Red with a white cross that extends to the edges of the flag. The vertical part of the cross is shifted to the hoist side. The banner is referred to as the Dannebrog (Danish flag) and is one of the oldest national flags in the world. Traditions as to the origin of the flag design vary, but the best known is a legend that the banner fell from the sky during an early-13th century battle. Caught up by the Danish king before it ever touched the earth, this heavenly talisman inspired the royal army to victory. In actuality, the flag may derive from a crusade banner or ensign.

Flag courtesy of the CIA World Factbook

Map courtesy of the CIA World Factbook

Google Earth

The Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen Harbor has been a symbol of the city since 1913. Based on the fairy tale of the same name by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen, the small, unimposing, bronze statue has been damaged or defaced many times in the past half century, but has always been restored.

Photo courtesy of the CIA World Factbook

Government

According to Britannica, the constitution of June 5, 1953, provides for a unicameral legislature, the Folketing, with not more than 179 members (including two from the Faroe Islands and two from Greenland). The prime minister heads the government, which is composed additionally of cabinet ministers who run the various departments, such as justice, finance, and agriculture. The ceremonial head of state, the monarch, appoints the prime minister (generally the leader of the largest party or coalition in the Folketing) and the cabinet ministers in consultation with the legislature. The monarch also signs acts passed by the Folketing upon the recommendation of the cabinet sitting as the Council of State. To become law, the acts must be countersigned by at least one cabinet member. Faced with a vote of no confidence, the cabinet must resign.

In addition to establishing unicameralism, the 1953 constitution mandates popular referenda (used, for example, to secure public approval for Danish entry into the EEC, now part of the EU) and postulates the creation of an ombudsman office, the first outside Sweden, its country of origin. The Succession to the Throne Act, which accompanied the 1953 constitution, provides for female succession. This allowed the accession of Queen Margrethe II in 1972.

Before 1970, local government in Denmark was carried out by a system of county council districts, boroughs, and parishes. A reform in that year reduced the number of counties and replaced the boroughs and parishes with a system of municipalities. In 2007 a further reform replaced the counties with a small number of administrative regions, which encompass the various municipalities. Regions and municipalities are governed by elected councils.

Most criminal charges and civil disputes fall within the jurisdiction of district courts. Two High Courts hear appeals from the district courts and serve as courts of original jurisdiction in serious criminal cases, in which 12-person juries are impaneled. In some nonjury criminal cases, lay judges sit alongside professional judges and have an equal vote. The Special Court of Indictment and Revision may reopen a criminal case and order a new trial. In Copenhagen there is a Maritime and Commercial Court, which also uses lay judges. The Supreme Court sits at the apex of the legal system.

Civil / National Aviation Authority (CAA/NAA)

Danish Civil Aviation and Railway Authority is organized with an Executive Management Board and two sectoral centers with including offices. And in addition to that, Bornholm Airport, Taxation Secretariat and Mink Secretariat.

Airspace

SkyVector – Google Maps – ADS-B Exchange

ICAO countries publish an Aeronautical Information Publication (AIP). This document is divided into three parts: General (GEN), En Route (ENR) and Aerodromes (AD). ENR 1.4 details the types of airspace classes they chose to adopt from classes A through G. Denmark AIP

Naviair has been designated by the Danish Civil Aviation and Railway Authority to provide air navigation services. They share some material on drones on their website. You should check out this interactive map.

Naviair’s designation includes drone traffic in Danish airspace.
The need to focus on this area continues to increase in step with the huge growth in the number of commercial drones, both in Denmark and worldwide. In Denmark alone, there were more than 20,000 registered drones at the start of 2021, and approximately 30,000 registered drone users. The number is expected to be many times greater by 2025, as the annual increase in the numbers of both drones and drone users has been around 40 per cent in recent years. Drone services requiring ever more complex operations are increasingly in demand from the healthcare sector, business, agriculture and the authorities. There is therefore a need to quickly establish a traffic management platform that will enable complex operations, flying drones beyond the drone operator’s visual line of sight, and safe, efficient drone traffic integrated with conventional air traffic.

In 2019, Naviair therefore set up a Drone Department which, in close partnership with the other players in the industry, is responsible for establishing a sophisticated Danish UTM platform (Unmanned aircraft system Traffic Management). In 2020, on the initiative of Naviair among others, a drone test collaboration called U-space Fyn was set up in connection with the first drone testing areas around H.C. Andersen Airport. The U-space Fyn cooperation comprises players from all areas within the drone industry – including University of Southern Denmark, Dronetestcenter Fyn, the Danish Civil Aviation and Railway Authority, and industry representatives.

