New owner and slightly confused

[Maxit]

Hi all,

I'm a complete novice when it comes to drones, I was gifted one just tonight so have been trying to familiarise myself with all the rules and regs.

I understand that that I need to register and complete the test now.

I was looking at the drone code and maybe I'm just not getting this but my take on it is:

I can't fly within 50m of a person or building which is fine but also that I can not fly above 120m while at the same time not within 150m of a built up area (which I assume street etc are)

So going by the above are we literally restricted to flying over derelict fields, country side and deserted beaches?

 

[old man mavic]

Hi all,

I'm a complete novice when it comes to drones, I was gifted one just tonight so have been trying to familiarise myself with all the rules and regs.

I understand that that I need to register and complete the test now.

I was looking at the drone code and maybe I'm just not getting this but my take on it is:

I can't fly within 50m of a person or building which is fine but also that I can not fly above 120m while at the same time not within 150m of a built up area (which I assume street etc are)

So going by the above are we literally restricted to flying over derelict fields, country side and deserted beaches?

welcome to the forum, you are correct that the rules do mean that you are not going to be able to fly directly over any city or highly populated area,but that does not mean you cannot be outside of that area some 150m,and 50m high and video the area in question,as long as the area you were flying in did not contain a gathering of a thousand people or more,the 120m height is the maximum permitted height above ground no matter where you fly

 

[Lionfish]

Hi ,
I’m fairly new to this drone stuff too.
But my little experience is 120m above ground wether street level or anywhere else is the maximum height you can fly .
In Canada that is , I couldn’t say if it’s the exact same in the UK or not and distance from buildings isn’t a set rule I don’t think but I’m often wrong or so I’m told !!.
Partly because other aircraft helicopters, planes or manned aircraft etc aren’t allowed to fly below 500ft so preventing any accidents .
So you really need to find a UK flyer that can help you understand fully the regulations.

Sorry I can’t help you out more .

 

[Maxit]

Hi Old Man Mavic,

Thanks for the welcome!

When you say highly populated, where is the line drawn. Clearly I can't fly over a city centre but this is where I get confused...

Purely as an example, say I had two fields nearby and these 2 fields were separated by a road and a residential street of say 2 rows of houses, each row 10 houses long. Am I going outside the rules by flying from one field to the other and obviously over one of the roof tops albeit at 200 feet?

 

[Maxit]

Lionfish,

We'll get there some of the rules in the UK seem a little excessive but I'm sure they have been put in place with safety in mind.

 

[Maxit]

Another example, sorry....I'm like a kid at Christmas ha.

A supermarket surrounded only by fields and an industrial estate, it's New Years day so the supermarket and the estate are closed, there is no public footfall. Am I outside the rules flying over the buildings in such circumstances?

 

[AndreaBB]

Hi Old Man Mavic,

Thanks for the welcome!

When you say highly populated, where is the line drawn. Clearly I can't fly over a city centre but this is where I get confused...

Purely as an example, say I had two fields nearby and these 2 fields were separated by a road and a residential street of say 2 rows of houses, each row 10 houses long. Am I going outside the rules by flying from one field to the other and obviously over one of the roof tops albeit at 200 feet?

Unfortunately, there is no a clear way to define what an “highly populated area” is.
Anyway, with the new rules coming later this year, this will change again for the Mini.

 

[old man mavic]

Another example, sorry....I'm like a kid at Christmas ha.

A supermarket surrounded only by fields and an industrial estate, it's New Years day so the supermarket and the estate are closed, there is no public footfall. Am I outside the rules flying over the buildings in such circumstances?

that would be ok if it was closed and flying over roads is ok to get from A to B what you cant do is hover or fly along roads containing moving traffic its really common sense ,when i fly at my local park once i am up over 150ft then i can fly around over people who are walking about and over surrounding farmland but if i went there and some event was being held on the main show field with loads of people and stalls etc then i would not fly ,its the same with railway lines flying along side a line to film a passing train is ok, but not flying directly over the line ,hovering

 

[Maxit]

Thanks guys! I was hoping that was the case..... I'm lucky enough to live is an area with a fair amount of farmland and green space but also residential areas in-between so I was concerned if I had to pass over a street I may be falling foul.

