After a series of incidents involving small hobby and commercial drones, Phnom Penh’s City Hall put an official ban on using drones in Phnom Penh’s airspace in April 2015. Drones are only allowed to fly with permission of City Hall on a pre-arranged flight path. Tourists are still allowed to use UAVs outside of the city, but are urged to exercise caution when flying drones in heavily populated tourist areas such as Angkor Wat. There are no known commercial drone ventures in Cambodia at this time. There are no known native Cambodian unmanned aircraft at this time.
Although aerial photographers are still able to use drones in Cambodia, after a series of arrests City Hall has banned unmanned aircraft use in Phnom Penh. The incidents were as follows:
- In February, Michael Altenhenne, an international correspondent for Deutsche Welle, was arrested after flying a droneinto the Royal Palace grounds, startling the Queen Mother while she relaxed in the courtyard. City Hall promptly banned drones in Phnom Penh after the incident. However, more incidents were to follow.
- In June, two freelance film-makers, Todd Brown and Gelles Sainsaily, were arrested after flying a drone near former Khmer leader and current Prime Minister, Hun Sen’s, house. They were released after the police decided that they pose no security threat.
- In July, two Chinese tourists were arrestedfor attempting to fly their drones near the Royal Palace. They were released on confirmation by the Chinese Embassy that they were indeed tourists.
Watch On: Here’s footage of the Cambodian village of Anluk Leak shot via unmanned aircraft by documentary filmmaker Robert Serrini.