The first test version of the UTM platform was inaugurated by the Danish Minister for Transport in October 2020 in U-space Fyn. The platform went into operation on 30 December 2020 and now has around 700 visitors a day. In July 2021, it became possible to plan drone operations on the platform, which was the first step towards the digitization of the present manual approval flow via the Danish Civil Aviation and Railway Authority. In 2022, in certain areas the platform will be able to provide technical support for flying drones beyond the operator’s line of sight. However, a major extension of this system is subject, among other things, to the support of the telecommunications companies in order to establish data connection between the flying drones and the UTM platform. Naviair is therefore an important player in the 5G project GENIUS, which is supported by Innovation Fund Denmark and aims to design a 5G network to support drones in Denmark. Generally speaking, the UTM platform will be extended over the coming many years, so that it will be capable of handling increasingly complex drone operations in close collaboration with the other air traffic in the lower airspace.

The introductory phase of the UTM platform up to and including 2022 is financed by a DKK 25 million grant from the Danish state.

Drone Regulations

Drone Laws

Droneregler.dk is the Swedish Transport Agency’s official portal to rules, requirements and legislation in the drone area. Before you go out and fly for the first time, there are some basic drone pilot rules you should know. There are both pan-European rules that apply throughout the EU and special Danish rules on distance requirements. As a drone pilot, you must comply with all of these.

Drone Certificate – In order to fly your drone, you may need a drone certificate. It all depends on the weight class of your drone. There is no requirement for a drone certificate for the lightest drones, while you only need a theoretical drone certificate for light drones and the heaviest drones. Common to the categories is that you must fly according to the weight class of your drone, which, based on the weight class, requires a given drone certificate.

A1/A3 – For the light drones, the theoretical drone certificate is called A1, while for the heaviest it is called A3. When you take the theory test for the theoretical drone certificate, you therefore take both the theoretical drone certificate A1 and A3.  If you pass this test, you must, in other words, fly the lightest and heaviest drones. The reason why the heaviest drones can be flown based solely on a theoretical test is because here you are forced to fly outside inhabited areas. Once you have obtained the theoretical drone certificate A1/A3, in other words, you can fly in the mentioned categories. You need e.g. not A2, to fly A3 categorized drones.

A2 – In the middle class of drones there is the drone competence certificate A2. With this certificate, you get some powers that you do not have for the theoretical drone certificate A1/A3, as you must have completed practical self-training before taking the drone competence certificate A2. With the drone competence certificate A2, you must e.g. fly closer to an airport than if you just have the theoretical drone certificate. You also have to fly closer to people, and therefore in the A2 category you also have to know more practically than for the theoretical drone certificates.

Know your legislation – However, it is not enough that you learn the rules above by heart. They are just a selection of the most important rules you should know, and as a remote pilot you still need to know the legislation you are flying under and where you can find the information.

The rules you find on droneregler.dk only apply to flying with drones. This means that there may be other laws and regulations that apply both nationally and locally. This applies, for example, to for the rules on privacy. A good example of where local rules apply can be in natural areas where the municipality maintains a protection for special wildlife that prohibits you from disturbing the animal species in question. You will not find this information in any of the legal texts you will find on this page. It is therefore important that you find out whether special rules apply in the place where you want to fly.

If one day you are in doubt about what you may or may not in relation to the rules, it is also in the legislation that you can become wiser.

The Drone Order – The drone order contains the national rules for flying drones. Since the Drone Ordinance does not do that, we in Denmark as an EU member state have the option of introducing additional provisions which prescribe distance requirements for airports and various safety-critical, flight safety-critical areas and environmental protection areas. The drone order’s full title is BEK no 2253 of 29/12/2020 – Order on supplementary provisions to EU Regulation 2019/947 on rules and procedures for the operation of unmanned aerial vehicles.

The Drone Regulation – Drone flight in the EU and in other countries is subject to the drone regulation, which prescribes the general regulations for flying drones in different categories and weight classes. This is where you will find the rules for the distance to be kept from people, gatherings of people and possibly built-up areas. The full title of the drone regulation is COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING REGULATION (EU) 2019/947 of 24 May 2019 on rules and procedures for the operation of unmanned aerial vehicles

The Drone Systems Regulation – The regulation is primarily for manufacturers of drone systems, where you can find information about the requirements for a C-marked drone. If the requirements for a C-marked drone system are met and approved by EASA, you must not fly under the transitional provisions for ‘legacy drones’. The full title of the Drone Systems Regulation is COMMISSION DELEGATED REGULATION (EU) 2019/945 of 12 March 2019 on unmanned aircraft systems and on third country operators of unmanned aircraft systems

