Canadian - Locations

[Magicman]

Hey everyone, have next week off and would like to do some short 2 or 3 day trips. Anywhere near Red Deer, AB that would have some good mountain areas to legally fly in? Preferably dog (on leash) friendly?

Prefer no more than say a 5-6hour drive.

 

[Glasswalker]

Have you checked AirMap.io

(using a PC/Mac)

Turn on recreational, check show heliports, check BCDE airspace, and basically all caution zones on the right. Then look at the map in satellite mode and look for areas that:

• Are within your driving range
• Don't have any solid color, or lines (heliport) areas shading them
• Look for buildings/roads nearby, and keep in mind you'll have to stay 75m from those
• Avoid anywhere that might have people (Again need to stay 75m away)
• Avoiding people also good because technically there is animals everywhere which you won't be able to avoid by 75m (stupid wording on the interim order). So no people means nobody to potentially raise a stink
• Keep in mind all national parks you can't operate the drone within (but can fly over if you're outside the park to launch/land the drone)
• Have to look up your local provincial park rules as well (Ontario has the same rules on provincial parks, as national parks have)
• Also same thing commonly applies to municipal parks
• Crown land is prime candidate. as long as it's not designated as one of the above park types. As you can fly over it, and go into it freely. There are maps of crown land in Ontario for example, sure there must be maps for Alberta.

I'm actually planning on figuring out a "registry of known good flying spots in Canada" for the UUAG site, so people who find good spots can post them up, and if you have a free day/week/weekend/whatever you can go lookup some safe spots to fly from. (but that won't be in place in time for your time-off unfortunately)

 

[Glasswalker]

At first glance, looks like Kootenay Plains ecological reserve is within a couple hours drive, outside the national parks, and away from any no-fly zones, and should have some awesome scenery to film/photograph.

But not being as familiar with alberta parks/regions/etc I couldn't speak to local rules/regs, or other issues. Looks like a big area of nature preserve though, so likely at least a few spots along hwy 11 there that you can find to fly from I'm sure.

Just do your homework ahead of time. Bring maps of airspace with you, bring a print-out of the interim orders, and any local legislature you can find.

That way, if anyone confronts you, you can politely explain why you felt justified to fly.