Rules and regulations in NSW

[Azarov]

Does anyone know an area where you, as a CASA qualified RPA pilot, can fly <7kg drone without CASA permission, without Council permission, without National Park permission in Sydney area?
I just need it for practicing my skill as a drone pilot.
The same as a golf practicing range.

 

[GFields]

I use UAV Coach Website for information about drone rules in other locations. I have found them to be very helpful.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

As an RePL pilot, you know about the CASA apps, surely ?

There are places you can fly, watch local council restrictions, but even then if you use common sense and fly smaller parks, when there are virtually no people around, go the a far area out if the way and stay close, etc, no one will be concerned.
I use such a park for testing here, go mid week, or early morning, never a problem.
If you are really concerned about standing on council parkland to fly, just stay off it and fly over the space concerned, still using the above minimum disturbance advice I go by.

Get onto OpenSky, OK2Fly, or Airmap and look for ‘the gaps’.

Just about forget National Parks in NSW though.

 

[Azarov]

That's my point. I couldn't find a 'gap' in Ok2Fly or maybe I just need more time to search for it.
Or it's a business model to develop an application which shows only the 'gaps'.
However, even if you're flying over the life stock in NSW you need to have a permission from the owner of cowes for instance.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

That's my point. I couldn't find a 'gap' in Ok2Fly or maybe I just need more time to search for it.
Or it's a business model to develop an application which shows only the 'gaps'.
However, even if you're flying over the life stock in NSW you need to have a permission from the owner of cowes for instance.

Anything not shown in red on this screenshot is ok to fly, with caution or altitude restrictions though . . .



The controlled airports have those short extended areas where alt is restricted to 90m.
The white areas are totally unrestricted.

This is an OpenSky screenshot, it shows the same as Ok2Fly, but just has the restricted areas all in red, must easier to see.

You are RePL licensed I take it, do you fly commercially ?
If so you should be able to get permissions many places normally restricted to fly for paying jobs, even rec pilots can do so in some cases.

You just want a place to test fly, yes ?

If worried about any local council restrictions, one place you could try is a local school / college etc.
Ask if no one is using the oval at any time out of school hours, if it's ok to use the area for 1/2 an hour to do some test flights.

You can fly over livestock, just not close enough to disturb them . . . or from the landowners property unless you gain permission.

 

[Azarov]

As an example.
I sent an enquiry for flying my drone from Arncliff Scots Baseball field a month ago.

Phil Austin Baseball Fields – Arncliffe Scots Baseball Club

scotsbaseball.org.au

Still no reply.
I had to cancel that mission on another reason. CASA requested me to pay $800 for reviewing my operational plan because it is with 3 NM from YSSY. And the outcome can be negative.
So, imagine, I have to say to my client the cost of the job is $300 +$800, you pay first but no guarantee I will be able to do it?)))

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

As an example.
I sent an enquiry for flying my drone from Arncliff Scots Baseball field a month ago.

Phil Austin Baseball Fields – Arncliffe Scots Baseball Club

scotsbaseball.org.au

Still no reply.
I had to cancel that mission on another reason. CASA requested me to pay $800 for reviewing my operational plan because it is with 3 NM from YSSY. And the outcome can be negative.
So, imagine, I have to say to my client the cost of the job is $300 +$800, you pay first but no guarantee I will be able to do it?)))

Oooh, that's about as bad a NFZ as you can get, though not in approach / departure paths.
It's not 100% clear, that was for a job there ?
"I had to cancel that mission on another reason."

. . . and not for practice though, your inquiry to CASA I guess, and the client the baseball club ?

If it was flying practice inquiry to both the baseball club and CASA to do that, then that is possibly not as likely to get approval anyway, practice wouldn't be deemed as a priority.
Don't look at practice places in a red NFZ.

I guess flying for commercial use could be greatly affected by the drone you are using.
What do you have in the arsenal ?
Do you own a Mini, Mini 2, or Mini 3 ?
You can fly any of those there, as the 5.5km controlled airport rule only applies to drones weighing 250g or more.
(I'd still keep it REALLY as low as possible for such jobs of course.)

Straight from CASA . . .

You can fly a drone that weighs 250 g or less within 5.5 km (3 NM) from any point along a runway centreline of a controlled airport, provided you do not:
fly over the movement area
fly over or in the departure or approach path
create a collision hazard to other aircraft taking off or landing.

The Mini 2 or 3 pro make for some very useful commercial drones in these cases.

For practice, what about these parks, a short drive from the baseball field, and outside the SYD NFZ ?



Those are quite extensive, and as advised, if you fly for practice during the week, or early morning, you can surely find a quiet spot for 1/2 an hour to an hour, or even longer if desired.