Drone Airspace –  There are a number of distance requirements that you must keep to both people and areas in Denmark. The rules about flying over people are determined by your drone type, while it applies to all drone types that you may not fly higher than 120 meters above ground. At the same time, it also applies that there are places in Denmark where you may and may not fly with drones, regardless of drone type. To give you an overview of these areas, together with NAVIAIR we have developed Drone Airspace, which you can find both online and as an app on the most common smartphones and tablets. The information you find on Drone airspace is a visualization of the distance requirements you find in Executive Order 2253, as well as which areas fall under the various categories. The different categories are marked with color codes, which make it easier for you to find out how you should behave if you want to fly close to or in the different areas. There are areas in Denmark that you will not find on droneluftrum.dk, as they are either not regulated by the drone order or require a permit from private individuals. It is therefore important that you inform yourself whether you are allowed to fly in a given area with the relevant municipality or local actors. And if you want to fly closer than 2.5 meters of private property or over someone else’s fence, hedge or wall, you must remember to get permission from the owner first.

Apply for consent for drone flight

Remember to register yourself or your company as a drone operator – In European and Danish legislation, a distinction is made between the terms remote pilot and drone operator, and although the two terms are similar, they are 2 different things. Therefore, in most cases you must register as a drone operator and in most cases as a remote pilot.

As a drone operator, you must register with the Swedish Transport Agency. When you or your company is registered, the drone operator will be assigned a unique drone operator number, which must be applied to all the drones that are operated with. This means that a drone operator only needs a drone operator number for several drones, rather than previously, where you had to register each individual drone. You no longer have to, and the database for previously registered drones has ceased to exist.

At present, however, it is not possible to register as a drone operator, as the service is not yet fully developed. Therefore, private individuals who are also drone operators must include contact information and, if applicable, the drone certificate number. For drone operator companies, the company’s CVR no. applied to the drone. We will inform here at www.droneregler.dk when the registration function for drone operators has been fully developed. The information will appear both as news and as an important announcement.

The difference between remote pilot and drone operator – 

Remote Control – In common parlance, the remote pilot goes by the term drone pilot and defines you as someone who has a drone certificate or flies a micro drone. You will be registered as a remote pilot when you take a drone certificate, where your drone certificate number is written. For a Danish remote pilot, your drone certificate number will start with DNK followed by a combination of numbers and letters. If you have a micro drone that weighs less than 250 grams, there is no requirement that you take a drone certificate. It is therefore not a requirement that you register as a remote pilot, but you must still be registered as a drone operator if your drone either has a sensor or can transmit 80 joules of kinetic energy. The vast majority of remote pilots must therefore be registered either as a drone operator if they fly privately, or be associated with a company that is registered as a drone operator, regardless of whether it is a larger company or your own private company.

Drone Operator – As mentioned above, a remote pilot can be a drone operator if he flies as a private person. If you work for or own a business that is responsible for the drone operation, that person is the drone operator. It is also for this reason that a distinction is made between remote pilot and drone operator. And this is also why you must make sure whether you are or are associated with a drone operator who is registered with the Swedish Transport Agency. A drone operator must register if the drone weighs at least 250 grams, or if the drone weighs less than 250 grams, but there is a sensor on the drone, e.g. a camera. A drone operator must also register, even if the drone weighs less than 250 grams, if the drone can transfer more than 80 joules of kinetic energy to a human in the event of a collision.

Exceptions

• If your drone weighs less than 250 grams with camera and equipment mounted, you do not need a drone certificate
• If your drone weighs less than 250 grams, you don’t need insurance on the drone – It’s a good idea though
• If your drone weighs less than 250 grams, you must fly over people – however for as short a time as possible and not gatherings of people
• If you have a drone competence certificate A2, you may fly up to 2 km from a public airfield or military air station – However, a maximum of 40 meters above the height of the runway.
• You must have permission from the Swedish Transport Agency if you want to fly closer than 150 meters to police stations, embassies and column-3 companies
• You must have permission from the Defense Command if you want to fly closer than 300 meters to military areas or vessels
• You must have permission from the Swedish Transport Agency if, with a drone competence certificate A2, you want to fly closer than 1 km of a HEMS or 2 km of a public airfield or military air station

Apply for special permits

The other categories – The specific and certified category

U-space is a decisive step in fulfilling a wish from several industries that airspace should be shared between drones and manned aviation. Below we give you an overview of what U-space contains and what the requirements are for flying in U-space areas in Denmark and in Europe when the European U-space regulation comes into force on 26 January 2023.

