Australia pilots. State and national parks

[bill1992]

Hey everyone,

Correct me if I'm wrong on anything.

With the current laws in Australia where without a permit you cannot legally fly in national or state parks.. To obtain a permit you must apply to parks Australia and have to already have CASA certification. My question is, is there any cheap way to obtain the casa certification? I want to do the right thing but the costs I've seen are around $3k... I am purely a hobby flier, and the best spots for scenery happen to be the national parks..

Considering the drone was 2k I really can't justify another 3k just for some fun.

Thanks

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[BD0G]

I am going to tag @AussieMavicPilot as he may have some information to add to this. His name is Heath.

Wish I was going to Australia as I would like to hook up with some of the local Aussie's and have some great times flying.

 

[AussieMavicPilot]

Hey everyone,

Correct me if I'm wrong on anything.

With the current laws in Australia where without a permit you cannot legally fly in national or state parks.. To obtain a permit you must apply to parks Australia and have to already have CASA certification. My question is, is there any cheap way to obtain the casa certification? I want to do the right thing but the costs I've seen are around $3k... I am purely a hobby flier, and the best spots for scenery happen to be the national parks..

Considering the drone was 2k I really can't justify another 3k just for some fun.

Thanks

Sent from my SM-G935F using MavicPilots mobile app

Hi Bill,
there is no cheap way to obtain CASA certification. Under the new rules, flying a UAV under 2kgs doesn't require a Pilots license. Flying drones/remotely piloted aircraft in Australia | Civil Aviation Safety Authority
The individual states here have different rules for flying in and above national parks. You would need to contact each states parks and recreational division to find there rules.
here's some links I found
Can I Fly My Drone In/Over Australia’s National Parks? | ReefFree
New drone regulations for national parks - Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources (DEWNR)
Permits for parks and forests | Recreation, sport and arts | Queensland Government
Drones in Parks Policy | NSW Environment & Heritage


A good place for info is DJI owners of Australia facebook page.

Hope this helps

Heath

 

[Logger]

OK so I cannot fly IN these Parky places without a permit. Can I fly over them operating from outside said Park place. Sure as hell can fly larger aircraft over them. A quick read of those various links does not actually mention the above\over part.
ie "NPWS does not control aircraft above parks, but can regulate certain behaviour in parks."
Predominately it is about the IN. I envisage a scenario where I might want to operate from adjacent private property, skirting over a coastal park at 400' well away from any people or animals and chances are no one would even know the Mavic was there. How does one define if a drone is IN a park?

 

[AussieMavicPilot]

Yeah i guess you could get away with it, as long as you takeoff and land outside the parks boundaries. But then you'll need pretty good knowledge of those.

 

[Logger]

True. Not trying to be mischievous, BTW. Just trying to understand the jurisdictions a bit better.

For example I asked a council of I could fly from their park. They said, Yes if I get an obstruction permit from them for the specific times and occasions. So I said, what if I stepped out of the park into the adjacent river and took off from there. They said the river is in a flight path so you cannot fly from there. I pointed out this was incorrect, as whilst near an airport it is definitely not in a flight path. Then they said the river belongs to Dept of Parks and Rivers speak to them. No doubt I will need a permit to fly in their park or river, but I actually have no interest in flying IN their park or river. I am only interested in the airspace above it and need a means to get airborne.

If I can do so safely without annoying anyone or anything, to the point that no one even knows I am there, I wish they would just chill.

 

[bakerboy]

Little bit of investigation on landgate would probably net you some results, particularly areas of unclaimed crown land

 

[Logger]

Yeah could work. Thanx will take a look.

 

[bill1992]

I was also wondering that part, taking off from outside of the park. But I wonder if arguing the point on something like that would make a park ranger less likely to just give a warning and more likely to give the heavy fine. Would have to be certain on the law of it

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