It shouldn't be an issue for the most part as theres plenty of space to get started, I just wanted to check.

Now I'm going have to look I to this **** new EU rules Andrea mentions.

 

[AndreaBB]

Thanks guys! I was hoping that was the case, I'm lucky enough to live is an area with a fair amount of farmland and green space but also residential areas in-between so I was concerned if I had to pass over a street I may be falling foul. It should be an issue for the most part as theres plenty of space to get started, I just wanted to check.

Honestly, if you have to strictly follow all the rules you'll (almost) never take off.
You can't take off from a public road, not 50 m from any building not under your control, not on footpaths/fields without the owner permit (that most of the time is not feasible to have), not in national trust / heritage areas, etc etc.

I think if we fly carefully and respecting other people safety/privacy, we are good 99% of the times.
Really looking forwards the new CAP1789 this autumn.

 

[Maxit]

Lol well that was certainly the picture I was getting when I first started reading up.

So the new EU regs are they generally seen as a good thing or are you being sarcastic lol sorry just I've literally read nothing about it yet so it's all a bit over my head.

 

[AndreaBB]

Lol well that was certainly the picture I was getting when I first started reading up.

So the new EU regs are they generally seen as a good thing or are you being sarcastic lol sorry just I've literally read nothing about it yet so it's all a bit over my head.

For the Mavic Mini specifically, the new regulations will give more freedom.

Long version:

https://publicapps.caa.co.uk/docs/33/CAP1789%20April%202020.pdf

 

[Maxit]

I've got an Air 2 but had been personally looking at the Mini as I thought it a good place to start. As I said in my original post I was gifted this drone so I'm not opposed to taking on another.

Andrea, if it's not too much trouble could you please give me a quick rundown of what benefits the new regs will bring to the mini or point me in the direction to a site/post?

 

[AndreaBB]

It's explained quite well in the video, main point is that it will be able to fly in A1 "Legacy" category even after July 2022 so:
DMARES registration still needed
No need for A2 CofC license
Fly over uninvolved people allowed
No minimum distance from buildings and people (be careful with this but you should be allowed to take off from the backyard)

If you want to have better understanding check the pdf in my previous post.

 

[Maxit]

Thanks for that Andrea, appreciated

 

[masedn]

It's explained quite well...

Thanks for the breakdown, that's helped me eliviate some of my confusion.

What I think would be nice is if we had a table summarising what we can currently do/will be able to do (when finalised) for each drone model that we could print out and keep in the case of the drone, so that if approached by the public/police when flying we can simply hand to them to show we're abiding by the rules; if the rules are confusing to us then I wouldn't expect the general public to understand them.

Perhaps a website/mobile app. where you enter your model and all the key points of the regulation are listed that apply for that specific drone.

 

[Crusader14]

Ok. Here goes. U.K. rules are fairly straight forward:

Not closer than 50m to people, cars, buildings, trains and boats

Not closer than 150m to crowd in excess of 1000 and built up areas.

Not above 120m AGL.

see this link for definition of built up areas

CAA definition of 'Crowds and built up areas'

For clarity, this thread refers to hobbyist flights only, not flights conducted under PfCO. As you’re aware, section 4 of the Drone Code web site relates to keeping the correct distance from people and property. For reference I attach the (current) Drone Code PDF as it has a bit more detail...

greyarro.ws

There is enough scope I think to fly reasonably freely in the U.K.

Hope this helps.

 

[Maxit]

Crusader14,

Thanks for that

 

[mcfetti]

It's explained quite well in the video, main point is that it will be able to fly in A1 "Legacy" category even after July 2022 so:
DMARES registration still needed
No need for A2 CofC license
Fly over uninvolved people allowed
No minimum distance from buildings and people (be careful with this but you should be allowed to take off from the backyard)

If you want to have better understanding check the pdf in my previous post.

View attachment 103741

If I fit prop guards or another attachment to my Mavic Mini would that change its class because the weight is now over 250 grams where registration is required and there is "No intentional flight over uninvolved persons"?
Is that right? Because wouldn't that mean no 50m dome over people?
Just trying to get some clarification