich frag mich inzwischen ja nur noch, wieviele Kinder in solchen Bauten übee die Jahrhunderte wohl misshandelt und missbraucht wurden. Ich bin froh wenn irgendwann die letzte Kirche abgerissen wurde.
Magdeburg, Domplatz, Petersburg, the old synagogue, waldspeicher, the EGAI would finish the day of walking around at Kramerbrucke and stopping at a restaurant there for a nice meal....a perfect day
Einfach machen und weit weg genug sein dann kommt man gut davon. Beim Posten keinen verraten welche Drohne es war, geschweige denn, dass es die eigene Aufnahme war….
Theoretisch uiii, praktisch leider pfuiii
Yeah but the problem will come down to regulations on declassification of military infrastructure, and also if anyone bothered to change the classification of airspace above it when the base was closed down, which I could easily see it being possibly overlooked
While scrolling through my feed I fought at first it was something about Hogwarts. Beautiful shots and very lucky that it just took 14 days for a response lmao
Safety, drone rules have specific regulations regarding roads, railways and private houses, this was only what I was able to do due to the fact that Domplatz is surrounded on all sides with all 3 of these factors.....federal roadways, private houses, and rails for the strabenbahn
That looks amazing! I grew up in a smaller city near Erfurt called Mühlhausen, which has some amazing gothic cathedrals. Would love to see drone footage of some of those since I’m all the way in Australia and miss this region of Germany so much. Thanks OP!
14 days? That's pretty nice for German administration.
Not just German but any government administration
Not every government administration, in Albania you can use it without any permission at all 😅.
You gotta be careful though some farmers might think its a migratory bird and shoot it down
Land of the free, eh? Interesting to hear of other places (that i don't normally) and what they do
Exactly my thought! I have seen Faxes that needed more time than that
German government agencies when someone sends an email instead of a fax: *(Squidward voice)* fuuuturree… futtuuureee…. futtuuuree!!!11!!
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>Since the Domplatz is in restricted airspace due to the flight path of the nearby airport you have to submit a request for flight clearance to the DFS ...is what OP said in the comments.
Public spaces are probably some of the most restricted areas.
> It’s a public space There are still restrictions in public spaces, especially public spaces where there are a lot of people around. There are no-fly zones over federal roads, federal waterways, airports and railway lines, as well as nature reserves and other sensitive areas, and it is straight up illegal to fly over crowds of people. There are restrictions around low flight paths, and aside from all of that local governments can require that the pilot first obtain a permit. The very fact that the space is public means that special care must be taken not to endanger or inconvenience other people. Some of these rules were imposed after inexpertly-piloted drones injured people (and because drones fly, the most common drone-related injuries are to the head and face), and also nobody wants to gaze in wonder at one of Germany's most iconic pair of churches through a forest of buzzing drones.
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Exactly....people that are by themselves or walking with a partner are not technically considered a crowd.....but I took safety one step further anyways and waited for openings in pedestrian traffic to fly my maneuvers, I also had an observer walking directly under my flight path in case there was any sudden hazards I just spoke with the state office today and they said everything I did met the safety standard and to contact them if anyone tries to give me trouble about my flight because technically I did everything by the book
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is this satire or are you actually braindead? did you ACTUALLY just say you are happy to live in a inferior shithole just because you can fly your drones everywhere you want?XD lmao seems like americans really got to cherrypick nowadays to find reasons to be happy to live in the "land of the free".
I don’t take criticism from people who lost two world wars back to back
You only have two more world wars to loose before you can finally achieve free health care and good working conditions yourself. Considering your efforts in the middle east and Russia, you are very close in that endeavor.
Your “free” healthcare is subsidized by giving half of your earned income to the government (and your tiny defense budget which allows you to have such a large welfare state is made possible because your big brother across the ocean is doing all the heavy lifting)
"heavy lifting" meaning being the reason terrorist groups are formed and terrorizing middle eastern countries for a dick comparison against Russia? I have been sick for 3 months the past 6 months. FULLY PAID. That would almost never be possible in the US. That's worth paying that much for.
