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Changing Drone Laws Australia

dgraham62

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Hi to All Aussie Operators

Just wondering if anyone has looked at having our drone laws changed to that of the UK for sub 250g drones at all?

I contacted CASA with the following question and their response below:

Please find the response to your query below:

Question: Why are Australian drone rules more strict than that of the UK and USA? Are Australian drone operators less skilled or capable at operating drones?



Answer: The Guidance Delivery Centre can not comment on the differentiation between the rules for foreign National Airworthiness Authorities (NAA) and Australia's regulations. CASA's Civil Aviation Safety Regulations are an outcome based regulation, which provides industry participants the opportunity to either comply with current regulations or provide an alternate means of compliance that CASA would consider acceptable.


This guidance is current and accurate at the time of receiving this notification, and is subject to change over time at the discretion of the policy holder which may impact the accuracy of this information.

If you require further clarification relating to this matter, please reply to this email and quote the reference number CASE ENQ-22-139046.

Best regards,



Guidance Delivery Centre

CASA\Aviation Group
e:
[email protected]
www.casa.gov.au
 
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I'm not aware of any changes in relation to sub-250g drones. I read all the CASA newsletters. Also, I think your question to CASA was too broad and non-specific. To make such a comparison would take some time and effort which they are unlikely to do to answer a single query. You'd be better off doing it yourself and then asking them specific questions about certain aspects of it.
 
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Question: Why are Australian drone rules more strict than that of the UK and USA? Are Australian drone operators less skilled or capable at operating drones?
What in the Australian regulations is more strict than UK and USA regulations?
 
What in the Australian regulations is more strict than UK and USA regulations?
I believe there is no restrictions for how close you fly to people except for crowded areas and would of course not be used to harass etc. and over buildings such as houses, private businesses are all ok with exceptions such as prisons.
 
I believe there is no restrictions for how close you fly to people except for crowded areas and would of course not be used to harass etc. and over buildings such as houses, private businesses are all ok with exceptions such as prisons.
CASA drone rules are you must stay thirty metres away from people and not to fly over a populous area. Weight is not mentioned in the drone regulations that they publish. They do regulate differently for recreational users as against commercial users.
 
CASA drone rules are you must stay thirty metres away from people and not to fly over a populous area. Weight is not mentioned in the drone regulations that they publish. They do regulate differently for recreational users as against commercial users.
also not fly above anyone at any height which would be very difficult, you would need to fly with the camera down at 90 degrees just to see if anyone below it, with not being allowed to fly viewing the screen would make it impossible.
 
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CASA drone rules are you must stay thirty metres away from people and not to fly over a populous area. Weight is not mentioned in the drone regulations that they publish. They do regulate differently for recreational users as against commercial users.
also not fly above anyone at any height which would be very difficult, you would need to fly with the camera down at 90 degrees just to see if anyone below it, with not being allowed to fly viewing the screen would make it impossible.
I've been studying OpenSky and see that the Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Gold Coast CBDs are all Orange.

In the case of Sydney, the Harbour itself is a NFZ but the land bordering on the water is Orange, which I understand to mean that you can fly but have to watch out for helicopter and other aircraft and prepare to land right away.

Of course in a busy CBD, there will always be a lot of people below CBD airspace.

But what about in the case of rivers, lakes or other bodies of water which border on Orange zones and which are either Orange or Clear?

You are must less likely to be flying over people if you're flying over the water, unless there are a lot of boats or other water activities going on.

But you may have to launch and land by flying over some land to get to and return from the water.

Melbourne, Brisbane and Gold Coast all have rivers and lakes in Orange zones so I'm hoping that will allow some flying in CBD areas.

For Sydney, it would be great if you could launch/land from the NE corner of the Royal Botanic Garden, to get shots of the Bridge and Opera House. However, while it may be permitted by CASA, probably the people who run the Garden would bar it?
 
also not fly above anyone at any height which would be very difficult, you would need to fly with the camera down at 90 degrees just to see if anyone below it, with not being allowed to fly viewing the screen would make it impossible.
Yeah I find that a stupid rule, we have a dedicated drone flying area across the road from my house, and you get people walking around there all the time
 
Is Opensky the standard for Australia? I'm new to drones, and have just installed it.

It seems even my house and residential area (mid north coast NSW) are all open, but I live in "Karensville" and am very likely to pull some crazies if I launch at the house, or even the beach 300m's away.

If someone called the cops, can I just show them this app on my tablet and they'll accept that? Would they be aware of it?

It's certainly handy, but they don't seem to have a legend stating what an orange zone means etc. Or have I missed it somehow?
 
Is Opensky the standard for Australia? I'm new to drones, and have just installed it.

It seems even my house and residential area (mid north coast NSW) are all open, but I live in "Karensville" and am very likely to pull some crazies if I launch at the house, or even the beach 300m's away.

If someone called the cops, can I just show them this app on my tablet and they'll accept that? Would they be aware of it?

It's certainly handy, but they don't seem to have a legend stating what an orange zone means etc. Or have I missed it somehow?

I have OpenSky and Airmap on my phone to check, also use those web based when planning prior to a trip.
Both pretty much show the same sort of things, Airmap a little more detail around red zones . . . sometimes there are mere altitude restrictions around some of these.

I don't fly from home, even simple testing I go to a local park / oval, usually during weekdays to avoid people.
Even though I've lived here 37 years or something like that, I'm not interested in flying in the burbs.
I fly like this most times (go places), prefer more isolated places for the scenery, beaches early morn or later around sunset where less people frequent.

Orange if you look on the bottom window warnings (phone app), it's normally heliports, and you can fly most of these fine, just asks you to land safely / avoid manned aircraft if you become aware of any in the vicinity.

If you get a problem with police becoming involved, just show them the casa website drone rules, the app with ok to fly where you are, should suffice.
Heck, by the time any show up you've probably left or close to finished flying anyway.
Most of our police are pretty ok, and many probably do know a little about drone rules etc.
I'd say many nuisance drone calls are set straight on the phone when someone calls to complain.
 
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I have OpenSky and Airmap on my phone to check, also use those web based when planning prior to a trip.
Both pretty much show the same sort of things, Airmap a little more detail around red zones . . . sometimes there are mere altitude restrictions around some of these.

I don't fly from home, even simple testing I go to a local park / oval, usually during weekdays to avoid people.
Even though I've lived here 37 years or something like that, I'm not interested in flying in the burbs.
I fly like this most times (go places), prefer more isolated places for the scenery, beaches early morn or later around sunset where less people frequent.

Orange if you look on the bottom window warnings (phone app), it's normally heliports, and you can fly most of these fine, just asks you to land safely / avoid manned aircraft if you become aware of any in the vicinity.

If you get a problem with police becoming involved, just show them the casa website drone rules, the app with ok to fly where you are, should suffice.
Heck, by the time any show up you've probably left or close to finished flying anyway.
Most of our police are pretty ok, and many probably do know a little about drone rules etc.
I'd say many nuisance drone calls are set straight on the phone when someone calls to complain.

No worries.

I wouldn't fly from the house either. Just to keep the peace and there's too many bloody trees. I do hover it in the back yard just to mess around with adjustments, but that's it.

I've just been down to my fishing beach and realized it's very private on a week day and much more pleasant to fly over than to climb out over the rocks with a ton of fishing gear.
 
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