so i finally took my mini 3 pro on a proper trip abroad and portugal was the destination. did a ton of research before going, registered on the portuguese aviation authority site (ANAC) which was a bit of a pain honestly, took like 3 days to get confirmation back and i was sweating thinking it wouldnt come through in time.

anyway the sintra coastline is absolutely insane from the air, like nothing i've shot before. but what i didnt expect was how many restricted zones popped up on my droneharmony app that werent showing on google maps or wherever i'd been checking before the trip. there were these little pockets of restricted airspace around some historical sites that i had no idea about until i was basically standing there ready to fly.

also the wind off the atlantic is no joke. i was getting like 35-40kph gusts at times and the mini 3 was holding position okay but the footage had this weird micro jitter that i had to stabilize in post. not a huge deal but worth knowing if youre heading that way.

anyone else been flying in portugal or western europe recently? curious if the registration process has gotten easier or if its still a mess depending on which country you go to.

yeah the ANAC thing is annoying, i went through the same thing last year. i think i submitted like 4 days before my flight and it came through the night before which nearly gave me a heart attack. from what i heard if you already have your A1/A2 cert from the UK or another EU country it speeds things up a bit but i'm not 100% on that.

sintra is gorgeous though. i got some shots near cabo da roca that i still use as my profile pic basically. the restricted zone around the palace in sintra town caught me off guard too, i think its something like a 1km radius and it just doesnt feel that big on the map until you're there.

the wind thing is real, i had the same issue flying near the algarve cliffs. mini series handles it better than i expected but yeah the jitter in gusty stuff is a known thing. some people say turning on the more aggressive gimbal stabilization mode helps but i havent tested it enough to say for sure