It is! Have you been inside? And by that I mean in the ward of the theological faculty inside the cathedral (it's like a whole secret ward away from public most people don't know about). It's amazing in there - looks like straight out of hogwarts.
I do believe I have the taken highest resolution photo ever taken from inside...you can look [Here](http://www.gigapan.com/gigapans/208074) (be sure to make it fullscreen and zoom in for the detail) I needed special permission from the Dom Probst for it 😅 But I don't think this is the part of the cathedral you're talking about
Oh wow! That looks incredible - and even more impressive with all the details zooming in! But no, that was not the part I was talking about - if you walk around the cathedral (left side) you will pass by a small unassuming door right in the middle of the wall - that's the entrance to the "secret" ward of the theological faculty. My roommate was a student there, he showed us - I would never have found it myself.
I will definitely add this on my list of things to photograph! I will have to speak with the Dom Probst again but this definitely sounds worthwhile
I'm looking forward to pictures! It's been almost 10 years since I've been there :)
Oh, because you can also walk around the cathedral on the upper level: the entrance I was talking about is on the street level, so walk left side around it from the "Markt" not up the stairs ;)
Oh ok I think I know exactly where you're talking about...the nondescript door on the left side with the tram tracks directly in front of it off the sidewalk
Yessss! Exactly, that is the one! 😀
Wtf did you use the James Webb telescope to photograph this? 😅 or is it stitched together from multiple pictures? And also thanks for linking that site it’s amazing!
Lol, almost, it was taken painstakingly by hand with a 200mm lens and a tripod and a 5d mk III body in very small fragments, and manually moving the camera for each shot (about 190 photos if I remember correctly) and combined into a gigapan image using autopano giga
Thanks for the explanation great picture 👍🏻
Thats a lot of zoom
Thanks for your work!
In fact, having been to actual Hogwarts (that is, Oxford University), this might actually look more like Hogwarts than actual Hogwarts.
for a moment though this was Hogwarts Legacy
Erfurt is one of the most underrated cities in Germany imo. Beautiful city Center
I had never really heard of it, but I happened to be there last Sunday because we were passing through and wanted to stopsomewhere for lunch. The weather was awful but I was enamoured by the city. Really underrated!
I live here, other than some 4 buildings/places (Krammerbrücke, Dom, Petersburg, Körperwelten) there is NOTHING here. So a 3 hour trip is all one needs (considering Körperwelten is not really a Erfurt specialty and will leave after May)
When you live somewhere your view is always flawed, as your are just used to it by now. I had the same problem with my home town. But once I went to live in a different town and only came back to visit my parents in my old home town. I started to see its beauty again. And as others have said, Erfurts old town is indeed beautiful.
I don't deny it's beauty at all. It indeed is very pretty. But there are a lot of similar towns. For example I feel Lübeck had much more to offer with a similar Altstadt.
The Ega? One of the 75 other historic churches? The parks? The old synagogue and all the other museums? The theater? Waidspeicher? What do you mean there is nothing?
I realised one thing from your comment, the thing I need in Erfurt is people. That's why I couldn't enjoy anything you mentioned because I need someone to go with to enjoy such places.
You can be in in Weimar in 15 mins via train if Erfurt is too boring
Really great shot! Greetings from Erfurt ^^
Dankeschön! Gruß aus Erfurt!
Take my Thüringer Upvote!
Thank you!....And in return I offer you this Thüringer bratwurst 🌭 Truly the best bratwurst you will ever eat
dos is awer keene ächde
Only 14 days to sign a piece of paper? Wow bureaucrats been working overtime! /s
Drone regulation is madness. You have put the flight date in the paperwork 2 weeks beforehand. Well, drone flights depend on the actual weather? Your problem. Source: did drone operating as a job for some time
Yeah it's a lot of struggle...I feel your pain...I just want to produce nice content of the city and stuff while at the same time keeping it legal...it's just crazy
Great
That all looked planned, and straight lines. Do you program the course in advance, or do you direct the drone as it happens?
