Permits

Filming permits in South Africa for drone shoots

By Dimitri Vaindirlis, founder and head pilot. Updated 29 September 2026.

A drone shot is never one permission. It is a chain: the aviation side, the land side and the municipal side, each with its own clock. This is how we run that chain, what we need from you, and what we cannot get approved at any price. Shooting inside the city? See film permits in Cape Town.

Enquire  or call 074 132 8500

The permission chain

Six permissions sit behind a legal drone shot in South Africa. Some apply to every job, some only to certain locations. Missing one of them grounds the aircraft on the day, so we map all six before we quote a shoot.

1. SACAA. Commercial drone work falls under Civil Aviation Regulations Part 101. The pilot holds a remote pilot licence, the flight runs under an operator certificate and its approved operations manual, and the operator holds an air services licence under the Air Services Licensing Act 115 of 1990. Each aircraft is registered and marked, and public liability insurance is in force. Reference: SACAA Unmanned Aircraft Systems.
2. Landowner consent. Whoever owns or manages the ground under the flight has to say yes in writing. On private land that is a signed permission letter. On leased or managed property it is the managing company, not the City.
3. Municipal film permit. Any filming that touches public property in Cape Town needs a permit from the City's Film Permit Office under the Filming By-law 2024, which commenced on 1 November 2025 and replaced the 2005 by-law.
4. Airspace and aerodrome coordination. Part 101 caps flight at 400 ft above the surface and prohibits operation within a 10 km radius of an aerodrome reference point, or inside restricted or prohibited airspace, unless authorised. Controlled airspace is available only to an operator certificate holder, as approved in that operator's operations manual, and it carries the technical and coordination requirements in SA-CATS 101.05.3.
5. Protected areas and national key points. National parks and provincial reserves are governed by their managing authority, not by the City. Part 101 also forbids flying adjacent to or above a nuclear power plant, prison, police station, crime scene, court of law, national key point or strategic installation.
6. Harbour master. Anything inside a port boundary needs the harbour master's approval through Transnet National Ports Authority, in addition to the aviation clearance.

Lead times and documents by location type

The times below are the published minimums, counted in working days and counted from a complete application. An incomplete file does not start the clock. Where a figure is not published, we say so rather than guess.

Sequencing, and why the order matters

The production lodges the location permission first. We apply for the aviation side off the back of the approved location permission, because every authority asks for a reference that only the location application produces.

In practice that means the film permit booking number is the gating document. Until it exists, the drone application has nowhere to attach. On a compressed schedule this is the single most common reason a shot gets cut, and it is entirely avoidable.

What the production supplies

• The film permit booking number, and a copy of the approved permit once it lands.
• The signed landowner permission letter, on private land, returned to us on our template.
• Exact coordinates or a what3words pin for every flight site, not a location name. We build the flight plan off the pin.
• Shoot dates, call times and the window in which the drone actually flies.
• The SANParks or CapeNature location application, lodged by the production, with its reference number passed to us.
• Notice of any road closure, crowd, stunt or special effect near the flight path.

What Filmic supplies

• Remote pilot licence, held by the pilot on your call sheet.
• The operator certificate and approved operations manual we fly under, held by our operator partner.
• Proof of RPAS public liability insurance: R20 million third party aerial liability cover.
• Aircraft registration certificates for every airframe on the call sheet.
• The landowner permission letter template for private land.
• Flight plans, airspace submissions and any NOTAM request, prepared per site.
• A site specific risk assessment and the stop flying procedure the crew will work to.

What cannot be approved

Some requests have no route. Saying so early is cheaper for everyone than a rejection two days out.

• The V and A Waterfront. Drone work is refused there. We do not lodge speculative applications.
• Several Table Mountain National Park precincts, including Boulders, Scarborough, Sandy Bay and Llandudno, as well as Perdekloof. Approval elsewhere in the park does not extend to these.
• Prisons, police stations, courts, crime scenes, national key points and strategic installations, under Part 101 itself.
• Flight directly over people, or within 50 m of people, structures or a public road, unless those people have consented and are under the control of the operator, or the road is closed.
• Night flying and beyond visual line of sight work, unless it is specifically approved in the operations manual in advance. Neither is a same week decision.
• Any date inside the statutory lead time. No authority backdates, and a shoot date is not an argument.

Where a location genuinely will not clear, we will usually have an alternative that reads the same on screen. That conversation is worth having in prep, not on the day.

Film permits in Johannesburg, Durban and beyond

Every metro runs its own film permit process, while the aviation side is the same national process wherever the shoot is. In Gauteng, permits for public space are issued by the local council where the shoot takes place, not by the Gauteng Film Commission, which helps productions through the process and recommends applying at least 14 working days before filming. In Durban, the eThekwini Municipality's Durban Film Office takes applications online, issues film permits at no fee and processes them in as few as seven days.

Wherever the city, declare the drone in the film permit application and plan the aviation approvals on their own clock. We fly across South Africa, and we check the current rules for whichever city is on the call sheet before we quote.

Questions producers ask

Do I need a permit to fly a drone for a film shoot in South Africa?

Yes. Commercial drone work sits under Civil Aviation Regulations Part 101 and needs a licensed remote pilot flying under an operator certificate and an air services licence. On top of that you need the landowner's consent, a municipal film permit where the shoot touches public property, and airspace coordination where the location sits in controlled airspace or near an aerodrome.

How long does a drone film permit take in Cape Town?

Cape Town permits take 1 to 5 days, depending on the location. Under the City of Cape Town Filming By-law 2024 the formal minimums run from 2 working days for a micro or small shoot to 10 or more working days for a very large shoot. Drone work triggers Civil Aviation Authority approvals, and the by-law pushes any shoot needing those approvals up to the next tier of lead time. In a protected or conservation area the minimum rises to 5 working days.

Who applies for what, the production or the drone operator?

The production lodges the location permission first, which means the film permit, the SANParks or CapeNature application, or the signed landowner letter. The drone operator applies for the aviation side off the back of that approved location permission, so the film permit booking number is usually the gating document.

Can a drone fly in controlled airspace in South Africa?

Only by the holder of an operator certificate, and only as approved by the Director in that operator's approved operations manual, with the technical kit and air traffic coordination set out in SA-CATS 101.05.3. In practice that means a filed flight plan, a NOTAM where required and a live radio watch with the controlling unit.