BLOS - Private Property

[EricJT]

Quick question.....under US & Canadian uUAV laws, is BLOS flying allowed on your private property or someone else who has given you permission?

 

[Camino Ken]

Pretty sure the regulations just state that you must fly within visual line of sight and do not say anything about what land you are flying over.

 

[PhantomFandom]

I don't know about Canada but here in the USA the answer is definitely no. Unless you have a waiver or some other sort of authorization from the FAA, you are always restricted to flying within LOS.

 

[DJ Wes]

Quick question.....under US & Canadian uUAV laws, is BLOS flying allowed on your private property or someone else who has given you permission?

Probably not. Because you are not flying "on" private property. Instead, you are flying "in" the airspace which may happen to be above your private property. The purpose of flying in VLOS is not to be aware of and avoid objects on the ground (although that is an obvious advantage), but to be aware of and avoid objects (aircraft) in the airspace in which you are flying.

 

[BigAl07]

Quick question.....under US & Canadian uUAV laws, is BLOS flying allowed on your private property or someone else who has given you permission?

Airspace Regulations (at least in the USA) and Property Ownership aren't in the same family. Airspace is Airspace is Airspace. The regulations are in play regardless who owns the grass under the aircraft.

 

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

So... BLOS over your own property, below 400' (in the proper air-space that allows that height)? Or just ALL airspace?

 

[bumper]

So... BLOS over your own property, below 400' (in the proper air-space that allows that height)? Or just ALL airspace?

No, not even over your own property are you allowed to fly BLOS according to the rules. Seemingly unfair, but occupied aircraft are allowed to fly at any altitude (absent restricted or controlled airspace), so long as they fly no closer than 500 feet to people and structures in sparsely populated areas (1000 feet from open air assemblies and densely populated areas). So, theoretically, I can be legally zipping along over your back forty in my Husky at 10 feet AGL, out of your line of sight, to crash into your drone.

 

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

That would certainly ruin my day.

 

[JThalheimer]

In the USA, if it is in the air, it is regulated by FAA.

 

[paul242]

In Canada, you would have to apply for a special flight operations certificate to be allowed to operate without VLOS.
Visual Line-of-sight

• 901.11 (1) Subject to subsection (2), no pilot shall operate a remotely piloted aircraft system unless the pilot or a visual observer has the aircraft in visual line-of-sight at all times during flight.
• (2) A pilot may operate a remotely piloted aircraft system without the pilot or a visual observer having the aircraft in visual line-of-sight if the operation is conducted in accordance with a special flight operations certificate — RPAS issued under section 903.03.

 

[paul242]

Although, when you read 903.03, special flight operations certificates are only applicable to UAVs that are 250g or over.
903.01 No person shall conduct any of the following operations using a remotely piloted aircraft system that includes a remotely piloted aircraft having a maximum take-off weight of 250 g (0.55 pounds) or more unless the person complies with the provisions of a special flight operations certificate.
(b) the operation of a system beyond visual line-of-sight, as referred to in subsection 901.11(2);

 

[EricJT]

Although, when you read 903.03, special flight operations certificates are only applicable to UAVs that are 250g or over.
903.01 No person shall conduct any of the following operations using a remotely piloted aircraft system that includes a remotely piloted aircraft having a maximum take-off weight of 250 g (0.55 pounds) or more unless the person complies with the provisions of a special flight operations certificate.
(b) the operation of a system beyond visual line-of-sight, as referred to in subsection 901.11(2);

Thanks everyone for your replies. This helps clarify the rules regarding flying from your own property.