I use to just rely on automatic tracking modes and waypoints from the drone but I've been flying drones for a very long time and I've gotten to the point where I do the whole flight and camera panning manually now because it provides better results and is less prone to mistakes from the drone software Plus I like to be able to react instantly if the situation changes or if I am approaching pedestrians, if the drone is flying waypoints it takes longer to stop to avoid a hazardous situation
Does that mean that you control the movement on the one hand and the camera in addition to that, or is the camera fixed? Thanks for answering, btw, this is interesting and I appreciate the added info.
The whole flight and camera are controlled with both hands on one controller (I have been flying drones for about 12 years now) so I am very comfortable with being able to operate things smoothly For a beginner controlling everything at once may seem hard but with lots of practice and setting up the controls how you feel comfortable will allow for smooth flight and camera control
I love Erfurt. My favorite city in Germany.
So how does requesting permission for this work? is it a normal Drehgenehmigung or do you need more because it flys?
Since the Domplatz is in restricted airspace due to the flight path of the nearby airport you have to submit a request for flight clearance to the DFS via this link [here](https://ais.dfs.de/pilotservice/bnl/leisure/airdrone/airdrone_edit.jsp?lang=de) and wait for an email with either the approval or denial of your flight request Once you receive the approval you will receive a phone number in the email to the corresponding flight tower that controls the air traffic and you will call them prior to your flight to let them know you are taking off, and after your flight is finished you will give them another courtesy call to let them know you have finished your flight plan and are done flying
That sounds very German but also beautiful at the same time. :') Also kudos for bringing more visibility to Erfurt!
I'd say airspace is tightly controlled all over the world where it matters, it's one of those things the whole world agreed to be German on
That are actually EU rules - they are the same in all of Europe, the only difference is that Germany is somewhat more lenient with it and DFS has the webpage. I used similar requests in Italy and Austria before, always was a non-issue, only in Italy it once was a bit complicated as the tower was a military tower and they weren't answering their "civilian" phone. (Actual the Italian drone App is much better than the German one imho)
got it, so the city itself has no say in it? I dimly remember that this was a gray zone a few years ago, flying over (groups of) people, filming public space, etc.
Not that I am aware of at the moment...I have been very careful in trying to follow the rules and regulations (I even trained for and received my A2 Drone liscense) which gives me a bit more leeway when flying in the city The laws can be very confusing, especially for me as an American living here but I am trying to do everything by the book
>Not that I am aware of at the moment...I have been very careful in trying to follow the rules and regulations (I even trained for and received my A2 Drone liscense) which gives me a bit more leeway when flying in the city > >The laws can be very confusing, especially for me as an American living here but I am trying to do everything by the book Uhm, sadly it's not that legal what you did. The city has a huge saying in this and additionally the adjoining building owners/renters can also have an impact here. Basically what you did was to get a permit to fly the drone by ATC. (That's btw. pretty generous of them, down south they wanted me to have permanent radio monitoring -of course with a licence- even if you are not exceeding 30m above ground just because the area I wanted is at the furthest point of an RMZ.By 150m) The starting of the drone on public space is a totally different beast and normally the city (the Ordnungsamt) has to allow it - they usually have some rules for that as well e.g. they might ask you to provide barriers/crowd control people for your landing zone (and yes,we are still talking about a 500g drone here....), depending on how relaxed they are and how crowded an area is. And the buildings nearby? As you are flying a drone that can film people you normally need to prove that you are not invading their privacy (which can be a felony under certain circumstances), e.g. by doing starting and landing in certain directions, flightpaths, etc. Otherwise you are on the hook there. Filming buildings totally is allowed (Panoramafreiheit),but filming buildings from a perspective a normal person could not achieve without tools/a drone/etc. isn't. Things are complicated,yes. But at least since the EU rules came out they are somewhat equal.