A U-space is a delimited area and a fixed section of Danish airspace that allows manned aviation and drones to fly in the airspace at the same time. Drones may only fly in a U-space if the drone operator uses a number of digital services for the operation. These services are provided by service providers. This could, for example, be traffic information about where other drones are staying.

As is the practice today, as a starting point, restriction areas must be established to ensure separation between manned aviation and drones that wish to fly beyond visual range. In practical terms, this means that manned aviation and, as a rule, other drones must not fly into the airspace reserved for the drone, which can be perceived as inhibiting for the manned aviation that usually flies there.

A U-space can be arranged in several ways, and can provide different options for both drone operators and manned aircraft. U-space can e.g. arranged based on the following parameters:

A U-space can allow you to:

• Fly higher than 120 meters
• Flying outside the remote pilot’s field of vision (BVLOS – Beyond visual line of sight)
• Fly in areas where there is also manned traffic

In order to fly in a U-space area, drone operators must use a supplier of U-space services. This will typically be through a digital program or an application, where the drone operator both identifies himself, applies for flight permission and finds out about other traffic in the area – both before and during the flight.

The following U-space services must always be available to drone operators:

• Network identification
• Geolocation
• Obtaining Drone flight permits
• Traffic information

In addition, it is possible that you also get access to:

• Weather information
• Digital monitoring of compliance with U-space requirements

The purpose of U-space is, among other things, to give drones the opportunity to fly beyond line of sight over longer distances and can e.g. used in conjunction with drone operations where the purpose is to deliver parcels, blood samples or medicine.

Today, it is not possible in a safe way to let aircraft and drones fly at the same time without some form of separation, as it would require that aircraft as well as drones are electronically visible to each other and that an air traffic control is able to intervene, if dangerous situations are about to arise.

Drones and manned aviation are therefore separated structurally or by, for example, creating restricted areas. The structural separation between manned and unmanned aviation can be found in the legislation, which stipulates that you may not fly above 120 meters. As manned aviation is generally not allowed to fly lower than 150 meters, except at take-off and landing, there is therefore virtually no risk of collisions between drones and manned aviation. When drone operators want to be allowed to fly higher or further away than what the drone pilot can see, separation must be ensured in other ways. This is done today by creating restricted areas where manned aviation is not allowed to fly into. This means that the drone can be allowed to operate relatively freely in the allocated airspace. For manned aviation, however, it is a limitation.

In order to eliminate the disadvantages for both drones and manned aviation, and to create a safe airspace that can be shared by both, the EU Commission has worked over a number of years on U-space and the U-space Regulation, which applies from 26 .January 2023.

If a drone pilot wants to fly in U-space, the drone pilot must reserve a route in the airspace that the operation requires. The reservation is made via a U-space service provider (USSP), which also makes a number of services available to the drone pilot. An example of a service that the USSP must provide is information on the location of other drones in the U-space airspace in question. Immediately before starting the operation, the drone pilot must activate his reservation and the USSP confirms that the operation can be started. It is the responsibility of the USSP to ensure that the drones are separated from other drones – that is, permission is not given for the flight paths of two drones to collide.

In cases where a manned aircraft wishes to cross a U-space, the USSP is responsible for instructing the drones to either terminate their flight or descend to a lower altitude (i.e. yield) and the operator is responsible for, that the drone actually swerves, i.e. that the flight either terminates or that the drone deviates to a different altitude.

It is a requirement for all operations that an agreement be entered into with a USSP of one’s choice. This applies both to operations performed in the open category as well as to operations performed in the specific category, e.g. operations that are carried out beyond visual line of sight (Beyond Visual Line of Sight, BVLOS). Drones weighing less than 250g are exempt from this requirement.

For BVLOS operations, the operator must obtain a separate operating permit prior to the flight from the Swedish Transport Agency. An operator must therefore always comply with all the requirements of the open category when flying in a U-space, or make sure that the operator has obtained a permit to fly in the specific category.

The legislation regulating U-space airspace (EU 2021/664 of 22 April 2021) must be applied from 26 January 2023.

The Danish Transport Agency is responsible for creating a U-space airspace based on e.g. safety, environmental and privacy considerations. Prior to the creation, a thorough risk assessment is carried out, which involves affected parties, such as e.g. the municipality, regions, companies, private and public land owners and other airspace users as well as local stakeholders who may be affected by a U-space.

An example of where you can request the creation of a U-space is over an area where there is a need for separation. It can, for example, be in areas where it has been identified that many drone operations are taking place, or in areas where continuous drone operations would disrupt manned aviation for excessive periods if manned and unmanned aviation were separated by a restricted area.

Advanced Air Mobility (AAM)

2023 – HCA Airport and Copenhagen Helicopter partner on vertiport development in Denmark

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