Quadcopter Flying Regs

robp

robp

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rob
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Hi,

Just having a swifty browse on Wex and happened upon quadcopters.

I'm absolutely ignorant on all aspects of drone flying and found the following anomally rather confusing:

The promo vid for the DJI Phantom 3 shows it being flown over buildings, people and cars, yet the clickable link to the CAA Flight regs leads to a document that expressly forbids any of these things.

Is this because the vid was shot outside the UK and so CAA regs do not apply or can you do all these things as long as you have a licence to fly one. Assuming there is such a thing as a drone flying licence, of course!

An explanation would be greatly appreciated :)

Thank you

Rob
 
Not a license as such but a thing called "Permissions" which is effectively a license! Have a look in the drone thread and there are loads of posts about them (the regulations).
 
I had one just over 2 years ago (a long story - no actually it's a very short story), so I looked into it comprehensively then, the CAA guidelines are, for non commercial use, Drones fitted with cameras must not be flown:

  • within 50 metres of people, vehicles, buildings or structures
  • over congested areas or large gatherings such as concerts and sports events
For commercial purposes you would have to have a license and IIRC seek a permission for each flight from the authority.

Where it gets blurred is the definition of 'commercial' , for instance would you be able to put it on your league's website, despite you yourself not making any monetary gain from it?

Also I could never work out if the 50m guideline meant an on the ground radius or if you could fly 51m above person or building.
I know that a couple of years ago someone started doing videos over football grounds (he flew it over Pride Park during a game), they found him and prosecuted him (would putting them on YouTube constitute personal gain?).

As for the video, the regulations are different for other countries, there are lots of you tubers in the states for instance that just seem to fly them wherever they want.
However in this country you can fly over a person or building if you have 'control over them' (not sure of the actual wording), ie an actor under your directorship, and you have their permission.
 
Ramalama said:
Also I could never work out if the 50m guideline meant an on the ground radius or if you could fly 51m above person or building.
Click to expand...

I think it's point to point so it doesn't matter if you're close to the ground, diagonally or directly over, the minimum distance is 50m. So built up areas with lots of people & building is pretty much a no-go where are doing a few coastal runs or countryside shots would usually be OK.

My Dad flys a drone and is also a pilot so I'll ask him what the rules are. I do know he mentioned that the CAA are looking to tighten their grip on the regulations for UK Drone operations.
 
Thank you for taking the time to post all the comprehensive information, folks! Very much appreciated.

I asked on TP a while back about GoPros - the gist being that I had my eye on getting one but as the family camcorder stopped working at a similar time I had to replace that but I couldn't afford both. Anyway, my wonderful wife got me a GoPro for Xmas :) which means that if I can raise some funds in the next few months I would be very interested in a drone.

I only need fairly basic/intermediate for my usage, so would it be best to buy one with built in camera or go for one which I can mount the GoPro on?
 
A gopro directly attached is how we all used to do it but there are a range of problem such as vibrations and the horizon tilting dramatically with every movement, also you are only guessing what's in frame though with very wide gopro that's not such an issue.
All of these issues are magically resolved if you buy a newer drone such as the DJI Phantom 3.
The P3 Advanced is quite affordable, has excellent range, self-levelling gimbal and you can see what the camera sees live on your phone.
GoPro image quality is perhaps a bit better but you don't get the Fish-eye look on the phantom camera.
https://www.flickr.com/groups/phantom3/
 
4wd said:
A gopro directly attached is how we all used to do it but there are a range of problem such as vibrations and the horizon tilting dramatically with every movement, also you are only guessing what's in frame though with very wide gopro that's not such an issue.
All of these issues are magically resolved if you buy a newer drone such as the DJI Phantom 3.
The P3 Advanced is quite affordable, has excellent range, self-levelling gimbal and you can see what the camera sees live on your phone.
GoPro image quality is perhaps a bit better but you don't get the Fish-eye look on the phantom camera.
https://www.flickr.com/groups/phantom3/
Click to expand...

Thank you for this.
I had kind of identified, from a complete lack of knowledge viewpoint, that perhaps the P3 Advanced would be just right in all respects for my needs, so thank you for bringing it all into focus for me :)
 
I have the Mavic Pro. I have a few GoPro's also but decided the on the Mavic over the Karma. Just more for your money. The main reason for the choice was the Karma not having any avoidance sensors. I've had a close call with the Mavic already but was saved as the avoidance sensors kicked in.

Point to note now though is with the DJI firmware upgrade this week and the App update it now live checks any no-fly-zones.
 
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