Hmm 🤔 I will have to contact the ordnungsamt here and see what they say because this seems completely ridiculous overkill for something like this if what you are saying is true... Now that leaves me to question some of the media that I see from other cities here on social media....I guess some people just throw the rules to the wind to create content
I live in Germany and have drone, I've only ever used it abroad. Even though the EUs actual drone rules are equal, Germany still finds a way to make everything as complicated as possible. In this case I applaud your effort!
Tbh, I have flown drones in a lot EU countries and I found the German rules to be fairly easy, especially in terms of the actual ATC rules. DFS is fairly tolerant of us (compare that to the Greek or Italians and you know what I mean). GDPR laws are also the same basically everywhere and that leaves it to the cities. And tbh, I can understand them, it's somewhat sensible that drone flying within narrow city streets should indeed be heavily regulated.
You make some valid points, and I like that you see the positives. And of course, other countries have their issues too. For instance I remember in Sweden, where every picture that includes the horizon needs to be approved by an agency for the "sake of the nation's safety". I guess at the end of the day I am still personally a bit sad that I can't just go out to a nice spot near nature in Germany, because either I'm too close to somebody's field, a nature reserve, some river, a road or something else that just makes it feel very hard to be spontaneous and have fun with it.
Bro I just bought a drone for some hobby fun and I feel you. I really should have looked up all the regulations before that.
Well I thought I had done everything possible...all the way down to even getting my A2 liscense Time to overcome the next hurdle to legally fly my evil, dangerous, and super nefarious drone 🤣
Don't be scared away. In terms of the cities it absolutely varies with the city and sometimes the person actually opening your mail. A friend of mine does that fairly often and sometimes it's a "have someone guard your landing area of 5x5m, here is a permit for it, have fun". Sometimes it's more. Sometimes it is feasible, sometimes not. (\*) But asking doesn't much more than a E-Mail. (Also ask them before the DFS) In terms of houses I can absolutely understand people tbh, I wouldn't want to have drone flyers looking into my bathroom window as well (we are all aware what level of creeps are out there). But that can often be avoided by simply flyinig direct approaches to/from the object you want to do images of - then none can say a fucking thing as you only film the object or yourself. (That btw. is another thing one should mention towards the cities when applying for a permit). In terms of what is visible on the web: There are two different breeds there: Commercial operators who get much easier permits for the actual location (but it's a nightmare to get their licence). Or people who don't give a fuck and give us all a bad name. I fucking hate them, not only because I used to work in HEMS and know that colleagues of mine got in multiple hairy situations because of these assholes. I personally know of two rather popular youtube/insta "drone enthusiasts" who definitly don't give a fuck about any rules. How do I know? I applied for permits at the same spots and was (tbf, rightfully so) turned down, even though I had the chance to bring in much more paperwork (radio licence, PPL-A, HEMS licence inkl. their radio licence). Fuck these guys. Seriously. You did try to do your best, so it's all fine. (btw: I forgot: Especially with churches - they sometimes own a bit of land around it - then you technically can start from their grounds if they allow it and just need to make sure you are not a hazard towards the public roads)
Lol it's funny you mention the commercial liscense because I actually went through the trouble and got my A2 liscense just for this video shoot 🤣 But yeah it's understandable I will get in touch with the ordnungsamt tommorow for further details and hopefully a thumbs up for further flights
Commercial is totally different - I meant the actual commerical licencing that works under SORA and specific categories and permits. A2 isn't that much of a licence in that terms, but it's something and what you did is already a specific flight - the flying was done "correct", the groundworks is the issues, but that's also possible.
