Canadian drone law

[Cookedinlh]

Hello all
I live in Michigan but have a cabin on michipocoten island. Which is a provincial park in northern lake superior in Ontario. I have been flying a phantom 2 purely for recreation
I have bought the mavic and planned on taking it there. I'm kind of confused on weather I need a permit if it's for a hobby. Island is very remote and almost unpopulated. Do I need a permit because I'm from the USA? Or maybe because it's a Provincial park

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You may not be able to LAUNCH from a provincial park but you should have no issue with taking off and flying VLOS from your own property . . just stay below 300ft AGL and don't go buzzing people or hovering over beaches etc . . there are new Regs coming this summer but only recommendations in effect . . and right now they are different for an UNDER 1kg class (ie Mavic). You do not need a license for recreational use.
Have fun and just fly responsibly and you should have no problems. If you fly out over the water keep 100ft away from vessels and with a strobe light attached you can see a mavic almosta mile out. . . that is still VLOS

 

[dbeamer]

That sounds like what I've been reading. I talked to some neighbors and our park is more interested with studying the wolves and caribou population on the island than drone flights.
Tnx for the reply

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[Wenchtram]

Hello all
I live in Michigan but have a cabin on michipocoten island. Which is a provincial park in northern lake superior in Ontario. I have been flying a phantom 2 purely for recreation
I have bought the mavic and planned on taking it there. I'm kind of confused on weather I need a permit if it's for a hobby. Island is very remote and almost unpopulated. Do I need a permit because I'm from the USA? Or maybe because it's a Provincial park

Hello, dbeamer.

Your question should be addressed via the information in this thread, though granted there is probably a lot of stuff to sort through in order to get that answer.

The short answer is this: Transport Canada has guidelines on drone flying which you should probably review, however you should not require an SFOC (Special Flight Operations Certificate) to fly your "model airplane" recreationally. Regarding the fact that you are hoping to fly in a Provincial Park, I would invite you to check out the thread that I created specifically relating to Ontario Provincial Parks here. In short, however, you should not take off or land any drone (recreationally or otherwise) in either a National or Ontario Provincial park without explicit Park Warden permission (which is completely unrelated to the aforementioned SFOC). Provincial parks in other provinces may vary. The regulations do appear to allow you to fly over a National/Ontario Provincial park (as long as you don't take off/land therein) - however I would advise caution: there are other laws relating to things like disturbing wildlife that you don't want to run afoul of. Lastly, all of these rules are going to change in July of this year, or thereabouts.

 

[dbeamer]

I need to find out if the mining claims are part of the park would be awesome to fly over the old mine shafts. Unfortunately the waters around the island for a certain distance are included as park. I find it interesting that no one said anything about taking off from floats as in my case I believe it would be within park boundaries. I think I'll stick to take offs and landing on private property.
What about from your personal vessel on Lake superior within the Park? Probably one of those gray areas. Any thoughts


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[Wenchtram]

I need to find out if the mining claims are part of the park would be awesome to fly over the old mine shafts. Unfortunately the waters around the island for a certain distance are included as park. I find it interesting that no one said anything about taking off from floats as in my case I believe it would be within park boundaries. I think I'll stick to take offs and landing on private property.
What about from your personal vessel on Lake superior within the Park? Probably one of those gray areas. Any thoughts

You're well outside anything that I've read about, so I'm not much more help to you. I did come across the Ontario Crown Land Use Policy Atlas (CLUPA), which clearly shows the boudaries of all Ontario Provincial parks. Unlike Michipicoten Island, the park border does not appear to extend beyond the coastline. Moreover, there appears to be some gaps in the park boundaries for private property and other zones.

 

[Atomicbear]

NEW DRONE LAWS IN CANADA TODAY.

Bullet points:

Recreational drone users in Canada face new restrictions on where and when they can fly their remote-controlled devices, under new rules being announced today by Transportation Minister Marc Garneau.

