Hello from South Devon in the UK

[Cleave'e]

Hi All! My name is Alex, I have been loitering in the shadows of the MavicPilots forums as a guest for quite some time, I really enjoy reading the threads on this site and have finally decided to join this great community.

I am a Electronics Engineer from South Devon in the UK and have been designing and building my own hex and quad frames since 2014 using the great DJI Naza V2 FC's. I am also a proud owner of the M2P which I purchased as soon as it was released last year. I received my PfCO (UK - CAA) certification a couple of months ago and am eager to get started in the commercial world of SUAV. Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

I absolutely love recreational flying as well and am lucky enough to live on a 250 ache farm surrounded by the beautiful scenery of the South Hams (AONB). Flying away from home in this area can be a challenge tho as a lot of the land is a no go as it belongs to the National Trust or English Heritage who have blanket banned the use of UAV/SUAV's from their land. Dartmoor is also off limits sadly. Still lots of flying spots around if you look hard enough but if anyone knows of sites worth taking a look that would be great!

Nice to meet you all and I look forward to learning from this friendly community and perhaps even contribute a little.

 

[dirkclod]

Welcome to Mavic Pilots .
I hope you will find our site helpful and look forward to any input , photo's/video's you might post .
Don't be shy and ask anything if you can't find it by searching .

 

[Cleave'e]

Thanks dirkclod!

 

[gnirtS]

I make a habit of flying over as much national trust land as possible operating from just outside it or public slithers of track or road running through their vast territories.

 

[Cleave'e]

I make a habit of flying over as much national trust land as possible operating from just outside it or public slithers of track or road running through their vast territories.

That is a good way to get round the ban but how practical is it to find a takeoff spot that is at least 30m from National Trust property and still be within VLOS to anything worth shooting?? The National Trust 'Drone' Policy also says that you cannot fly over there property stating some bylaw https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/features/flying-drones-at-our-places, I know that this is not true as they don't own the airspace and only the CAA can regulate that, but how do they get away with saying this?

I may give it a try but am just a little apprehensive as I don't want to do anything to risk loosing my PfCO.

 

[gnirtS]

That is a good way to get round the ban but how practical is it to find a takeoff spot that is at least 30m from National Trust property and still be within VLOS to anything worth shooting?? The National Trust 'Drone' Policy also says that you cannot fly over there property stating some bylaw Flying drones at our places, I know that this is not true as they don't own the airspace and only the CAA can regulate that, but how do they get away with saying this?

I may give it a try but am just a little apprehensive as I don't want to do anything to risk loosing my PfCO.

Ignore their website claims.

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/documents/the-national-trust-byelaws-1965.pdf

Those are 1965 but STILL the current bye-laws. Ive had this confirmed directly by the HQ within the last month. There is absolutely nothing in there about operating over their property.
The CAA have also confirmed via email to several people that the airspace is theirs not NTs and legal cases have decided on provided it doesnt interfere with normal enjoyment of their land (so a drone unseen,unheard over a beach,cliffs etc can no way breach that).

They get away with saying it because its never been legally challenged in court as do other bodies. Lots of places do and lots of drone owners dont know the law and just accept the claims so it suits them to keep that misleading statement up there.

There are 2 levels here - firstly they dont actually have bye-laws preventing overflight as claimed and secondly, even if they did, its unlikely they'd be legally applicable due as you said to airspace ownership. The CAA would have to place its own restrictions on the area.

I wasnt so much thinking of their properties which generally are beyond VLOS of access (unless its a public road) but the vast areas of land they own in UK national parks, coastlines etc are more of an issue. Here its easy to stand at the high tide line or a public track running through their annexed territory and fly over their land to get scenic photos.

Ultimately if you're operating within the ANO/CAP over their land but you arent actually on it at any time theres nothing illegal about it. Another note, their own bye-laws clearly state a breach of them the maximum punishment is someone asking you to leave. So even if you are on their land flying, the worst thing that can happen if caught is a NT officer asks you to leave. You've not broken any actual, real law here.

I got irritated with them a while ago hence finding the bye-laws and confirming with them the above ones were still current with no updates or changes since then.
I have an electronic copy of them on my tablet along with the CAA airspace ownership emails (and the CAP etc) so if challenged, i'll more than happily waste someones time showing them all that.

Dartmoor is a bit different as they do actually have a bye-law but see point 2:- its likely legally unenforceable and has never been tested. Of course the other issue in your area are all the MoD danger areas!

 

[Cleave'e]

Ignore their website claims.

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/documents/the-national-trust-byelaws-1965.pdf

Those are 1965 but STILL the current bye-laws. Ive had this confirmed directly by the HQ within the last month. There is absolutely nothing in there about operating over their property.
The CAA have also confirmed via email to several people that the airspace is theirs not NTs and legal cases have decided on provided it doesnt interfere with normal enjoyment of their land (so a drone unseen,unheard over a beach,cliffs etc can no way breach that).

They get away with saying it because its never been legally challenged in court as do other bodies. Lots of places do and lots of drone owners dont know the law and just accept the claims so it suits them to keep that misleading statement up there.

There are 2 levels here - firstly they dont actually have bye-laws preventing overflight as claimed and secondly, even if they did, its unlikely they'd be legally applicable due as you said to airspace ownership. The CAA would have to place its own restrictions on the area.