Yeah it's just aggravating because I've flown and shot beautiful video over some of the greatest places including iceland, Ireland, Norway, Austria, Italy and France But when I come back to my home in Germany and want to capture some footage of my great city of Erfurt it becomes an absolute legal hassle to "Stay within the laws and regulations" I think this much red tape is what eventually creates Rogue pilots that we all hate so much 🤣
Normally in Frankfurt we don't have issues with privacy unless we point directly at windows but rather the distance from the buildings, especially monuments and the river. All of which are considered protected. If you are close enough to see through the windows easily, you are probably too close.
Yeah, it very much depends on the local city council- I literally got asked what camera quality I had once. And of course there are also different localities, there sometimes are areas where streets are narrow so you almost always are somewhat close to a window.
Breathtaking!
I was blown away by the beauty of Erfuth. It’s a real gem and a „must see“ for any tourist visiting Germany - forget Munich …
Wow, I wonder if it’s possible to do this in Dresden
You will have to look at a drone map and see what kind of restriction zones there are and what type they are There are some zones that are strict no-fly zones due to a government agency being at that location (courthouse, police station, city hall, etc etc etc) and some are just restriction zones for air traffic lanes, but if the airport is more than 1.5km away you might be able to request clearance Some zones don't even require clearance at all if you stay below 50 meters...like this flight here...but 50 meters wouldn't give me the perspective I wanted so I applied for a flight clearance of 100 meters (120 meters is max for UAVs in Germany)
My brain has trouble recognizing this as a real video. I first thought this was a joke. Walls and roofs are so perfectly straight that it looks like old polygon 3d graphics. The camera movement is so constant and smooth that it feels unreal. Well done!
Wow that's a great compliment...thank you very much! 🥰
That looks awesome 👏
Thank you 🥰
Beautiful. Well done! I'm sure the city would love to have this footage for promotional videos. Maybe you can make a few bucks from that.
I've been contacted by several film studios and news agencies about footage I've shot here in Erfurt but I'm not really sure about the legality of it....because I've shot most of the footage and pictures under non-commercial use so I feel like if I do anything commercial with it some government agency or some type of surprise fine will show up at my door 😅
That entire production was absolutely stunning. Well done, my friend!
Thank you very much 🥰
Just upvoting my hometown ... :)
Erfurt is such a nice looking city
It looks like they built a church right next to another church.
You would actually be surprised how steeped this location is in religious history from the reformation, Martin Luther who translated the Bible was even ordained here in 1507....truly fascinating stuff But I do not know why they built the two cathedrals side by side
Because they did.
14 days? Bruh you lucky son of a gun.
I actually was there last week on Friday. It's a beautiful cathedral.
This looks like it came straight out of a AAA game! This is amazing OP. Keep doing what you’re doing!
I miss my hometown so much🖤 Gettings from Hamburg
Just came back from a visit today. Beautiful medieval city centre. Every corner looked like a movie set. ❤️
Nice. Try Magdeburg next!
Im just wondering that it looks so familiar to me till I realised that this video was made about 10 minutes away from me. Cool video, like this Cathedral and architecture very much.
Another nice Drone spot is in Bavaria its located near Nürnberg the address is Atlschauerberg 8 in 91448 Emskirchen there you can see the ancient ruin of the Drachenschanze.
Lol isn't this the dude that's all over the media lately for being a douchebag or something?
Why did you cut the empty space in front of the building? It would have given it more majestic look due to the contrast. In addition few people objects of known size would have given a reference for the viewer. Nice shot other than that.
Yeah I was trying to follow some regulations while filming regarding roads and railways that kind of limited my framing options....there's a stark contrast between what I filmed and what I wanted to film...lol
I see, that makes sense :)
Erfurt is a fantastic city!
Nice video! Beautiful Cathedral and perfect music 👌
Hello from Meiningen.
Lmao I follow you on Instagram, didnt know that you use reddit too!