The rules, which are effective immediately, mean recreational users will face a fine of up to $3,000 if drones weighing more than 250 grams are caught flying:

• Higher than 90 metres.
• Within 75 metres of buildings, vehicles, vessels, animals or people.
• More than 500 metres away from the user.
• At night, in clouds or somewhere you can't see it.
• Within nine kilometres of somewhere aircraft take off or land, or a forest fire.
• Without your name, address and phone number marked on the drone itself.
• Over forest fires, emergency response scenes or controlled airspace.

Full article:

New rules for recreational drones in Canada set out where, when they can fly

Official Transport Canada Drone Rules page:

Flying your drone safely and legally - Transport Canada

Getting tougher to find spots near home to fly.

 

[Wenchtram]

NEW DRONE LAWS IN CANADA TODAY

Does this effectively terminate the market for Mavic- and Phantom-class devices in Canada?

 

[Atomicbear]

Does this effectively terminate the market for Mavic- and Phantom-class devices in Canada?

Not really, but it sure makes it difficult to fly in or near any population centres. Thankfully, I'm about 10-15 minutes' drive from "clean skies", and the further I drive from there, the prettier it gets!

 

[Wenchtram]

Not really, but it sure makes it difficult to fly in or near any population centres. Thankfully, I'm about 10-15 minutes' drive from "clean skies", and the further I drive from there, the prettier it gets!

Well, I see that you're in Abbotsford. According to this, it doesn't look like a whole lot of clean sky!

Still, you're lucky to have some pretty mountains in your vicinity - no such dice here in the Ottawa area.

 

[Atomicbear]

Well, I see that you're in Abbotsford. According to this, it doesn't look like a whole lot of clean sky!

Still, you're lucky to have some pretty mountains in your vicinity - no such dice here in the Ottawa area.

I was referring to East of Chilliwack (20 minutes) or Stave Lake (15 minutes). Once I get to Hope, I have the Fraser River Canyon, etc... So, yeah, more like 45 minutes for the real good stuff.

 

[Sloth469]

Does this policy also apply to

I know still will fly as long as the laws are not clear or I get a fine


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PEO Provincial are also no fly/launch zones as of last year. Emailed them for confirmation and it is Verboten

 

[Sloth469]

Does this policy also apply to

PEO Provincial are also no fly/launch zones as of last year. Emailed them for confirmation and it is Verboten

PEI not PEO

 

[niclariv]

Anyone up for coming up with some kind of petition for more freedom for drones? I was thinking a proposal that starts with the most limiting factor - distance from airports. I'd like to propose that instead of a complete no fly zone 9km from airports and then all of a sudden you can fly 90m up, altitude is limited in a funnel shape. Right next to the airport - no fly, and then you get more altitude the further away you are until finally 9km away you get 90m. There's no reason why 7km away you shouldn't be able to fly 40m right? Planes wouldn't be flying that low to approach (there are probably buildings that high 7km away). I'd also like to suggest a collaboration between the government and DJI, where the drone automatically limits the altitude. Though it would be nice if the max altitude could still be overridden and set to 500m like you can now - for situations where the ground level goes up (flying over a mountain or other large object). The pilot could still get fined for disabling the automatic altitude limiter without a reason like that.

 

[niclariv]

In Victoria the newspaper has published a map of no drone zones (which is most of Victoria), so now it will be every busybody who thinks drones' only purpose is to spy on them who will turn you in. So for the sake of being able to use drones for creative projects (and get shots of more than forest in the middle of nowhere) I think we should be standing up for ourselves.

 

[Atomicbear]

Also, I think we should be able to fly in parks (soccer fields, baseball diamonds, open park spaces, etc. as long as we don't fly above treetop level). Keep a 20m distance to people, animals, etc. in these cases, instead of the 75m that was just implemented. Just my 2 cents. (Well, 5 cents actually - Canada no longer has pennies.)