I wasnt so much thinking of their properties which generally are beyond VLOS of access (unless its a public road) but the vast areas of land they own in UK national parks, coastlines etc are more of an issue. Here its easy to stand at the high tide line or a public track running through their annexed territory and fly over their land to get scenic photos.

Ultimately if you're operating within the ANO/CAP over their land but you arent actually on it at any time theres nothing illegal about it. Another note, their own bye-laws clearly state a breach of them the maximum punishment is someone asking you to leave. So even if you are on their land flying, the worst thing that can happen if caught is a NT officer asks you to leave. You've not broken any actual, real law here.

I got irritated with them a while ago hence finding the bye-laws and confirming with them the above ones were still current with no updates or changes since then.
I have an electronic copy of them on my tablet along with the CAA airspace ownership emails (and the CAP etc) so if challenged, i'll more than happily waste someones time showing them all that.

Dartmoor is a bit different as they do actually have a bye-law but see point 2:- its likely legally unenforceable and has never been tested. Of course the other issue in your area are all the MoD danger areas!

Thanks for the great reply! I did kind of know most of what you said but it's great to have it reaffirmed by another pilot! You've obviously done your homework.

I defiantly feel a little more at ease now and as the weathers looking ok this weekend I may well give it a try!

 

[gnirtS]

I would always recommend people find out themselves rather than rely on the "internet" for advice though which is why i directly asked them for the current bye-laws and so on.
If you've got any doubts, always get information first-hand yourself and make a decision based on it.

This site is also really handy:-

Who owns England?

Mapped at http://map.whoownsengland.org, by @guyshrubsole @darkgreener

map.whoownsengland.org

You can use that to see where you can legally stand to operate from etc (or at least a rough guide).

Be aware you need permission to launch from private land etc etc (but as a PfCO you'll be fully aware of all that).

 

[Cleave'e]

I would always recommend people find out themselves rather than rely on the "internet" for advice though which is why i directly asked them for the current bye-laws and so on.
If you've got any doubts, always get information first-hand yourself and make a decision based on it.

This site is also really handy:-

Who owns England?

Mapped at http://map.whoownsengland.org, by @guyshrubsole @darkgreener

map.whoownsengland.org

You can use that to see where you can legally stand to operate from etc (or at least a rough guide).

Be aware you need permission to launch from private land etc etc (but as a PfCO you'll be fully aware of all that).

Thanks for the advice! Yes I agree, first hand information is always best as the internet can be a very unreliable source, but it's always good to at least hear other peoples opinions.

The above link is also great, I will add it to my toolkit!

 

[Greg Webb]

Welcome to the forum from the Sunshine State of Florida! Hope you enjoy the forum!

 

[BigAl07]

Welcome to the forum

 

[msinger]

Welcome to the forum!

 

[Cleave'e]

Thanks for the warm welcome guys!!

 

[Aerial-Pixel]

Hi All! My name is Alex, I have been loitering in the shadows of the MavicPilots forums as a guest for quite some time, I really enjoy reading the threads on this site and have finally decided to join this great community.

I am a Electronics Engineer from South Devon in the UK and have been designing and building my own hex and quad frames since 2014 using the great DJI Naza V2 FC's. I am also a proud owner of the M2P which I purchased as soon as it was released last year. I received my PfCO (UK - CAA) certification a couple of months ago and am eager to get started in the commercial world of SUAV. Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

I absolutely love recreational flying as well and am lucky enough to live on a 250 ache farm surrounded by the beautiful scenery of the South Hams (AONB). Flying away from home in this area can be a challenge tho as a lot of the land is a no go as it belongs to the National Trust or English Heritage who have blanket banned the use of UAV/SUAV's from their land. Dartmoor is also off limits sadly. Still lots of flying spots around if you look hard enough but if anyone knows of sites worth taking a look that would be great!

Nice to meet you all and I look forward to learning from this friendly community and perhaps even contribute a little.

Welcome to MavicPilots from Dayton Ohio! Enjoy your Mavic 2 Pro and congrats on your certification! Fly safe and have fun!

 

[KKel]

Hi All! My name is Alex, I have been loitering in the shadows of the MavicPilots forums as a guest for quite some time, I really enjoy reading the threads on this site and have finally decided to join this great community.

I am a Electronics Engineer from South Devon in the UK and have been designing and building my own hex and quad frames since 2014 using the great DJI Naza V2 FC's. I am also a proud owner of the M2P which I purchased as soon as it was released last year. I received my PfCO (UK - CAA) certification a couple of months ago and am eager to get started in the commercial world of SUAV. Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

I absolutely love recreational flying as well and am lucky enough to live on a 250 ache farm surrounded by the beautiful scenery of the South Hams (AONB). Flying away from home in this area can be a challenge tho as a lot of the land is a no go as it belongs to the National Trust or English Heritage who have blanket banned the use of UAV/SUAV's from their land. Dartmoor is also off limits sadly. Still lots of flying spots around if you look hard enough but if anyone knows of sites worth taking a look that would be great!

Nice to meet you all and I look forward to learning from this friendly community and perhaps even contribute a little.

Thanks for the warm welcome guys!!

Welcome to this great forum from the South hams also

 

[eaglesurfing]

Welcome to the forum and enjoy.

 

[mrjohnc1]

Welcome!

 

[wjkrysak]

Welcome to the forum. We look forward to your participation and your view of the world.

 

[Steel63]

Greetings from Florida

 

[Thomas B]

Welcome to the forum from the deserts of Arizona! Enjoy.