Myanmar’s drone situation.Selling price, shooting service, legal regulation etc.

In Myanmar, opportunities to see drone are more than I thought.
When I go to a music event, drone flies over the sky, and in Chinese New Year, drone was flying above the lion dance.

Drone is attracting attention because it can shoot movies from the sky that can not be taken with normal cameras at relatively low cost.
At the moment, its use mainly focuses on entertainment, but there are moves to use it to prevent natural disasters.

Currently, most of the drone seen in Myanmar is DJI’s Phantom series.
That is inevitable.
DJI, headquartered in Shenzhen, China, holds a 70% share of the world’s commercial drones.
Therefore, the situation is the same in Myanmar, it is possible to purchase drone in Myanmar.
There is also a store in Yangon city where you can buy a drone.
I found a page with prices of the drone from DJI with a high share in the world, so I would like to introduce the price as of May 2017 for reference.
There is a reputation for stability, while it is slightly larger, the Phantom 4 which is the most frequently seen type is 1,380,000 Kyat.
Because it is compact, Mavic Pro, which overwhelms others in terms of portability, is 1,350,000 Kyat.
Both have an official warranty of the DJI company for 1 year.
It is a bit affordable impression than purchasing in Japan and Thailand.

Even if you purchase a drone, you can skip it relatively easily, but skill is necessary for shooting.
Since drone is not a cheap price, it is better to borrow professional power when considering the commercial use of the taken video.
Some companies specialize in such shooting.
I asked a company about the cost of shooting, when they shot using Phantom 4, with four batteries (rough estimate of one flight time was over 25 minutes), 200,000 Kyat in the case of 1 day plan without image editing, 250,000 Kyat in the case of 1 day plan with image editing.
Shooting with inspire 1, high-performance model for professionals, costs 500,000 Kyat without editing, 600,000 Kyat with editing.
‘I do not have the skill of drone shooting, but I want to take movies.’
In such a case, we are glad that there are companies that can rely on.

When we think of wanting to fly drones by ourselves, regulation of drone is anxious.
In Myanmar, attention is required because it is regarded as importing unmanned aircraft and it may be a violation of the import and export control law at the time of carrying drone.
According to the word of mouth there are many information that “I was able to pass without saying anything”, but the danger is overlooked.

You may think that you want to fly drones at various tourist attractions, but there is a fly-prohibited area.
Shwedagon Pagoda, one of the most famous tourist attractions, is one of them.
Flying drone around Shwedagon Pagoda is forbidden.
In the newspaper article in October 2016, it is introduced that eight drones seized.
A signboard banning the drone is listed at the entrance of the pagoda, and the crackdown is quite severe.

It is forbidden to use drones near the airport and near military facilities, and it seems that anti-drones and interference radio waves are also used, so when you use drones, you need to be careful about the circumstances of the surrounding facilities, it is necessary to correspond with.
Because there is a possibility that it may be regarded as a violation of Article 188 of criminal law due to not following the orders of civil servants, it is necessary to respond to your own risk.

After 2015, discussions on legislation including information on the drone’s registration system and drones’ prohibited areas began.
If the law concerning drone is done, it is expected that the environment for drone will change dramatically.
I want to keep an eye on the latest information.

Image Source : https://futuroexponencial.com/mercado-drones-bilhoes/

Guest Writer : YUKI KATSURAGAWA