Just on Christmas Eve 2024 ENAC published the drafts of the next UAS-IT regulationfinally clarifying a fundamental point, which has caused enormous problems and real nightmares for unwary drone operators who had “forgotten” that all drones must be insured, even under 250 grams. And they saw themselves saddled fines of tens of thousands of euros.
The good news is that for examplefor drones under 25 kilosthen from large model aircraft up to to pocket drone selfiesit is definitely written in black and white that the penalty for failure to cover insurance is the one foreseen by theArt. 1174 of the Navigation Codehence the fine it starts from a thousand euros and reaches up to around 6 thousand euros: certainly not peanuts, also because in practice the report will be 2.064 eurobut certainly better than having to sell the house to pay for it. In truth, fortunately for some time jurisprudence had already aligned itself in this interpretationbut now there are no more discussions and bitter surprises, it's just like that.
Another novelty, in case of flight without insurance, the drone must be seized for the purposes of confiscation. Furthermore, the additional sanction that derives from the art 1175 of the Navigation Codei.e. the suspension of the title “A1/A3 and A2 flight certificate in possession of the pilot”, provided that he is in possession of it (below 250 grams the certificate is not needed, but the policy is still mandatory).
The situation is very different for drones weighing over 25 kiloswhich are certainly not of interest to hobbyists but only to some very specialized professionals (or future air taxis, if we ever see one). For them the sanction remains the draconian one of the art. 1234 of the Navigation Codetens of thousands of euros and up to one hundred thousand. And naturally for them too, confiscation of the drone and loss of certificates, which given the weight of the drone will obviously be the case Specific and therefore another considerable damage for the pilot who will be grounded.
The draft of the ENAC regulation reiterates what is already in the current regulation, namely that the insurance provisions for drones (yes, of course, even those under 250g) must comply the art. 1015 of the Navigation Code. So be careful who you rely on foreign policieswhere the Navigation Code being an Italian law is not applied, or to generic policies head of the familywho deal with accidents that occur in their free time and not with air or sea navigation, so the Navigation Code is very distant from their thoughts: it is very important in these cases to inquire with your insurerto ensure that the policy is also in compliance with the requirements of the Navigation Code.
Let's immediately reassure the many Dronezine members who have a policy hobby or professional: the policies in question are already perfectly compliant to future ENAC provisions.
Read the drafts of the future UAS IT regulation
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