been trying to wrap my head around the EASA category system for about three weeks now and i feel like i understand it less than when i started. the whole open/specific/certified breakdown made sense at first but then you get into the subcategories and the weight thresholds and whether your use case counts as commercial or recreational and it just becomes a rabbit hole.

i'm planning a trip to Portugal in the fall and want to bring my Air 3 and actually fly it legally without stressing the whole time. last time i went somewhere in Europe i just didn't fly because i couldn't figure out if i needed to register or get an operator ID or what. felt like a waste.

does anyone have a good resource for this stuff that isn't just a government PDF? or have you actually gone through the process of registering in an EU country as a non-resident? thats the part thats really tripping me up

the Drone Scene website and also the EASA drone guide thing they put out is actually not terrible once you spend some time with it. for Portugal specifically you'll want to look at ANAC which is their national aviation authority ? you do need to register there even as a visitor for anything over 250g, and the Air 3 is definitely over that. it's annoying but the process itself isn't that bad once you find the right page on their site, took me maybe 20 minutes.

the A1/A3 online training through EASA is free and pretty quick too, and some countries require it so worth just doing it before you go.

honestly i just flew in Spain last year and didnt bother with any of it and nothing happened but i know thats not the advice anyone should give lol. its genuinely hard to find clear info and the rules seem to change or get interpreted differently depending on which region youre in. hope you have better luck than i did trying to figure it out