Urgent and emergency flights

How to conduct urgent UAS flights for police and emergency service operations in airspace managed by ENAIRE?

Application of Articles 12 and 44 of RD 517/2024 to certain non-EASA operations

Royal Decree 517/2024, on the civil use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), establishes in Article 44, section 1 that, to conduct non-EASA activities or services under certain situations in general UAS geographical zones, for reasons of operational safety in the vicinity of both civil and military aerodromes and heliports, as well as in controlled airspace and flight information zones (FIZ), and in particular UAS geographical zones created for these purposes, it is necessary for the UAS flight operator to coordinate, at least in real time, with the affected ATS providers to ensure the safety of other air operations.

The general UAS geographical zones laid out in Articles 41 and 42 can be viewed in the ENAIRE DRONES web application:

1. Civil public-use aerodromes (AENA network and Aeroports de Catalunya) and military aerodromes of any type, excluding heliports.

2. Civil public-use heliports (AENA network) and military heliports of any type.

These non-EASA activities or services, which include combating organised crime, terrorism, or serious threats to public safety, as well as preventing dangers or attacks against the independence or territorial integrity of Spain, national interests, and the stability of the rule of law or its institutions, must be carried out by:

law enforcement agencies under the authority of the national government, or police forces under the authority of the Autonomous Communities;
the Deputy Directorate of Customs Surveillance; or
the National Intelligence Centre.

These bodies must take the necessary measures to ensure operational safety.

There may also be a need for urgent UAS flight operations under Article 12 of Royal Decree 517/2024, either to be conducted directly by a public authority responsible for the respective non-EASA activity or service, or indirectly by a UAS operator/pilot acting at the request of that public authority.

Application procedure via SYSRED H24

For both cases of urgent UAS flight needs, provided the airspace falls under ENAIRE’s jurisdiction (which can be verified via the ENAIRE DRONES web application), the following procedure must be followed:

The authority in charge of the emergency, or the operator acting on behalf of that authority, must contact our SYSRED H24 centre by sending a written notice to sysredh24@enaire.es, stating the reason for the operation and providing the information needed to properly coordinate with the tower or control centre responsible for that airspace.

The following details are required:

Name of the authority responsible for the emergency and contact
- Date of communication
- Time of communication
- Date of the operation
- Time of the operation (start and finish, estimated at least)
- Coordinates of the operation boundaries, using either a polygon or a circle with a centre and radius, preferably in geographic format (degrees, minutes, and seconds: DDMMSS N/S, DDDMMSS E/W) rather than decimal degrees, for faster processing.
- Type of flight (VLOS, BVLOS)
- Type and number of UAS/drones used
- Maximum speed of the operation
- Mass of the UAS
- Maximum flight altitude of the UAS (at least estimated, initially limited to 120 m AGL)
- Navigation or detection systems that the UAS is equipped with
- Operator/pilot contact information for possible communications from the tower or control centre responsible for the airspace.
Once the information is submitted in writing, the operator must follow up with a phone call to report the urgent UAS operation request, using the direct support numbers that SYSRED H24 makes available to operators (+34 667 19 88 80 and +34 916 785 364).
SYSRED H24 will manage the request and inform the relevant ENAIRE ATS unit(s) during their operating hours, which will respond with the appropriate conditions for the UAS operation in question.
SYSRED H24 will relay to the requester and all interested parties the operational conditions necessary to minimise the impact on other potential airspace users during the UAS flight.
The UAS operator will conduct the operation in coordination with the relevant ATS unit, complying with the conditions and measures determined in step 3 of this procedure. It is the responsibility of the UAS operator to notify the relevant ATS units of the start and end of the operation, as well as of any events that could result in the cancellation of the scheduled flight.

For non-EASA activities or services covered under Law 17/2015 of the National Civil Protection System, the same coordination procedure described above will apply.

However, for indirect non-EASA operations in emergency situations, as set out in Article 12, Section2 of Royal Decree 517/2024, in addition to the data required in point 1, the operator must provide documentary evidence of representation (contract with the requesting authority, email, or similar). This document must be sent to coop.org.oficiales@enaire.es, after the flight start date if it cannot be provided at the time of the request.

Procedimiento directo para vuelos UAS urgentes, propio de ENAIRE

Alternativamente, ENAIRE también dispone de un procedimiento propio para la atención de solicitudes de vuelos urgentes de UAS gestionada directamente por la torre o centro de control de ENAIRE responsable, sin la intermediación de SYSRED H24, en funciones propias de cuerpos policiales y de emergencias y de otros organismos públicos, incluyendo a operadores privados realizando esas actividades para esos entes públicos.

El organismo interesado en ser incluido en este procedimiento propio de ENAIRE debe escribirnos a coop.org.oficiales@enaire.es con antelación suficiente para poder comprobar el cumplimiento de todos los requisitos normativos, incluido el indispensable estudio aeronáutico de seguridad (EAS/EARO), para posteriormente comunicarlo formalmente a la(s) dependencia(s) de control afectada(s), y establecer la fecha a partir de la cuál poder comenzar a operar de forma urgente con este procedimiento.