I continuously see postings by innumerable idiots on here, about their latest escapade of flying over a city, a busy dual carriageway or motorway and countless other stupid ways to bring the whole hobby into disrepute - 'I took it to 500 metres and what a view, LOL...'. Everyone who has a drone of any worth (I'm not talking about the £25 'toys' that you get in Maplin) know that you cannot fly near airports, know you shouldn't go above 120 metres and SHOULD know about VLOS. But they ignore it, then innumerable people on these forums defend them, saying they're 'newbies' and just need a bit of guidance. No they don't - they need telling, in the strongest possible terms, that they are wrecking it for everyone else who DOES obey the rules! This latest escapade has now gone National on the news, the Airline Pilots are calling for compulsory registration and that will inevitably lead to 'controlled zones' that you can fly in - after you have joined a club and taken lessons / obtained certificates, etc. Which by itself wouldn't be too bad except it will still be the idiots who break the rules and the rest of us are shot down in flames by a public who are fed-up of these 'reported' incidents - most of which have proved to be false. So this individual who tried to get a 'nice shot' of a plane from the end of an active runway may just have signed the death warrant for our hobby. Am I peeved? **** right - I obey the law, I use common sense and I don't put others at risk. Why do people like me, who have been warning that tighter controls are inevitable because of these ludicrous antics, just get ignored with the common title of 'drone police'. Too late now - I expect a raft of new laws to be passed during this year....
I'll start believing these stories when I start seeing proof.
... are there any rules in terms of how low pilots can fly their manned aircraft below 400'
Thanks. I'm in the UK. Maybe someone will come along who knows about UK rulesLow flying rules in the US
In the US, Part 91 (specifically 91.119[4]) of the Federal Aviation Regulations controls the minimum safe altitudes by which aircraft can be operated in the National Airspace System.
500 ft rule
An aircraft must maintain an altitude of 500 feet above the surface, except over open water or sparsely populated areas. In those cases, the aircraft may not be operated closer than 500 feet to any person, vessel, vehicle, or structure.
Thanks. I'm in the UK. Maybe someone will come along who knows about UK rules
I have the good fortune to be able to visit several exotic locations each year in pursuit of my hobby to do underwater and topside video, and hoping to be supplemented by aerial shots from my newly purchased Mavic. Wishing to acquire sufficient expertise in learning to fly it in the months prior to a trip to the Philippines, I contacted my local council about the possibility of doing so from one of their nearby parks, at a time when the kids would be in school and the only likely users of said parks might be one man and his dog. No luck, as they had a blanket ban on drone & model aircraft flying from all council owned parks and open spaces. Only way to learn safely would be to join a local model aircraft club who have permission to fly in an area set aside for them in the largest park in the city at a cost of £50 for membership! This includes insurance in case of accidents and flyers must also possess a first aid kit & bandages (for tourniquets) in case of propeller induced injuries. This may seem irksome but if you think about it better safe than sorry. In light of the Gatwick reported incident, do we have to wait for some moron to have their drone sucked into a jet intake, risking bringing about engine failure, similar to the bird strike incident which crippled that jet sufficient to bring it down to a landing on the Hudson River in New York several years ago? No people, more state regulation is coming, such as compulsory registration, annual fees for monitoring of the system and proficiency tests in drone flying unless we all pressurise any one we know who thinks they can behave like cowboys and do what they want, when they want and to who they want. After all would you like motor vehicle drivers to be untested, uninsured and unlicensed to give freedom of the roads to any cowboy who wants to drive a car? A drone may not be as potentially lethal as a car but in the wrong hands and in the wrong circumstances it could prove a lethal weapon.I continuously see postings by innumerable idiots on here, about their latest escapade of flying over a city, a busy dual carriageway or motorway and countless other stupid ways to bring the whole hobby into disrepute - 'I took it to 500 metres and what a view, LOL...'. Everyone who has a drone of any worth (I'm not talking about the £25 'toys' that you get in Maplin) know that you cannot fly near airports, know you shouldn't go above 120 metres and SHOULD know about VLOS. But they ignore it, then innumerable people on these forums defend them, saying they're 'newbies' and just need a bit of guidance. No they don't - they need telling, in the strongest possible terms, that they are wrecking it for everyone else who DOES obey the rules! This latest escapade has now gone National on the news, the Airline Pilots are calling for compulsory registration and that will inevitably lead to 'controlled zones' that you can fly in - after you have joined a club and taken lessons / obtained certificates, etc. Which by itself wouldn't be too bad except it will still be the idiots who break the rules and the rest of us are shot down in flames by a public who are fed-up of these 'reported' incidents - most of which have proved to be false. So this individual who tried to get a 'nice shot' of a plane from the end of an active runway may just have signed the death warrant for our hobby. Am I peeved? **** right - I obey the law, I use common sense and I don't put others at risk. Why do people like me, who have been warning that tighter controls are inevitable because of these ludicrous antics, just get ignored with the common title of 'drone police'. Too late now - I expect a raft of new laws to be passed during this year....