Flying a drone (known as an unmanned aircraft or UA) at night brings additional risks and requires careful planning to maintain safe operation and visual awareness. Reduced light can make it harder to judge distance and direction, so you should always keep the flight simple and close enough to maintain Visual Line of Sight.
From 1 January 2026, drones operated at night in the Open Category must be equipped with a green flashing light to improve visibility and support a safer operating environment. This page explains what the requirement means in practice and the key points you should consider before flying.
Using a green flashing light when flying at night
The UK drone rules require a green flashing light to be activated when operating at night in the Open Category.
More specifically UK Regulation (EU) 2019/947 UAS.OPEN.060(2)(g) states, “when operating at night, ensure that a green flashing light on the unmanned aircraft is activated”.
The person flying the drone or model aircraft (known as the remote pilot) is the person responsible for ensuring that a green flashing light is activated at all times.
Purpose of the Green Flashing Light
The purpose of the green flashing light is to provide nighttime visibility and support effective Visual Line of Sight (VLOS) operations, enabling a person on the ground to distinguish a drone from a manned aircraft.
Continuous Operation of the light during flight
The green flashing light must remain active at all times during night flight. If the flashing light deactivates for any reason (e.g., when recording) the remote pilot cannot continue to comply with the operational requirement, set out in regulation 2019/947 OPEN.060(2)(g). The operational requirement applies to all Open Category nighttime operations, irrespective of the specific product requirements associated with any class‑mark category of drone.
Some legacy drones, class marked and model aircraft may be fitted with lights as standard; however, the characteristics of these lights are determined by manufacturer design choices and may not always be suitable to ensure compliance.
Regulation 2019/945 requires only UK1, UK2, UK3, UK5 and UK6 class-marked drones to provide in-built green flashing light functionality; this is not a design requirement for UK0 or UK4 drones.
UK0 class drones are usually very small and UK4 class drones are typically fixed-wing with simple avionics, commonly flown by the model aircraft community. As a result, manufacturers are not required to fit them with a green flashing light as standard.
C0/UK0/C4/UK4 and Legacy drones may therefore need to be fitted, or retrofitted, with a suitable green flashing light if flown at night in the Open Category.
You can find out more about class marks in our overview of the UK class mark regulations for drones and model aircraft.
What to do if your drone or model aircraft does not have a built-in light
If your drone or model aircraft does not have a built-in green flashing light, you must securely fit one.
The weight of the green flashing light counts towards the overall weight of your drone or model aircraft, so you must check to see if the weight of the light means different regulations apply to your operation.
Technical specifications and positioning of the lighting
The regulations do not specify minimum requirements for brightness, flash frequency, visibility angle, directionality, or illumination range. It is the responsibility of the remote pilot to ensure that the green flashing light remains active throughout the operation and that Visual Line of Sight (VLOS) is maintained.
The CAA’s guidance is that the light should be securely attached to the drone in a position where it remains clearly visible from the ground during flight. It is important to consider that the placement of the light should not adversely affect the safe operation of the drone.
Third-party lighting solutions
Additional or aftermarket green flashing lights may be fitted to a drone. Operators and remote pilots should give due thought and consideration to the operational requirements of the subcategory that they intend to operate in. It is the remote pilot’s responsibility to ensure that their operation is safe and compliant with the regulation. For example, if adding a light to a drone cause it to exceed the maximum take off mass (MTOM) of the defined operational subcategory then the operation must be adapted accordingly.
Regulation references
The requirement to use a green flashing light in the Open Category is in UAS.OPEN.060 Responsibilities of the remote pilot.
This requirements for class marks are in the Annex to UK Regulation (EU) 2019/945.