# Can I fly a drone in Shumen, Bulgaria?

No published drone zone covers the exact centre of Shumen, but 12 restricted zones fall within 8 km of it, the nearest 0.4 km away. Check your exact take-off point before you fly.

## Key facts
- Restricted zones within 8 km of the centre: **12**
  - Prohibited: 8
  - Requires authorisation: 3
  - Conditional: 1
- Zones covering the city centre: **none**
- No zone over the centre states a height at which its restriction stops; the EU open-category limit of 120 m applies
- Published by: Главна дирекция „Гражданска въздухоплавателна администрация“ (CAA Bulgaria)
- Official source: https://www.caa.bg/bg/category/633/7062
- Data version: 2026-07-30
- Measured within 8 km of 43.2706, 26.9229

## Zones nearest the centre of Shumen

| Zone | Restriction | Distance from centre | Restricted up to |
|---|---|---|---|
| MIL_165 | Prohibited | 0.4 km | 500 m AGL |
| MIL254 | Prohibited | 0.4 km | 150 m AGL |
| БВЛ "МБАЛ - ШУМЕН" | Requires authorisation | 0.5 km | 120 m AGL |
| MIL_226 | Prohibited | 2 km | 150 m AGL |
| MIL718 | Prohibited | 2 km | 150 m AGL |
| MIL255 | Prohibited | 3 km | 150 m AGL |
| MIL165 | Prohibited | 3 km | 500 m AGL |
| MIL_166 | Prohibited | 3 km | 500 m AGL |
| MIL252 | Prohibited | 3 km | 150 m AGL |
| MIL_251 | Conditional | 4 km | 150 m AGL |
| Градище (LBGD) | Requires authorisation | 4 km | 120 m AGL |
| GAS 15 | Requires authorisation | 7 km | 120 m AGL |

## Who to ask for permission

- **ГД ГВА** - uas@caa.bg (8 zones near Shumen)
- **НВУ** - sgstanchev@nvu.bg (2 zones near Shumen)
- **СВ.** - duty_officer_1@armf.bg (2 zones near Shumen)

## Frequently asked questions

### Can I fly a drone in Shumen?
No published drone zone covers the exact centre of Shumen, but 12 restricted zones fall within 8 km of it, the nearest 0.4 km away. Check your exact take-off point before you fly. Shumen is in Bulgaria, where the UAS geographical zones are published by Главна дирекция „Гражданска въздухоплавателна администрация“ (CAA Bulgaria) under Regulation (EU) 2019/947, Article 15. Always confirm against the official source before a flight.

### Where can't I fly a drone in Shumen?
Inside Shumen's UAS geographical zones. Within 8 km of the centre canfly? tracks 12 restricted zones: 8 prohibited, 3 requiring authorisation, 1 conditional. They are published by Главна дирекция „Гражданска въздухоплавателна администрация“ (CAA Bulgaria) and shown on the map at https://canfly.io/map.

### How high can I fly a drone in Shumen?
The EU open category caps you at 120 m above ground across Bulgaria, and lower where a zone says so. No zone over the centre of Shumen publishes a height at which its restriction stops, so treat 120 m as the limit and check the zones nearby before you launch.

### Who do I ask for permission to fly a drone in Shumen?
The zones around Shumen name 3 different responsible bodies, so it depends which zone you are in. The most frequently named are ГД ГВА (uas@caa.bg); НВУ (sgstanchev@nvu.bg); СВ. (duty_officer_1@armf.bg). Each zone's authority is listed on this page.

## How this was worked out

A zone counts if any part of it falls within 8 km of 43.2706, 26.9229 - Shumen's centre as recorded by GeoNames. That radius scales with population and is NOT the administrative city boundary, so a zone just outside the city limits still appears. Population 72,342 (GeoNames record updated 2026-04-13).

City names, coordinates and populations from GeoNames (https://www.geonames.org/), licensed CC BY 4.0. Zone data is the official national dataset, unmodified except for normalisation to ED-269.

Full country picture: https://canfly.io/drone-zones/bulgaria
Interactive map: https://canfly.io/map?country=BGR&lat=43.2706&lon=26.9229&radius=8000

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**Citing this page:** canfly?, “Can I fly a drone in Shumen?”, https://canfly.io/drone-zones/bulgaria/shumen (data as of 2026-07-30).
canfly? aggregates the official UAS geographical zones that EU and EEA states publish under
Regulation (EU) 2019/947, Article 15. It is not an air-traffic or flight-authorisation service;
critical flights must be confirmed against the national authority.