Article 9 Minimum age for remote pilots

1.The minimum age for remote pilots operating a UAS in the ‘open’ and ‘specific’ category shall be 16 years.

2.No minimum age for remote pilots shall be required:

(a)when they operate in subcategory A1 as specified in Part A of the Annex to this Regulation, with a UAS Class C0 defined in Part 1 of the Annex to Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/945 that is a toy within the meaning of Directive 2009/48/EC;

(b)for privately-built UAS with a maximum take-off mass of less than 250g;

(c)when they operate under the direct supervision of a remote pilot complying with paragraph 1 and Article 8.

3.Member States may lower the minimum age following a risk-based approach taking into account specific risks associated with the operations in their territory:

(a)for remote pilots operating in the ‘open’ category by up to 4 years;

(b)for remote pilots operating in the ‘specific’ category by up to 2 years.

4.Where a Member State lowers the minimum age for remote pilots, those remote pilots shall only be allowed to operate a UAS on the territory of that Member State.

5.Member States may define a different minimum age for remote pilots operating in the framework of model aircraft clubs or associations in the authorisation issued in accordance with Article 16.