Flying during Covid 19

[Lastrexking]

Clearly more than we currently have, or we wouldn't have people, police forces, etc. disagreeing over where the boundaries are. Yes, it's a fine line, but ultimately "Nanny State" is still a lot better than "Police State" or "Military State" which are where things are going to end up if the confusion continues. To be clear, I'm talking about people who are trying to do the right thing but are not sure what the limits are here - willful disregard of the rules is something else entirely and absolutely needs to be deterred. No, governments can't win here, but they can (and have) stated that the restrictions will be tightened if required, but what they haven't really done is laid out examples of what would trigger that beyond failing to adhere to rules that people clearly don't understand either the limits and/or importance of.



Which seems to be lacking on many fronts at the moment, and not just with those flouting or merely unclear on the bounds that the rules are trying to define.



It's clearly not physical exercise, but that's not what I was talking about. Mental exercise (or stimulation) is currently much more blurred, which was the point - where on that slope I outlined does the risk outweigh the mental benefits? The page you linked (which is very useful, btw) says you should go for a walk if you are struggling with confinement - joggers will often take five for a drink during a run, so the rhetorical question I was asking was what (if anything) is the equivalent for people who desperately need to clear their head with a change of scene? The linked page does not say, but a few minutes on a bench to enjoy the view, read a little (not the entirety of "War and Peace", obviously), and maybe take a quick snap doesn't seem disproportionately out of line with the jogging equivalent, does it?

I don't think getting things to the point of being black and white is necessary - or even possible/practical - but we are definitely at a point where it would be a good idea to at leat *try* and reduce the size of the grey areas, and that's what I'm looking for.

Look. we're just going around in circles here.
It's very straight forward as far as I'm concerned, and there are no grey areas.

Stay in the house unless it's essential. Take the exercise you need (up to 30 minutes a day).

No, you can't loiter anywhere for any reason - the Police have and will move people on.

Keep 2m distance from people you don't live with.

 

[Lastrexking]

as long as you keep the social distancing , there not a problem, its up to others to keep theres, now 30 to 40 foot , is well within the safety zone

It's not a valid reason to go out.

Honestly....

 

[dirkclod]

Look. we're just going around in circles here.

Agree 100%

 

[steve_lyt]

until its made clear , i cant go out for a walk , i`ll carry on

 

[Vic Moss]

Luckily many here in The States don't have the restriction of Lock Down. We are allowed to go out as long as we keep social distancing. And may of us have essential jobs in the drone world. Not only for media use, but for critical infrastructure documentation and construction services. We are also allowed to go out and recreate if we keep the distance (run, walk the dog, etc.). As a matter of fact, with the parks empty, now it's much safer to fly in the parks around you.

 

[Lastrexking]

until its made clear , i cant go out for a walk , i`ll carry on

You can go out for a walk, for 30 mins a day. You can't loiter in one place and fly your drone, or do any other activity that involves you hanging around in the same spot.

 

[steve_lyt]

the area i fly in is large and open , so stoping to pick up animal waste, is against the law, i am isolated by well beyond the distancing. and its part of my exercise

 

[Lastrexking]

the area i fly in is large and open

I give in. Do what you like - as long as you're happy and having a good time eh? ( Mod Removed Comment )

 

[steve_lyt]

ok i wll

 

[dirkclod]

Guys let’s stay civil in this. I know we are in a bad time but
lets not turn on each other here.
Thanks .

 

[Heijst]

...If you live in a country that has asked you only to go out for essential reasons (food, medicine, exercize) - then please abide by that request. Whilst you may be ok, you could pass the virus to someone that isn't.
Flying a drone isn't essential.

I completely agree! I live in Curacao a small island in the Dutch Caribbean and we are locked down these weeks. So I don't go outside for walking of flying (my hobby, not essential). Please don't ( Mod Removed Langage)with corona.

 

[steve_lyt]

if it was a danger of social distancing then i wouldn`t go near the location
these are the rules for parks
You can still go to the park for outdoor exercise once a day but only alone or with members of your household, not in groups.

Communal places within parks such as sports courts, playgrounds and outdoor gyms have been closed to protect everyone’s health.

We ask that households use parks responsibly and keep 2 metres apart from others at all times.

