{"id":207426,"date":"2021-11-29T14:19:39","date_gmt":"2021-11-29T13:19:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/?page_id=207426"},"modified":"2025-07-04T12:59:45","modified_gmt":"2025-07-04T10:59:45","slug":"drones","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/en\/resources\/drones\/","title":{"rendered":"Drones"},"content":{"rendered":"    <m-final-content-header >\n            <c-breadcrumb label-text=\"Breadcrumb\" slot=\"breadcrumbs\" type='2' align='left' wrap='wrapped wrapped' aria-label='You came from Resources'>\n                        <ol>\n\n                                                            <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/en\/\" title=\"Ferrovial\">Ferrovial<\/a><\/li>\n                                                                        <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/en\/resources\/\" title=\"Resources\">Resources<\/a><\/li>\n                                    \n                <\/ol>\n\n                <\/c-breadcrumb>\n    \n        <div slot=\"header\">\n            <h1>\n                Drones            <\/h1>\n                    <\/div>\n    <\/m-final-content-header>\n\n    \n\n\n<p><script type=\"application\/ld+json\">\n{\n  \"@context\": \"https:\/\/schema.org\",\n  \"@type\": \"FAQPage\",\n  \"mainEntity\": [{\n    \"@type\": \"Question\",\n    \"name\": \"What are drones?\",\n    \"acceptedAnswer\": {\n      \"@type\": \"Answer\",\n      \"text\": \"Drones are small or medium-sized unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). They're unique in that they can drive remotely and autonomously, and they're capable of maintaining a controlled, sustained level of flight.\"\n    }\n  },{\n    \"@type\": \"Question\",\n    \"name\": \"How do drones work?\",\n    \"acceptedAnswer\": {\n      \"@type\": \"Answer\",\n      \"text\": \"Drones work much like other modes of air transportation, such as helicopters and airplanes: the engine is turned on, it starts up, and the propellers rotate to enable flight. Then, the pilot uses the remote control to direct its flight from the ground.\"\n    }\n  },{\n    \"@type\": \"Question\",\n    \"name\": \"How can drones be used?\",\n    \"acceptedAnswer\": {\n      \"@type\": \"Answer\",\n      \"text\": \"<ul>\n   <li> Search and rescue.<\/li>\n   <li> Monitoring traffic.<\/li>\n <li> Weather measurements and observations for fire fighting. <\/li>\n <li> Applying pesticides, irrigation systems, and harvest monitoring.<\/li>\n<li> Military defense of the airspace to distinguish objects from people and the search for bombs or weapons  <\/li>\n<li> Border surveillance. <\/li>\n   <li> Archaeological inspection.<\/li>\n   <li> Animal tracking for research purposes  <\/li>\n   <li> Recording for audiovisual productions of scenes that were previously impossible or very expensive to shoot.<\/li>\n  <\/ul>\"\n    }\n  }]\n}\n<\/script><\/p>\n\n\n\n<m-wysiwig class=\"wp-block-components-wysiwyg\"><div slot=\"maincontent\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What are drones?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/en\/innovation\/technologies\/drones\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Drones<\/a> are small or medium-sized <strong>unmanned aerial vehicles<\/strong> <strong>(UAVs)<\/strong>. They&#8217;re unique in that they can <strong>drive remotely and autonomously<\/strong>, and they&#8217;re capable of maintaining a <strong>controlled, sustained level of flight.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The drone system <strong>combines robotics with aeronautics<\/strong>. They can be powered by an electric, jet, or combustion motor. They also have very modern equipment: <strong>GPS, radar control, infrared, and high-resolution cameras.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How do drones work?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Drones work much like other modes of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/en\/resources\/air-transport\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">air transportation<\/a>, such as helicopters and airplanes: the engine is turned on, it starts up, and the propellers rotate to enable flight. Then, the pilot uses the remote control to <strong>direct its flight from the ground<\/strong>. Many drones have the option to set a course automatically. This is possible thanks to the incorporation of GPS, which is adjusted to reach the given destination. The route is recorded by a camera, and the pilot can see the image from their command position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most drone models usually have <strong>four propellers,<\/strong> though there are models with three, six, and even eight. The propellers are usually <strong>double-bladed<\/strong>, and to keep the vehicle stable in the air, <strong>two propellers rotate in one direction while the others go in the opposite direction.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Every drone has a <strong>&#8220;central flight controller,&#8221; which works to maintain stability. <\/strong>This device also<strong> measures the strength and direction of the magnetic field and works like a compass.<\/strong> The controller receives information on the drone&#8217;s location through GPS; it then sends information to the Electronic Speed Control, which lets the motor use the revolutions needed to make the flight as safe and stable as possible.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How can drones be used?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Unmanned aerial vehicles can have multiple uses, ranging <strong>from commercial purposes to civil works and infrastructure inspections and recreational use.<\/strong> Some possible uses of drones include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Search and rescue.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Monitoring traffic.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Weather measurements and observations for fire fighting.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Applying pesticides, irrigation systems, and harvest monitoring.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Military defense of the airspace to distinguish objects from people and the search for bombs or weapons.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Border surveillance.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Archaeological inspection.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Animal tracking for research purposes.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Recording for audiovisual productions of scenes that were previously impossible or very expensive to shoot.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Spanish drone regulations&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The Spanish <strong>Aviation Safety and Security Agency <\/strong>(AESA, in Spanish) is in charge of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oneair.es\/normativa-drones-espana-aesa\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">regulating the use of drones<\/a>; they enforce European Regulations RE 2019\/947 and RD 2019\/945. <strong>RD 1036\/2017 will also remain in effect until January 1, 2022.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Drone pilots should consider the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The aircraft must be <strong>within the pilot&#8217;s field of vision.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The flight must stay at <strong>less than 120 meters in altitude.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Flying within an 8 km perimeter around an airport, airfield, or controlled airspace is prohibited.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Every drone must carry an<strong> identification plate.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Recording people or disclosing images of them <strong>without prior authorization<\/strong> is prohibited.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Currently, the <strong>Official Drone Pilot License is only required for Spanish law enforcement <\/strong>(the FCS, in Spanish)<strong>.<\/strong> Anyone else who has a drone weighing 250 grams or more only needs an <strong>accredited certificate of training.<\/strong> To fly in the <strong>open category <\/strong>&#8211; low-risk operational flights that do not require any authorization or pre-flight declaration &#8211; pilots must pass an AESA exam at level 1 or 2. To fly in the <strong>specific category <\/strong>&#8211; flights that do not qualify as an open category and therefore require prior authorization, for which they must submit a safety study &#8211; passing the exam at level 3 is necessary.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, current regulations removed the distinction between flights for work or professional reasons and those for leisure and fun. <strong>The only requirement for both is civil liability insurance.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Drones and sustainability<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Over time, the alliance between drone technology and the <strong>field of sustainability has grown stronger:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Thanks to high-definition cameras built into drones, it&#8217;s s possible <strong>to get precise images of agricultural fields and large land areas, <\/strong>substituting ground or air surveying vehicles that generate higher emissions.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Drones <strong>are used at solar and wind plants <\/strong>to identify failures, material losses, or malfunctions without the need for physically sending in personnel to facilities, which translates into <strong>savings in fuel, time, and money.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>With drones, it&#8217;s also possible to <strong>measure air quality, the pollen level, and atmospheric <\/strong>conditions through built-in sensors. The information collected can later be used to identify patterns and prepare climatological studies.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Fun facts about drones&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In the United States, it&#8217;s already possible <strong>to make purchases online and enjoy home delivery<\/strong> of 2.3 kg packages within <strong>30 minutes<\/strong>, thanks to drones.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In recent years, drones for domestic use have been used to <strong>record tourist attractions<\/strong> and capture panoramic views. This is common among travel, tourism, and lodging companies, but also in audiovisual content by YouTubers and Instagrammers who specialize in travel and lifestyle.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/m-wysiwig>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"parent":172,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-207426","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Drones: what they are, how they work, Spanish regulations - Ferrovial<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Drones are small to medium-sized unmanned aerial vehicles. They are remotely and autonomously piloted and are capable of maintaining a controlled and sustained level of flight.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/en\/resources\/drones\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Drones: what they are, how they work, Spanish regulations - Ferrovial\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Drones are small to medium-sized unmanned aerial vehicles. They are remotely and autonomously piloted and are capable of maintaining a controlled and sustained level of flight.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/en\/resources\/drones\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ferrovial\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ferrovial\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-04T10:59:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ferrovial\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Drones: what they are, how they work, Spanish regulations - Ferrovial","description":"Drones are small to medium-sized unmanned aerial vehicles. They are remotely and autonomously piloted and are capable of maintaining a controlled and sustained level of flight.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/en\/resources\/drones\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Drones: what they are, how they work, Spanish regulations - Ferrovial","og_description":"Drones are small to medium-sized unmanned aerial vehicles. They are remotely and autonomously piloted and are capable of maintaining a controlled and sustained level of flight.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/en\/resources\/drones\/","og_site_name":"Ferrovial","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ferrovial","article_modified_time":"2025-07-04T10:59:45+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@ferrovial","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/en\/resources\/drones\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/en\/resources\/drones\/","name":"Drones: what they are, how they work, Spanish regulations - Ferrovial","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/en\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-11-29T13:19:39+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-04T10:59:45+00:00","description":"Drones are small to medium-sized unmanned aerial vehicles. They are remotely and autonomously piloted and are capable of maintaining a controlled and sustained level of flight.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/en\/resources\/drones\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/en\/resources\/drones\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/en\/resources\/drones\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Portada","item":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Resources","item":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/en\/resources\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Drones"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/en\/","name":"Ferrovial","description":"Welcome to the Ferrovial&#039;s website, global operator of sustainable infrastructure. Here you can find all the information about the company and subsidiaries.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/en\/#organization","name":"Ferrovial S.A.","url":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en","@id":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/static.ferrovial.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/13124948\/logo-ferrovial-cf7.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.ferrovial.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/13124948\/logo-ferrovial-cf7.png","width":144,"height":32,"caption":"Ferrovial S.A."},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ferrovial","https:\/\/x.com\/ferrovial","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ferrovial\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/ferrovial","https:\/\/www.pinterest.es\/ferrovial\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/ferrovial","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ferrovial"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/207426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207426"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/207426\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":308902,"href":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/207426\/revisions\/308902"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}