In May 2021, fungicides were permitted for the first time according to § 18 PflSchG for the application by unmanned aircraft systems (drones) in steep slope vineyards. These are exclusively products which have already been authorised or permitted for use with helicopters in steep vineyards.

A list of these products and the special restrictions which apply for the application by drones according to § 18 (3) No. 2 additionally or deviatingly can be found on the BVL homepage.

During application by unmanned aircraft systems a distance of 2 m above the crop at maximum must be observed and flying speed must not exceed 13 km/h. The application can only be carried out with drones that can fly automatically (i.e. the route specified by the user, the speed, the height above the crop and the switch-on and switch-off positions during spraying must be able to be observed automatically). Only unmanned aircraft systems with injector nozzles and mounted air-assisted sprayers, which are listed in the list of spraying systems for unmanned aircraft systems (drones) suitable for the application of plant protection products in steep slope vineyards by JKI may be used.

The use of a plant protection product with aircraft requires an additional authorisation of the competent authorities of the Federal States. Regulations of aviation law are not affected and have to be observed.

Year of issue 2021
Date 24.08.2021