Unless you are with members of your household, gatherings of more than two people in parks and other public spaces have been banned. The police have the powers to disperse gatherings and issue fines if necessary.

and my location i fly from fills all these conditions

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

I felt like it was safe enough to fly . . . oh, up to about 3 days ago, but hadn't gone out to fly (either windy, or too busy trying to get work out before we probably fully lockdown).
But after watching a few videos of just how bad this convid-19 is, how easily it is transferred, how much more easily it is spread than flu, and how it kills someone, well, I'm in self lockdown now, apart from essential shopping and solo work in isolated workplace (not much of that left no either !).

This thing is spreading so much faster than flus, about 2-1/2 times as fast / easily, and I personally feel social distancing of 1.5m is nowhere near enough, not even 2m.
A strong coughing fit or sneeze, and this virus can be spread a lot further in droplets . . .
And it's not just about how far it could directly reach someones air supply mouth, nose, face etc.
Landing on any surface or clothing . . . glass, stainless, plastic, 5 or 6 days, paper / cardboard 4hrs to 2 days.

Touch something anyone has sneezed / coughed on, they've coughed or sneezed on their hand, held an item, touched a hand rail, seat, shopping trolley / basket, eftpos machine, you can have it on your hands when you touch that surface.
Touch your face, you are probably going to be infected.
Touch your gate latch at home, next to come along for a visit can pick it up and so on.
Easy then to pass it on to family, your parents, people more susceptible to chronic pneumonia the virus brings on.

Nah, give it a week and see the UK, US, Australia numbers, India, Indonesia will be next to explode.
Our infections curve has slightly dipped today but still increasing, there are still some very bad spots where infections are increasing.
It's places where backpackers and the young are ignoring govco advice and bans to isolate themselves as requested.

If we hadn't let cruise ships dock, or international flights inbound, we wouldn't have much of a problem right now.

 

[zocalo]

Look. we're just going around in circles here.
It's very straight forward as far as I'm concerned, and there are no grey areas.

Glad it's 100% clear for you. Seriously, I am - there's absolutely no sarcasm intended. Just a hunch, but it was probably 100% clear to at least some, and possibly most, of those people in the drone footage and other examples we've been discussing - definitely not all though! The amount of divergence in where people's idea of where "the line" is *far* too large for what is required, and *that* is where I think more guidance to help narrow down the grey areas. The last thing we need right now is people that genuinely believe (rightly or wrongly) they were acting within the guidelines thinking that the police were over reaching theirs.

No, you can't loiter anywhere for any reason - the Police have and will move people on.

Keep 2m distance from people you don't live with.

I'll assume you're implying "unavoidable" in there because it's demonstrably not that absolute otherwise, although we're clearly on the same page that things *should* ideally be that absolute - or at least as close a possible to it. For instance, I spent about 20min waiting in line today to get into a shop chatting to a local police officer in front of me who was getting his lunch, although we we were all about 2-3m apart. (FWIW he personally thought the Cheshire and Derbyshire police had both probably gone too far, and his own guidance is only to issues fines in blatent cases or refusals to do as instructed, so a different of opinion there on where the lines are too). People loiter while they wait for public transport, while pet dogs relieve themselves, and many more examples that are just fine under current guidance.

Another example: there's a video on the BBC live feed today where a human rights lawyer was making the point that what in written in the UK law does not agree with what the UK government advice says and there is actually no legal restriction on how many times you can go out each day. Personally, even if he's correct in that interpretation, I don't think that's very helpful in the circumstances, but it does illustrate the point that opinions vary even amongst people who earn a living from law - his view is very clearly different to yours (and mine).

 

[dirkclod]

I feel for you UK folks. Don’t know if this is credible but just
read this.

UK Police Force Takes Flak for COVID Drone Tweet

As drones help flatten the curve that is the global coronavirus pandemic, a British police force has been criticized for going too far with aerial surveillance. On Thursday, Derbyshire Police tweeted

dronelife.us8.list-manage.com

 

[tmgrood]

I have been flying in my fenced in backyard lately and for me I enjoy flying a few feet off the ground.
Now that may seem boring to some but you can get some pretty creative shots.

 

[The Editor]

I’ll sum things up....

Cambridge English dictionary definition of essential:

essential
noun [ C usually plural ]
‘a basic thing that you cannot live without’


So going out to fly a plastic toy somewhere.... non essential.
Pretty simple really.

I just cannot understand how people don’t ‘get it’ - this is an unprecedented life threatening global pandemic the likes of which has not been seen in our lifetime.
In the UK the government have asked people to only go out for essentials. This is to safeguard people’s lives, the lives of frontline medical staff and to attempt to slow the infection/transmission rate.

