Tiny Whoops - Flying Tiny FPV Drones
Micro FPV (First Person View) drones, sometimes called Tiny Whoops, are one of the most exciting and affordable ways to experience the thrill of flying like a bird. Weighing just a few grams - mine comes in at only 25g including the battery - these tiny drones are incredibly agile and fast. Equipped with a built-in camera and paired with FPV goggles, they give you a breathtaking, immersive view from the sky, as if you were sitting in the cockpit yourself. And thanks to their compact size, you can even fly them indoors, weaving through tight spaces with ease.
Austrian law adds a few hurdles when it comes to flying legally. Even though tiny whoops are well under the 250g limit, insurance and registration with Austro Control are still required - because the drone carries a camera. Normally, flying in Vienna would be completely off-limits but thankfully there’s an exception: drones under 250g that are flown below 30 meters altitude do not need any permits. But you still need to stay at least 1.5 kilometers away from heliports - and Vienna has quite a few of those.
Luckily, there are several apps and websites (dronespace.at, oeamtc.at) that clearly show the locations and boundaries of these no-fly zones. For some reason these maps do not indicate the 250g/30m exception, though it can be found on the official dronespace.at website. Overall, I do think the regulations are well-intentioned, but it does feel a bit ridiculous that I need to keep 1.5 km away from a hospital - just in case a helicopter might collide with my 25g drone hovering a few meters above the ground. Have the people writing these rules never heard of pigeons? Those weigh about 300-370g, so 10-15 times more than my drone, and fly at up to 80 km/h! I sure hope those pidgeons are paying their insurance...
This is my drone:
Here are some vidoes of me flying: