Drones are popular ‘toys’ these days, whether for children who are capable of understanding them and for adults, as – for want of a better phrase – ‘big boys toys’. The Husband has one, although I haven’t seen it recently, so he may have quietly crashed it without telling me.

Light shows using drones are becoming increasingly popular to create massive, moving 3D animations and visual effects in the night sky, and are steadily replacing traditional fireworks due to being reusable, silent, and environmentally friendly - though personally, I am a big fan of fireworks, and will stand with my neck strained to see exactly what shape or colour will burst next, and will ‘oohh’ and ‘aahh’ just as much as a child would.

Piloting a drone involves mastering remote-control mechanics, and since each model is different, they are all tricky, despite user-friendly features. There are rules and regs to follow in Portugal that are probably similar elsewhere – flying one is governed by European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) regulations, combined with specific national requirements set by the Portuguese Civil Aviation Authority (ANAC). Rules include registering as an operator, staying below 120 metres, respecting privacy, and obtaining specific authorisation to capture and publish footage. Is it worth it, I ask? You’re not allowed to just launch your drone to peek over your neighbour’s fence, or fly high enough to get a close-up of that TAP flight from Lisbon.

So where can you fly one?

They say you can fly your drone over rural, agricultural, or isolated coastal areas, provided you stay outside controlled airspaces. You should check the official Voa na Boa airspace map to ensure your specific location is authorised. Well, doesn’t all this take all the fun out of it? The maximum flight height is 120 metres, and the drone must remain within sight. It is forbidden to fly over uninvolved persons, and it is strictly forbidden to fly over groups of 12 or more people. Hmmm.

So that rules out aerial views of festivals and so on that are so popular in Portugal, doesn’t it? And to complicate matters further, if your drone weighs 250 grams or more, or under 250 grams but has a camera, you must register as an operator with ANAC and display your operator ID on the drone (presumably so another drone can buzz around yours to see who owns it, or worse, someone can see it is yours if you crash it somewhere).

Credits: Unsplash; Author: Jess Eddy;

But they have their uses

They must be a godsend to farmers, who can monitor their crops or livestock without getting muddy boots, and the large ones are used to spray crops. Wild animals can be tracked and observed from above without roaring up in a jeep to scare them, and search-and-rescue organisations use them to find lost souls who might be missing or injured, to survey traffic in urban areas, or to monitor congestion points.

But their more sinister side is military-grade drones, where some are advanced and large enough to be equipped with artificial intelligence that can independently identify, select, and engage targets without human intervention. These are definitely not recreational toys, and remain the subject of intense debate at the UN due to ethical and accountability concerns. Some operate at high altitudes and can carry precision-guided missiles and bombs for tactical strikes, and can be used in swarms, with dozens, hundreds, or thousands of them launched to achieve a combat objective with minimal human intervention.

Yes, they have their uses and have turned recreational gadgets into essential tools. They save time, reduce costs, and are widely used to protect employees performing high-risk tasks. Consumer-friendly models are widely used for aerial shots, real estate listings, and event coverage (presumably with the correct permissions). Even delivery services can use them for dropping off packages, groceries, and takeouts - and no doubt to deliver fast food into prisons! It used to be a nail file baked in a cake to aid prisoners in their escapes from behind bars – these days, tech-savvy criminals are increasingly using drones to smuggle drugs, phones or weapons inside.