Here’s a message I bet a fair few travelling photographers have typed into a search bar the night before a Greenland trip: ‘Is my drone licence valid in Greenland?’. I get some version of that question about Iceland every week, so let me save you the same scramble for Greenland. The short answer is no, your EU certificate isn’t valid there. The better news is that, for the flying most photographers do, you don’t need a licence or a permit at all. Greenland has surprisingly few hoops, as long as you know the handful of rules and stick to them.
That’s where a workshop can help, though not in the way you might expect. I run photography workshops in Greenland every summer, including a West Greenland trip out of Ilulissat on the edge of Disko Bay. I’m not there to file paperwork for you, there’s barely any to file. Where I actually add value is the flying itself: the teaching, knowing which spots and hours are worth it, and the genuinely tricky part, helping you launch and land your drone from our moving chartered boat among the icebergs & whales.
Icebergs catching the last light in East Greenland, from the air.
A lone iceberg in the Ilulissat Icefjord at twilight.
Why Greenland Is Not Iceland With More Ice
I fly in Iceland under EASA’s rules, the same as most of you reading this. Despite being a part of Denmark, Greenland sits outside the EU and that single fact is why none of your EU paperwork travels with you. Flying there is governed instead by Danish regulation BL 9-4, covering unmanned aircraft up to 25 kg, made under the Danish Aviation Act. Different country, different legal system, different people writing the rules. (Iceland has its own rules too, worth knowing if your trip touches both places, which a lot of mine do.)
Your European A1/A3 certificate doesn’t apply. Your A2 doesn’t apply. There’s no Greenlandic licence or certificate to go and get instead, so don’t waste an afternoon hunting for one. You operate under BL 9-4’s own rules, plus an exemption process for anything outside of those rules.
The Short Version Of The Rules
- No recreational flying within urban areas, full stop.
- Maximum altitude is 100 metres above ground level. Higher needs an exemption backed by a JARUS SORA risk assessment, and that includes flying beyond visual line of sight.
- Don’t overfly people or property.
- Stay at least 150 metres from built-up areas and major public roads.
- Keep 5 km clear of public airfield runways, 8 km clear of military airbase runways.
- Some natural areas are protected under BL 7-16, national parks among them, and can’t be overflown without permission.
None of these numbers are arbitrary, in my eyes. 100 metres keeps you under the light-aircraft traffic that does a lot of the work roads do elsewhere. 150 metres from built-up areas matters in a town like Ilulissat, where the harbour, the church and the edge of the ice sit closer together than you’d plan for on a map. And the 5 km / 8 km airfield buffers exist because Greenlandic settlements, Ilulissat included, depend entirely on their airstrip.
Most camera drones, your Minis, Airs and Mavics, sit in weight class 1A (0 to 1.5 kg) or 1B (1.5 to 7 kg), the bracket all of the above applies to. Heavier rigs move into weight class 2 (7 to 25 kg), which brings a stricter regime of its own: approved model airfields only, liability insurance and a radio control system, and operating under an approved organisation (those same extra rules apply to any jet-powered drone, whatever it weighs). Anything over 25 kg needs its own exemption, a conversation to have with the Danish authority long before you pack a case, not from a hotel room in Ilulissat.
Three humpback whales off West Greenland, a frame only the drone could reach.
Our boat picking a line through the ice near the Eqi glacier.
Airfields, Heliports and DJI’s No-Fly Zones
The airfield distances are the rule most likely to catch you out, because in Greenland the settlements are built around their airstrips and heliports. Because the settlements are often not large, it’s also not quick to get away from these areas unless you are on a boat or going on a longer hike. BL 9-4 keeps you at least 5 km from public airfield runways and 8 km from military airbase runways, and in a lot of places that circle sits right over where you’d most want to fly: the town, the harbour, the ice just offshore.
There’s a second layer on top of the law, and it lives inside your drone. DJI’s FlySafe database maps geo zones around airports and heliports worldwide, Greenland included, and depending on your drone, its firmware and the region, it can warn you, cap your altitude, or refuse to take off inside one. The zones are usually tiered: a hard no-fly core over the runway, then altitude-limited rings that stretch out along the approach and departure lanes. You can be well clear of the town and still find the drone limited because you’re sitting under a landing corridor.
So do two things before you fly: check the DJI FlySafe map for wherever you’re headed, and understand the BL 9-4 distances yourself. The database and the law don’t always agree, so treat both as hard limits.
The DJI FlySafe zones around Ilulissat: a no-fly core over the runway, restricted rings around the airport, and the approach corridors reaching out along the flight path.
Taking Off & Landing From a Boat
On the water in Disko Bay, most of the drone work happens from the boat, and not because you have to. You can fly perfectly well from shore. It’s that a boat gets you closer to the most striking icebergs and lets you drop right down to the waterline, where the best angles are. The catch is that once you’re out there, there’s nowhere to set a drone down: the ice is drifting, the deck is moving, and there’s open water on every side. So you hand-launch and you hand-catch, straight off the boat.
Here I am landing a drone at the back of our chartered boat in West Greenland during a rather stormy day with swells and lots of movement.
