FROM WHERE CAN I LAUNCH MY DRONE IN THE UK

[Crusader14]

As a new drone pilot I am beginning to find it increasingly difficult to find a suitable location from which to launch my drone. I live in rural England with many villages and several large towns. I am familiar with the rules and regulations governing the flight of my drone. I know I cant launch from private land unless I have the owners permission, which in most cases is either impracticable or impossible. Many of the public open spaces (sports fields, local authority parks, national parks etc) are usually governed by bylaws prohibiting the use of drones. I know I can get permission to use such areas but authorities are reluctant to give permission and will not even consider the matter (drones have a bad reputation as I'm sure you know). The process is also long-winded and very bureaucratic and often the people making decisions have a completely closed mind to the matter.

I know I can fly my drone OVER public and private land without permission providing I stick to the rules regarding minimum separation distances and max height, and do not create a nuisance and infringe people's privacy.

So my questions is, FROM where can I actually LAUNCH my drone legally and without having to seek permission? It seems to me virtually nowhere - which effectively renders my drone a useless but expensive piece of tech..

Any thoughts and advice?

 

[old man mavic]

you do not say where you are located, there is plenty of countryside to fly in.many farms are happy to let you fly over their land, you just need to ask them first i fly over a farm and to say thanks i take pics and videos which i put on a memory stick, the farm then down load them to there computer and are amazed to see the farm from the air. i agree there are many places we cannot fly but equally there are many more that we can fly over

 

[Crusader14]

Thanks for that - my question relates to from WHERE I can take off without seeking permission not what i can fly over. I am in rural England with many villages and a few large towns.

 

[SpinItUp]

Just use an app and they give all the info you should require

airmap

droneassist

 

[old man mavic]

Thanks for that - my question relates to from WHERE I can take off without seeking permission not what i can fly over. I am in rural England with many villages and a few large towns.

you can take off from any public ground adjacent to a particular place you want to fly following the drone code rules, there is plenty of common land where you are ok to take off. from as SpinitUp said use apps which will tell you if there are any restrictions where you intend to fly, also you can check web sites for specific areas of parkland that you may want to fly over to find out what the rules are the forest of dean is a lovely place to fly im sure they have a web site to find out where you can or cannot fly just do some research

 

[FoxhallGH]

I take-off from public foot-paths ... I've never had a problem with that, and despite nervousness when runing into other people on the paths (due to negatives in the Pressabout Drones), I have had a lot of positive feedback, as I publish video's about local landmarks and walks on the villiage Facebook site. I even had a couple tell me I was welcome to use their land (as we talked across a river), and they asked "could I get them a photo of their house please?"
As has been said many times on this Forum, it's about how you respond to the people when you have those 'meetings' that's important ... If you are polite and apologetic when needed, then you can fly pretty much anywhere in the countryside - but - be prepared to back-down on those rare occasions when you meet those bloody-minded [land-owning] folk who don't care what you think!