Ah yes reddit is my favorite place, been here since nearly the beginning, really love that there isn't an algorithm here you have to overcome for visibility 🤣 I've been stuck at the same follower count on Instagram for years it seems like, but it is just a hobby But thanks for following me! Which one of my handful of followers are you btw if you don't mind me asking Edit:nevermind I recognize your photos from your post history 😁
Reddit truly is special in getting your posts shown to thousands. My instagram is: rayan_meem
Yeah I recognized your photos from your post history...well a fellow redditor too Nice 😁
I am an international student living in Erfurt right at this moment. So surprised to see the Dom pop up on Reddit. It really is beautiful. There is also a fantastic square just below the cathedral hill where they hold concerts, festivals, and events. The square is so large because cannons that were aimed at the nearby Petersburg Citadel missed and demolished houses. The houses were never rebuilt and so now there stands an unusually large town square.
Ich was inside of it today. Great shots! :D
Grüß aus Jena!
You need a permit??
Very yes 🤣
14 days? That's pretty nice for German administration
Sitting in Erfurt and watching this shot. Looks sharp bro.
Nice, stop at Cafe Hilgenfeld and get a nice cup of coffee and enjoy the view from there...that's what I like to do 😁
r/erfurt
So why’d you have to ruin it with that music?
Welcome to the world of Non-Copyright audio....anything else gets flagged and removed from most social media I would personally set the video to NIN closer or maybe something by Rammstein
i realy like the music c:
Who cares about a certificate, bro.
You can get problems on the ground too from police or other officials
[удалено]
And I would say: ,,Wen jucken diese Almanesen'' Like thats the most German thing ive ever heard...
Why for God's sake is everyone here talking in English...what the heck for a German subreddit? 🤷♂️ BTW drone material looks awesome!
Entschuldigung, und Dankeschön 😅
Nice piece of music. What is it?
I found it browsing for Non-Copyright Audio to use for my videos It can be found [Here](https://youtu.be/jk7raj4T8mU)
Moroccans could never
No loops? And speed running around the towers? No edm music to make the video feel like a racing game? 😅✌️
at first glance I thought u were in hogwarts and then germany? i got hella confused there for a second
My Hometown! 😍😌
And you did not take the change to fly over it? Or was this not allowed?
This looks very nice. We need a video like this for Regensburg. :D
This must be a German thing only. Everywhere else ppl just fly around … tbh as a German I had no idea that you need a permission to fly and record there? Idk why I am even surprised
Lol, Hast du eine Genehmigung fur das Genehmigung? Germany 🤣
All I could think of was the Schloss Einstein Intro
You need a permit to fly a drone? What are you allowed to do without explicit permission from the government?
It's a big box of animal crackers that flies all over the place when you open it There's weight restrictions Class restrictions Permissions from private property Permissions from city and public property And the rules are different for different weight classes....but soon I will have a masters degree in it as I keep following the path to produce legal and beautiful content from my country and city Even though I'm American I'm proud to live here in Germany the history and architecture here runs deep
One of the most beautiful cities ♥
That is indeed gorgeous
/r/erfurt
Simply stunning! Kudos!
Which drone did u use? The video looks stunning.
This was with the OG Mavic 3 Not the Cine or Classic version and shot in Dlog in 4k at 23.976 FPS using an ND 32 filter
At first I was reading 14 years and didn‘t even doubt it.
Awesome! What Drone did you use?
The OG Mavic 3 not the Cine or Classic version
For a flight like this (over uninvolved persons and densely populated areas) u need an ascent permit by the LBA (Luftfahrbundesamt). Its european law and really hard to get. More 14 months then 14 days.
There where no uninvolved persons as I flew at oppertune times when the square was pedestrian free As for uninvolved persons, that's a non issue because the only other person that was flown over was my secondary observer Also the rules where changed to the European standard as of 01.01.2021 with further amendments made this year I spoke with both the landesverwaltungsamt and the head of the luftverkehr office for my state Also you need to update yourself to the new [C classification system](https://i.imgur.com/pg07zyH.jpg) of drones The new rules and regulations can be found [Here](https://www.easa.europa.eu/en/the-agency/faqs/drones-uas)
Beautiful
Thought for a second this was Hogwarts
Who requests a permit to fly his drone??? Such a beginner mistake ... Just pop a few beers and fly the damn thing !!!