Flying a plastic RC gadget for fun cannot in any way fall into the essential Category. Your life and survival doesn’t depend on it.

 

[Martysticks]

I fail to see how flying your drone out in the secluded country side or out in your back yard with no one around is a threat to anyone, including yourself. I can sit on my back lanai and fly all day and never see another person. How is that, pray tell, not safe?

My wife and I are very strict when it comes to physical distancing (I hate that term social distancing because we still call people on the phone, talk to our neighbor across the road (that's about 50 feet) and of course, the almighty internet); only going shopping every 10-12 days and early in the morning (7am) and have not come in any close contact with other people in weeks. We wash our hands frequently and bring in our mail thru the garage and not into the house.

 

[Lastrexking]

Glad it's 100% clear for you. Seriously, I am - there's absolutely no sarcasm intended. Just a hunch, but it was probably 100% clear to at least some, and possibly most, of those people in the drone footage and other examples we've been discussing - definitely not all though! The amount of divergence in where people's idea of where "the line" is *far* too large for what is required, and *that* is where I think more guidance to help narrow down the grey areas. The last thing we need right now is people that genuinely believe (rightly or wrongly) they were acting within the guidelines thinking that the police were over reaching theirs.



I'll assume you're implying "unavoidable" in there because it's demonstrably not that absolute otherwise, although we're clearly on the same page that things *should* ideally be that absolute - or at least as close a possible to it. For instance, I spent about 20min waiting in line today to get into a shop chatting to a local police officer in front of me who was getting his lunch, although we we were all about 2-3m apart. (FWIW he personally thought the Cheshire and Derbyshire police had both probably gone too far, and his own guidance is only to issues fines in blatent cases or refusals to do as instructed, so a different of opinion there on where the lines are too). People loiter while they wait for public transport, while pet dogs relieve themselves, and many more examples that are just fine under current guidance.

Another example: there's a video on the BBC live feed today where a human rights lawyer was making the point that what in written in the UK law does not agree with what the UK government advice says and there is actually no legal restriction on how many times you can go out each day. Personally, even if he's correct in that interpretation, I don't think that's very helpful in the circumstances, but it does illustrate the point that opinions vary even amongst people who earn a living from law - his view is very clearly different to yours (and mine).

I honestly don’t care about the law. I don’t care what’s written down. I care about what is right.

I care about people not dying.

I care about people not transmitting this virus to other people who actually need to be out and about.

I care that people carrying on like normal will bring further, more strict restrictions on movement.

I care about reducing the stress, work load and health of medical and emergency staff, and trying to make sure there’s enough medical care and equipment to go around when this takes off.

I really have nothing else to say on this now. Some of you will do the right thing to try and stop the spread of the virus, and some of you won’t. That’s up to you.

My intent on my original post came from seeing first hand the damage this virus does. I wanted to try and encourage members of the forum I really enjoy being a part of to stay safe and keep others safe. What you all do with it now is up to you.

I won’t be replying to this anymore. I have to go to work and help manage the setting up of another 'pop up' hospital and morgue.

Good luck and stay safe

 

[zocalo]

I feel for you UK folks. Don’t know if this is credible but just
read this.

UK Police Force Takes Flak for COVID Drone Tweet

As drones help flatten the curve that is the global coronavirus pandemic, a British police force has been criticized for going too far with aerial surveillance. On Thursday, Derbyshire Police tweeted

dronelife.us8.list-manage.com

Yeah, that's been a hot topic on multiple forums - it's absolutely credible and it definitely happened - this was Derbyshire police - the Warrington (part of Cheshire) and Lancashire forces have been getting similar flack for over reach. It's very spotty though; the police are clearly having as much variance interpreting what they can and can't do as members of the public are, because as I posted above, my own force (which is part of Lancashire) is working to a much more relaxed guidance and will only be fining people in exceptional circumstances - it's very much focussed on advising people and managing the situation here at present.

General consensus on the issue above and similar seems arriving at a conclusion that this was too much and that more consistant guidelines are going to drawn upprovided as a matter of some urgency by MPs, so hopefully everyone will get a little more clarity PDQ. It's definitely a learning curve for everyone here, but hopefully countries that are a bit further behind the curve can see what works and what doesn't and avoid some of the mis-steps if/when they reach a similar point.