Drones
AlphaTango: who registers when renting a drone?
This is the question that comes up before almost every first drone rental: “The drone is yours, so is the registration? ". The answer is no. Throughout the rental period, the operator of the drone within the meaning of European regulations is you. The registration is in your name, it is free, and no one can do it for you.
Two different things, often confused
On the one hand, the device. It belongs to us, it is identified by its manufacturer serial number, and this number appears on the drone annex attached to your contract. This is our part of the job, done before the package leaves.
On the other, the operator: the person who has operational control of the flight and who is responsible for it. This role cannot be rented and cannot be transferred with the equipment. We don't put our number on a rented drone — we slip a blank adhesive label into the package, and it's your number on it. Our general conditions say this in article 10.2: “The Lessor does not affix its own number to the drone. »
Yes, even below 250 g
The two drones in our fleet are advertised as DJI below the threshold, standard battery: less than 249 g for the Mini 4 Pro , C0 certified in the European Union, and 249.9 g for the Mini 5 Pro . We read everywhere that under 250 g there is nothing to declare. This is false as soon as there is a camera on board, and there is one.
The trigger for registration is not the mass, it is the sensor: a drone capable of capturing personal data requires the registration of its operator regardless of its weight (Regulation (EU) 2019/947, article 14). The 250 g threshold affects two other things: training, and the right to fly over people.
The XXL battery: read this before you check it
This is the most expensive trap on this page. We offer an “XXL Batteries” option on the Mini 4 Pro for €4 per rental. It significantly extends the battery life - and it takes the device above 249 g. DJI writes it on its own technical sheet: with the Intelligent Flight Battery Plus, the device exceeds 249 g and can no longer be operated as a class C0 UAS in the European Union.
Three immediate consequences:
- the A1/A3 training completion certificate becomes mandatory before the flight — free, online, one to two hours, on the training site of the DGAC ;
- you no longer fly over people who are not participating in the flight: the authorization specific to class C0 no longer applies;
- you must have this certificate with you during the flight.
What doesn't change: the class label remains the one affixed by the manufacturer - you don't change the class of a drone by changing its battery. What changes are the rules that you must respect, and the regulations ask you to check before each flight that the added load does not take the device out of its class.
The simple choice: if you want a perfectly established frame, get the standard battery. The device remains below the threshold, in class C0, and no training is required. On Mini 5 Pro, the question does not arise: we do not offer this option.
The recording, in fifteen minutes
- You create an account on AlphaTango , the DGAC portal. It's free, and the number is delivered immediately.
- You get a UAS operator number in the format “FRA” followed by thirteen characters. Keep it: it will be useful for all your rentals, with us and elsewhere.
- You transfer it to the blank label provided and stick it on the device, readable when the drone is placed, without hiding the manufacturer's class label.
- You also enter it, with its secret key, in the remote electronic reporting of the DJI application, before the first takeoff.
This last line is the most often forgotten, and it is the most costly: without it, theft is illegal, even with the number correctly stuck on the hull (general conditions, article 10.3).
What not to do to this label
The contract prohibits you from removing, hiding or modifying it during the rental. Two very concrete reasons: this is what an inspection looks at first, and a drone whose marking has disappeared returns to us unusable for the next tenant until it has been redone.
In the other direction, the label that we provide is intended for this specific use - apart from it, article 15.2 prohibits you from engraving, marking or affixing a distinctive sign on the material. The number is written on the label, never on the shell.
What a check will ask you
You take with you on each flight, on paper or on the phone:
- an identity document;
- your operator registration certificate;
- and, if you took the XXL battery, your A1/A3 training certificate.
The document issued is called a training completion certificate, valid for five years; there is no driving title in the open category.
When faced with the police, present these documents and comply: refusal is an aggravating circumstance with heavy penalties.
Without this number, the package will not leave
Any rental of a camera drone goes through a prior check: identity document, UAS operator number, and two certificates to check — acknowledgment of the rental conditions and the drone annex, and a sworn declaration of sufficient coverage for a loss caused to a third party. The file is manually checked within 24 working hours, and the order is only prepared once the file has been validated.
Good news: it is valid for one year and reusable for all your drone rentals over the period. The advice is in one sentence: check in AlphaTango when you book, not when you receive the package — and especially not the morning of the flight, in a parking lot, with a capricious network.
If you do not live in France
Don't register twice. Registration is done only once, in your country of residence, and it is valid throughout the European zone, France included. From a country outside this zone – United Kingdom, United States – you register with DGAC, on AlphaTango, as the authority of the first European country from which you are flying.
What about insurance?
Do not confuse the two covers. Equipment breakage and theft insurance is included in the price of our drone rentals: it protects the device. It does not cover damage that you cause to a third party, for which you are responsible as operator. This is precisely the purpose of the sworn declaration requested in the file.
The details of the obligations, dated and sourced - zones, altitude, overflight, sanctions, and the XXL battery - appear in our drone annex.