Advice from Canadian pilots

[Alleyoz]

Hi, I'm visiting Canada in June, hiking in the Rockies. I create home movies, so I'll be taking a lot of videos and photos. I also have a Mini 3 Pro.
Is the entire Rocky Mountains area from Canmore to Jasper National Park zone? Is there anywhere that I could put the drone up for establishing shots, or any types of footage, or should I leave it at home?
To avoid the obvious statement, yes I'm aware that flying a drone in National Parks is illegal, and I'm also aware of the saying, ' it's a fine line between bravery and stupidity' so I'm averse to anything risky.

 

[whitecaps]

Yup, whole thing is a park. Here is a link for the Canmore townsite for reference. There is an exclusion map listed as a link. There are 2 helipads in the townsite that restrict drone usage. As you can see most of Canmore excluded and I did see in the Townsite bylaws that drones are prohibited without permit.

UAV, Drones, and Quadcopters

Information on piloting a UAV, Drone, or Quadcopter within the Town of Canmore

www.canmore.ca

. As for the rest of the journey from Canmore to Jasper it's all park.

 

[Alleyoz]

Most helpful, thank you whitecaps.

 

[Zbip57]

' it's a fine line between bravery and stupidity'

Strictly speaking, according to the Transport Canada regulations, the heliport exclusion zones like the ones in Canmore apply to "Small Remotely Piloted Aircraft" weighing from 250grams to 25kg, and thus do not apply to sub-250gram micro drones.

However, the don't-be-stupid-rule (CARS 900.06) applies to ALL drones, including sub-250gram. That's the one about being a hazard to aviation safety or people on the ground. So even though you're not "legally" prevented from flying a Mini within the radius of helipad zones, you might be called upon to explain to the authorities how your actions satisfy the don't-be-stupid-rule.

The drone prohibition in National Parks applies equally to all drones including sub-250 gram drones. The "fine line between bravery and stupidity" definitely applies here, as there are potentially very large fines involved.

 

[Rowder]

Hi, I'm visiting Canada in June, hiking in the Rockies. I create home movies, so I'll be taking a lot of videos and photos. I also have a Mini 3 Pro.
Is the entire Rocky Mountains area from Canmore to Jasper National Park zone? Is there anywhere that I could put the drone up for establishing shots, or any types of footage, or should I leave it at home?
To avoid the obvious statement, yes I'm aware that flying a drone in National Parks is illegal, and I'm also aware of the saying, ' it's a fine line between bravery and stupidity' so I'm averse to anything risky.

This should help... it's on the Transport Canada site. Drone site selection tool - National Research Council Canada

 

[Robert Prior]

Is the entire Rocky Mountains area from Canmore to Jasper National Park zone? Is there anywhere that I could put the drone up for establishing shots, or any types of footage, or should I leave it at home?

Almost. Banff National Park starts a few km past Canmore, and the highway to Jasper is entirely within either Banff or Jasper National Parks.

Canmore has a heliport, and while your Mini 3 isn't strictly prohibited the heliport is busy enough and the copters fly low enough that flying near it would be foolish.

Depending on how mobile you are, there are plenty of places that are legal to fly where you could get plenty of B-roll footage. If you want a particular shot (eg. Moraine Lake or Spirit Island) then you are out of luck. But if you want spectacular scenery there's plenty of that outside park boundaries.

 

[Jug's Life]

Strictly speaking, according to the Transport Canada regulations, the heliport exclusion zones like the ones in Canmore apply to "Small Remotely Piloted Aircraft" weighing from 250grams to 25kg, and thus do not apply to sub-250gram micro drones.

However, the don't-be-stupid-rule (CARS 900.06) applies to ALL drones, including sub-250gram. That's the one about being a hazard to aviation safety or people on the ground. So even though you're not "legally" prevented from flying a Mini within the radius of helipad zones, you might be called upon to explain to the authorities how your actions satisfy the don't-be-stupid-rule.

The drone prohibition in National Parks applies equally to all drones including sub-250 gram drones. The "fine line between bravery and stupidity" definitely applies here, as there are potentially very large fines involved.

Would it be accurate to say, if the micro drone did launch/take off from outside the park boundaries, the airspace itself would then be ok to fly in safely (avoiding helipads, being responsible, avoiding people)?

 

[Robert Prior]

Would it be accurate to say, if the micro drone did launch/take off from outside the park boundaries, the airspace itself would then be ok to fly in safely (avoiding helipads, being responsible, avoiding people)?

Yes, but honestly there's not much point in doing that. It isn't as if the scenery suddenly gets better right at the boundary. You'd be better off finding spectacular places that aren't in the parks (there are many).

There's a lot of Crown land that's open for use (including camping) that doesn't have the same restrictions that the parks have. Highways 532 and 541 that connect highway 22 to 40, for example, have spectacular views and aren't in parks at all. Highway 40 is also worth driving.

Alternately, on your trip up the Icefield Parkway turn east at Saskatchewan Crossing along highway 11. In less than 10 km you are out of the park, in a wide valley with snow-capped mountains on either side.