Poland runs the A1/A3 drone exam through the Civil Aviation Authority system, with UAS digital services now centred on drony.gov.pl. If you want a Polish-issued A1/A3 proof, use the official ULC route rather than a paid private site promising a shortcut.
The official Polish route
The Polish Civil Aviation Authority says pilots who want to fly drones of 250 g or more must complete online training and pass an online test before flying. The same page states that the training and test are free and available through the CAA system.
ULC also gives the exam format:
- A1/A3 is online training plus an online test.
- The A1/A3 test has 40 multiple-choice questions.
- You need 75% correct answers to pass.
- Pilot qualifications are valid for 5 years.
- A2 is a separate next step with extra requirements.
If your operator registration is already from another EU or EFTA country, the ULC page says you may create an account for training in Poland by providing that operator number. It also says an operator may not be registered in more than one member state.
KSID, the trusted profile, and renewal
The Polish system has a name: KSID, the National Drone Information System,
reached through drony.gov.pl. Two things about it catch foreign pilots out.
The first is the login. Access runs through a Polish trusted profile, so the account step — not the exam — is usually the slow part for someone who does not already hold Polish e-identity. If your operator registration is from another EU or EFTA state, ULC says you can create a training account using that operator number instead.
The second is renewal. A1/A3 competence is valid five years, and ULC states that extending it means going through the training and the online exam in KSID again. There is no separate refresher path: you repeat the same route you took the first time.
Poland asks you to check in, not just to check
This is the biggest practical difference from Latvia, and it is not about the exam at all.
In Latvia you submit a request in BGKIS when your flight falls inside a UAS geographical zone. In Poland, PANSA operates PansaUTM together with the DroneTower app, and PANSA states that a Check-In there makes every reported drone flight visible to air traffic management services on the Polish sky.
For zones, PANSA publishes DroneMap at dronemap.pansa.pl, which shows the
conditions that apply at a chosen point for your entered altitude, drone mass
and flight type. Two warnings PANSA prints itself are worth carrying:
- the map is informational and does not remove your duty to read the relevant NOTAM, AUP and UUP messages;
- it evaluates the situation at the moment you check. Some zones are time-activated, so a zone that looks inactive now may be active at your planned take-off — the activity table in the zone description gives the hours in local time.
How dronelingo fits
dronelingo is preparation, not the issuing authority. The certificate itself comes from the Polish official system.
Use dronelingo before the ULC test to cover:
- Open-category A1/A3 and A2 boundaries
- operator registration versus pilot competence
- VLOS and observer rules
- height and distance limits
- geographical-zone checks
- practice questions under exam-style pressure
The Polish exam is national in portal and account flow, but the theory is EASA-aligned. That is why the same preparation helps even when the certificate is issued outside Latvia.
What to check before flying in Poland
Do not stop at the certificate. ULC points pilots to Polish geographical-zone and flight-declaration systems, and the airspace check is part of the real pre-flight workflow.
Before flying in Poland, confirm:
- your operator registration status
- whether the aircraft must be marked with the operator number
- the airspace and geographical-zone status for the exact location
- whether the operation stays inside the Open category
- insurance or client requirements for the job
For official portal links across countries, use the A1/A3 exam portal directory. To prepare before using the Polish portal, start with the A1/A3 course, then practise in topic drills and a full mock exam.