 

[Sloth469]

Anyone up for coming up with some kind of petition for more freedom for drones? I was thinking a proposal that starts with the most limiting factor - distance from airports. I'd like to propose that instead of a complete no fly zone 9km from airports and then all of a sudden you can fly 90m up, altitude is limited in a funnel shape. Right next to the airport - no fly, and then you get more altitude the further away you are until finally 9km away you get 90m. There's no reason why 7km away you shouldn't be able to fly 40m right? Planes wouldn't be flying that low to approach (there are probably buildings that high 7km away). I'd also like to suggest a collaboration between the government and DJI, where the drone automatically limits the altitude. Though it would be nice if the max altitude could still be overridden and set to 500m like you can now - for situations where the ground level goes up (flying over a mountain or other large object). The pilot could still get fined for disabling the automatic altitude limiter without a reason like that.

If you look at TC Control Zones (CZ) most, if not all airports have a restricted airspace from surface to 2000 feet or more. This new policy essentially takes away the option, it was a suggested rule, that was there under the model aircraft rule for flying in those zones (9kms) and now makes it an offence with a $3k fine. Drones and model aircraft can no longer fly within those zone unless they are at a MAAC site or sanctioned event. If you look at some of the approach altitudes, Halifax for example, aircraft are at the final approach point 5.7 miles from the end of the runway at an altitude of no lower than 310 feet and descending, therefore there is a Class D CZ with 10km radius from surface to 3000 feet. So even to operate at 9km from airport you are still in violation since drones/model aircraft no longer are exempt from the CZ policy. Also your altitude limit is measured from the launching point and if you are flying over a mountain you are most likely going to lose signal which would initiate RTH (unless you are using Litchi profile) and then you are in violation of another policy that aircraft are to with LOS at all times.... to see CZ's in Canada use this link Canadian Airspace Viewer .

 

[Sloth469]

In Victoria the newspaper has published a map of no drone zones (which is most of Victoria), so now it will be every busybody who thinks drones' only purpose is to spy on them who will turn you in. So for the sake of being able to use drones for creative projects (and get shots of more than forest in the middle of nowhere) I think we should be standing up for ourselves.

Victoria is within a Class E CZ Surface to 2500 feet because of harbour aircraft.

 

[niclariv]

I'm not sure if I'm understanding from what you wrote if we're in agreement or not, but to clarify when I said over a mountain I should have said beside. Not out of line of sight, and not high above ground level. Just able to clear the ground level as it rises with the terrain.

And if what you're saying is that at 10km out you can't fly a drone because the surface to 3000ft, that's exactly my point. An aircraft isn't going to be coming in for a landing 10k away approaching at 30m. So what's the harm in allowing drones to fly closer to the airport in a funnel shaped altitude limit enforced by DJI? Especially when drones like the Mavic are so useful for more than just high aerial shots, and be used just as a steady automatic camera - like active track at very low altitudes.

 

[Sloth469]

I'm not sure if I'm understanding from what you wrote if we're in agreement or not, but to clarify when I said over a mountain I should have said beside. Not out of line of sight, and not high above ground level. Just able to clear the ground level as it rises with the terrain.

And if what you're saying is that at 10km out you can't fly a drone because the surface to 3000ft, that's exactly my point. An aircraft isn't going to be coming in for a landing 10k away approaching at 30m. So what's the harm in allowing drones to fly closer to the airport in a funnel shaped altitude limit enforced by DJI? Especially when drones like the Mavic are so useful for more than just high aerial shots, and be used just as a steady automatic camera - like active track at very low altitudes.

Flight restrictions within Control zones (When using DJI app it would say you were in a NFZ) were just a suggestion, now it is law.. so really nothing has changed. We weren't supposed to fly in a CZ and now we definitely cant...

 

[niclariv]

So my point stands. That we should do something and fight back on these restrictions. There's room for both drones and planes, especially that far out from the airport, and with the drones flying at lower altitudes. These laws and the press they're getting are just making the general public against drones even more, and making it so we can't do anything creative with them.