All of Cork city, Cork Airport, and much of the surrounding areas will be designated a ‘no-fly zone’ for hobbyist drones from tomorrow night. It comes as the Irish Aviation Authority announced new temporary airspace restrictions over Cork and opened a public consultation to make them permanent.
Under the current regulations, drone operators can operate drones within line of sight across much of Cork city, up to a height of 30m, with a number of hardline restrictions in place for the airspace around Cork Prison and Cork Airport.
Once the new regulations take effect, drone operators who want to fly in the restricted zone will need to submit a form to Cork Air Traffic Control (ATC) at least 2 days before their flight. These measures will take effect on Saturday, February 14 and will remain in place until May of this year.
However, with the consultation process to make these restrictions permanent already underway, they might be here to stay. The Irish Aviation Authority said that the restrictions are being put in place to ensure safety within Cork’s airspace.
Any aircraft, whether manned or unmanned, operating in the control zone will be subject to entry conditions, with AirNav Ireland managing that access. Within the ATC Control Zones, there are additional blocks of airspace with specific rules for unmanned aircraft and drone operations. These airspace blocks or volumes are called UAS Geographical Zones and are available to view on iaa.ie/geozones.
The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) has assured the public that there will be no change to how ‘blue light’ emergency services access this airspace. Emergency services will continue to have absolute priority, and all non-emergency drone activity will be paused immediately whenever required to ensure safe access.
It comes as drone delivery company Manna requested permission from the IAA to operate their services in Cork. The company uses drones that operate beyond visual line of sight to deliver small packages, and it’s understood that the new regulations are intended to enable the safe operation of these drones.
The new regulations come as a blow to hobbyist drone pilots, many of whom use their drones to capture stunning images and video across Cork city. Dronehawk, one of Cork’s best-known drone photographers, has railed against the new regulations as they will severely restrict his ability to capture footage of major projects across Cork city.
He said: “The Irish Aviation Authority announced that as of February 14, it would establish a drone no-fly zone across Cork city and its greater metropolitan area. This zone stretches from Dunkettle in the east to the far side of Bishopstown to the west, and from Cork Airport in the south out to Dublin Hill in the north.
“All drone activity in this new zone will be prohibited unless approved by Air Traffic Control. Permission for drone flights within this zone can be approved by written request, sent in two days in advance, using a UF101 application form.
“However, in my many years of flying, any requests made using this method have always been refused, as this application process only applies to users in a specific category, usually professional drone services and not to hobbyists in the open category.”
The hobbyist drone pilot said he objects to being shut out of the airspace he’s used for years to allow commercial interests to use it. Dronehawk also highlighted the complaints made by residents in Dublin 15, where Manna already operates a drone delivery service.
The public consultation on the new airspace regulations remains open until March 14 2026, and you can have your say via the online portal here.
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