CLEARANCE, FLIGHT PLAN, AND CALLSIGN
In the Netherlands, flying a drone is regarded as a VFR flight. VFR flights are subject to certain legal requirements. Are you flying your drone in controlled airspace? Then you need clearance from the tower controller. You must also submit a flight plan and the obligation of two-way radio contact (RTF) applies.
Planning a mission in GoDrone fulfills the obligation to submit a flight plan. In addition, you can specify your intended callsign in the comments in GoDrone. Your callsigndat is a combination of:
Unmanned, plus
- a logical acronym of the company name (for example: Dutch Drone Organization becomes DDO)
- In the case of this example, the callsign becomes Unmanned DDO (delta delta Oscar).
The Operational Helpdesk coordinates your mission plan with the control tower and, depending on the situation, issues provisional permission. You get the real permission to fly, the clearance, from the tower controller.
To monitor the workload of tower controllers, LVNL can set a maximum for the number of drone flights that take place simultaneously in the CTR. When this maximum has been reached, you will not receive provisional permission from the Operational Helpdesk. The tower controller can also decide for safety reasons not to grant clearance or to (temporarily) withdraw an earlier clearance.