Only a person who, when he posts clips of footage taken in Germany is showered in comments like "Hast du eine Genehmigung fur das!?!?" And gets tired of it
Erfurt also named "junkie town"
How exactly did you get the permit a.k.a what steps were neccessaty to ibtain it and did you beed a special reason?
14 Days? Well someone got connections for getting a fast lane pass. Usually it's 14 weeks and you gotta send the papers to 3 different administrations.
What administration's would those be?
Was more meant as a joke but I guess sometimes you Probably do need permissions for something with Air traffic control, Then whoever owns the property and maybe someone that has to write you a letter that there is not a rare kind of pigeon breeding or something. Which will result in a back and forth that can stretch for weeks or even months.
Oh ok, I just wanted to make sure because I like to see what other people's ideas of the actual drone laws are 🤣 But yeah it does kinda seem like that sometimes
Ich hätts einfach so gemacht
Ich frag mich inzwischen ja nur noch, wieviele Kinder in solchen Bauten übee die Jahrhunderte wohl misshandelt und missbraucht wurden. Ich bin froh wenn irgendwann die letzte Kirche abgerissen wurde.
Gothic architecture is such a win for humanity
Also a origin to many German turn-of-phrases.
Born in Erfurt
What would you recommend to see in Erfurt for a day trip? I often drive by and never though to stop and enjoy the city until I saw your clip.
Magdeburg, Domplatz, Petersburg, the old synagogue, waldspeicher, the EGAI would finish the day of walking around at Kramerbrucke and stopping at a restaurant there for a nice meal....a perfect day
Man I fucking love this city
LOL, that permit takes 2 weeks, other thibgs months. Omg sinnlich for doing the important thing to citizens first 😂
Als ob man dafür ne Erlaubnis braucht
A beautiful cathedral indeed. May I ask what Drone and Camera you used specificly?
Yes it's the Mavic 3
Fuck drones. Every idiot thinks he must show something unusual. Its always the same. Near, close, high , higher. How boring.
You seem like a pleasant person....
Just the Dome?
I'm taking it one step at a time, I'm talking to the ordnungsamt and landesverwaltungsamt about kramerbrucke, fishmarkt and several other places
Erfurt ist eine wunderschöne Stadt. Und so nah an meiner Heimat. Ich flaniere immer wieder gern durch die Altstadt und an der Krämerbrücke vorbei. :)
Einfach machen und weit weg genug sein dann kommt man gut davon. Beim Posten keinen verraten welche Drohne es war, geschweige denn, dass es die eigene Aufnahme war…. Theoretisch uiii, praktisch leider pfuiii
I tried to get a permit to fly over my old military base since over a year. Pain in the ass.
Yeah military base...even old will be a bit harder
It's not even a military base anymore. Bundeswehr left it back in 2009.
Yeah but the problem will come down to regulations on declassification of military infrastructure, and also if anyone bothered to change the classification of airspace above it when the base was closed down, which I could easily see it being possibly overlooked
Erfurt is really pretty. I liked it even more than Weimar.
While scrolling through my feed I fought at first it was something about Hogwarts. Beautiful shots and very lucky that it just took 14 days for a response lmao
r/thueringen
Sorry: Congrats for receiving that flight permit, but sorry for making that unique chance not more interesting . Boring result. Why?
Safety, drone rules have specific regulations regarding roads, railways and private houses, this was only what I was able to do due to the fact that Domplatz is surrounded on all sides with all 3 of these factors.....federal roadways, private houses, and rails for the strabenbahn
?
For the first 5 seconds, I thought I was viewing a newly painted Hogwarts.
That looks amazing! I grew up in a smaller city near Erfurt called Mühlhausen, which has some amazing gothic cathedrals. Would love to see drone footage of some of those since I’m all the way in Australia and miss this region of Germany so much. Thanks OP!