To be clear: it sounds a lot scarier than it turns out to be. Handing a spinning drone from your hand on a moving boat, then catching it out of the air while the deck rocks under you, is a real skill, and it rattles everyone the first time. I talk people through the grip, the moment to let go, the moment to reach up and take it back, and I do it alongside them rather than calling instructions across the deck. By the second or third launch of the trip, it stops being the scary part of the day and starts being just… part of flying in Greenland. If you want the full safety rundown, the real dangers and the best practices, I’ve put it all in a separate post on flying a drone from a boat.
What I Actually Help With on a Workshop
You can absolutely read BL 9-4 line by line with a coffee, and plenty of people do exactly that and fly a perfectly legal trip. So I won’t pretend a workshop is about paperwork, because there’s almost none. Where I earn my keep is the photography & the challenges of flying from a boat: teaching you to get the most from your drone in this light, knowing the spots and the hours that are actually worth it, communicating with the boat’s captain to get into the best positions and standing beside you on the boat when it’s time to hand-launch and hand-catch over the water. That last part is the genuinely hard bit, and it’s the reason I mention the workshop at all.
What the Greenland Workshops Look Like
The West Greenland trip runs every summer, based in Ilulissat for roughly a week, with a small group of eight. That’s Disko Bay’s icebergs at close range, boat trips weaving through drifting sea ice, the Ilulissat Icefjord calving in the distance, humpback whales surfacing beside the boat if the summer delivers, and drone work built into the itinerary from spots and hours I already know are legal to fly. The midnight sun means the light doesn’t disappear the way it does at home, so a lot of the best flying happens later than you’d expect, when the ice goes gold and the wind tends to drop. You’re not guessing where the line is, on land or from the boat. You’re just flying.
A humpback surfacing beside an iceberg in Disko Bay, seen from above.
East Greenland is a different world entirely. In late August I sail into Scoresbysund, one of the largest fjord systems on the planet and about as remote as photography gets, aboard a small sailboat that can slip into places the big expedition ships can’t reach. Eight days off-grid, no phone signal, giant icebergs the locals nickname Iceberg City, mountains climbing two kilometres straight out of the water, and, if you’re lucky, a polar bear hauled out on the ice. We launch the drones straight off the deck there too, because on a sailboat deep in a fjord there’s rarely anywhere else to set one down.
What the two trips share is the flying. On both, the drone work is hand-launched and hand-caught from a moving boat, and on both, the same BL 9-4 rules follow you the whole way. Wherever you fly in Greenland, the framework doesn’t change with the scenery.
If you ever want the full picture, you’ll find my Greenland workshops here, but that’s a story for another day. Today it’s just the rules.
Our chartered sailboat in East Greenland during a magical evening surrounding by slush ice.
Flying Greenland on Your Own
Most people fly Greenland solo without any special permission at all. Stick to the rules above, outside the towns, under 100 metres, well clear of the airfields, and you’re flying legally with no forms to fill in. The exemption process only enters the picture if you want to go beyond those limits: higher than 100 metres, closer to a settlement, or into a protected area. That means applying for an exemption from the Danish Civil Aviation and Railway Authority, built around an operations manual under AIC B 08/14, and it’s worth starting weeks ahead, not the morning you want to fly. You can reach them at info@trafikstyrelsen.dk.
Read the rules above twice, check them against your actual route, and don’t assume ‘it worked in Iceland’ counts as a legal argument in Greenland. It doesn’t.
Rules like these get reviewed and updated, so confirm the current version with the Danish Civil Aviation and Railway Authority before you travel rather than trusting a blog post, mine included, as your final word.
Source: Danish Civil Aviation and Railway Authority, ‘Drone Flying in Greenland’ (en.droneregler.dk), last updated 3 June 2025.
Greenland Drone Rules: Frequently Asked Questions
Do I Need a Licence to Fly a Drone in Greenland?
Not in the EU sense. Greenland is outside the EU, so there’s no EASA licence to hold and no Greenlandic one to swap it for. You operate under Danish regulation BL 9-4 instead, and anything outside its standard limits needs an exemption applied for in advance.
Is My EU or EASA Drone Certificate Valid in Greenland?
No. Your EU licence is not valid there, whether it’s A1/A3 or A2. BL 9-4 is the only framework that applies.
How High Can I Fly a Drone in Greenland?
Up to 100 metres above ground level without extra paperwork. Anything higher, including beyond visual line of sight, needs an exemption backed by a JARUS SORA risk assessment.
Can I Fly a Drone in Ilulissat or Near the Icefjord?
Not casually within the town itself, recreational flying isn’t allowed in urban areas. Outside it, you still need 150 metres from built-up areas and roads, and some nearby natural areas need separate permission under BL 7-16.
What If I Want to Fly Above 100 Metres, Closer to a Settlement, or in a Protected Area?
You’ll need an exemption from the Danish Civil Aviation and Railway Authority, built around an operations manual under AIC B 08/14. Contact them at info@trafikstyrelsen.dk and start the process weeks before your trip.
Can You Fly a Drone From a Boat in Greenland?
Yes, and in practice you often have to. Among the icebergs of Disko Bay there’s rarely a safe or legal spot to land on the ice or the shore, so you hand-launch and hand-catch the drone straight from the boat instead. The same BL 9-4 rules still apply: stay clear of people, keep your distances, stay under that 100 metre ceiling.
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