Are you adverse to doing your practice over the ocean ?

 

[Azarov]

I use UAV Coach Website for information about drone rules in other locations. I have found them to be very helpful. in the U.S.

Oooh, that's about as bad a NFZ as you can get, though not in approach / departure paths.
It's not 100% clear, that was for a job there ?
"I had to cancel that mission on another reason."

. . . and not for practice though, your inquiry to CASA I guess, and the client the baseball club ?

If it was flying practice inquiry to both the baseball club and CASA to do that, then that is possibly not as likely to get approval anyway, practice wouldn't be deemed as a priority.
Don't look at practice places in a red NFZ.

I guess flying for commercial use could be greatly affected by the drone you are using.
What do you have in the arsenal ?
Do you own a Mini, Mini 2, or Mini 3 ?
You can fly any of those there, as the 5.5km controlled airport rule only applies to drones weighing 250g or more.
(I'd still keep it REALLY as low as possible for such jobs of course.)

Straight from CASA . . .

You can fly a drone that weighs 250 g or less within 5.5 km (3 NM) from any point along a runway centreline of a controlled airport, provided you do not:
fly over the movement area
fly over or in the departure or approach path
create a collision hazard to other aircraft taking off or landing.

The Mini 2 or 3 pro make for some very useful commercial drones in these cases.

For practice, what about these parks, a short drive from the baseball field, and outside the SYD NFZ ?

View attachment 151049

Those are quite extensive, and as advised, if you fly for practice during the week, or early morning, you can surely find a quiet spot for 1/2 an hour to an hour, or even longer if desired.

Are you adverse to doing your practice over the ocean ?

Todd park and Stuart park are the nice area to fly for practice.
Unfortunately from my experience you still need to have a Georges River Council permission for taking off and landing your drone on the land which belongs to the Council.
This is outside of CASA regulation and in the scope of Federal Legislation -> https://www.legislation.gov.au/Deta...ft Digital&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=RPAS
I may be wrong but I had a not nice experience communicating with few National parks, trying to get a permission from a Council, Sydney Harbour Trust for flying my drone for commercial purpose.
I did succeed to get approval from Control Tower and the landowner on another occasion.
So keep getting there with a hope the REGULATIONS will be reasonable for CASA qualified pilots.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Todd park and Stuart park are the nice area to fly for practice.
Unfortunately from my experience you still need to have a Georges River Council permission for taking off and landing your drone on the land which belongs to the Council.
This is outside of CASA regulation and in the scope of Federal Legislation -> https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2022L00718utm_source=Swift Digital&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=RPAS
I may be wrong but I had a not nice experience communicating with few National parks, trying to get a permission from a Council, Sydney Harbour Trust for flying my drone for commercial purpose.
I did succeed to get approval from Control Tower and the landowner on another occasion.
So keep getting there with a hope the REGULATIONS will be reasonable for CASA qualified pilots.

Yes, MANY councils Australia wide have the same policy on model aircraft (and many other things), but using some common sense you can usually get by ok.
The land is under their authority, not belong to them, it belongs to the residents of the area, taxpayers, ratepayers.
Councils seem to forget that.

As suggested, take off / land from outside the park boundary is perfectly legal, provided you keep to VLOS and other CASA rules.
It'd be far nicer, and safer in many cases, to be able to pick a nice area where you won't bother anyone, and fly from a more comfortable / suitable spot.

Or, go in quiet times, find that hidden away corner of the park no one ventures to, you shouldn't get any bother from rangers if flying away from any other park users.
And keep it to a few batteries.
(We shouldn't have to go to such lengths to get a little practice in.)

National Parks are a tough nut to crack, well except WA, QLD, and NT, the rest is really not generally worth trying.
The other states might allow it for some doco type production, with plenty of hoops to jump through, and of course a permit fee.

Sydney Harbour ?
Well, I did once see a commercial pilot on a thread get permission to fly and film a magnificent piece near the bridge and opera house, but it was an effort for her to get that ok to fly.

I hope regulations get more flexible for all drone pilots, commercial and recreational, many hobbyist pilots are right up there for safety, skills and common sense.
More flexibility would be great, particularly use of taxpayers assets like local parklands, and National / State Parks that are now off limits.
They should be there for all to enjoy their chosen pastimes, with consideration to other land users.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

I had a little Google of Georges River council and drones.

Georges River Council - Community Safety

Seems to imply ok to fly responsibly, no mention of bylaws.

Obviously this encompasses the area you want to fly more so, and some of that is in the SYD airspace no fly zone.
So I guess they are probably concerned for safety in that regard.

Couldn't find their bylaws, some councils really bury them away.