Paid roof inspection abroad with leisure insurance
You are registered as a UAS operator in your home EU Member State. You travel to another EU Member State for a one-off paid roof inspection for a friend's company. Your drone is an 850 g CE class C1 with remote ID. Your third-party liability policy certificate says 'private leisure use within country of residence'. The roof is in a residential street; the client wants close-up shots of a chimney, and the neighbouring garden is 8 m away. You plan to fly at 15 m AGL, about 20 m from people. The client says the neighbours are 'fine with it' and asks you to include their garden for context.
1. What is the first insurance problem and what must you do before accepting the job?
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- The job is paid, so it is commercial use. The certificate wording covers private leisure use only.
- That means the policy is unlikely to respond to a third-party claim arising from this flight. EASA open-category rules do not replace insurance; drone insurance requirements and policy terms are national and contractual.
- Before flying, ask the insurer or broker for commercial cover, check territorial limits, the drone serial/class, the sums insured and whether paid aerial work is excluded.
- Obtain written confirmation or a certificate that matches the actual operation. If you cannot, decline the paid job or fly only as a private flight with no payment and no commercial purpose.
- Do not assume the client's own insurance covers your flight.
2. Is your home-state operator registration enough for this flight? What else must you check?
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- Operator registration in one EU Member State is generally valid for operations in another Member State, so you do not normally need a second operator registration.
- Registration does not authorise every flight. You must still comply with the host State's operational rules, UAS geographical zones, remote-ID requirements and any local insurance or notification rules.
- Check the drone class and the open-category subcategory conditions for the actual location. A residential street with people about 20 m away is not a casual 'fly anywhere' situation; verify separation and overflight rules before take-off.
- Check local NOTAMs, temporary zones and aerodrome surroundings.
- Keep the operator registration evidence and remote-ID capability available.
3. The client asks you to include the neighbouring garden 'for context'. How do you respond?
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- Refuse to make the neighbouring garden part of the deliverable unless there is a clear, lawful need and you can avoid capturing people.
- The garden and any identifiable people in it can contain personal data. The neighbours' verbal 'fine with it' is not a blanket permission for publication on a property website or social media.
- Apply data minimisation: frame only the target roof and chimney, use an angle that excludes adjacent gardens, and do not overfly or hover over neighbours.
- If incidental capture is unavoidable, blur or crop it before publication and keep only the footage needed.
- Also check the open-category overflight/separation rules for uninvolved people; privacy consent does not override aviation safety rules.