New rules as of 2020 - Mavic Air

[Father Cool]

Hi all, I am a bit worried as I have recently bought a Mavic Air (original not 2) to get into drone recording at a casual level and am in no position to be upgrading to a £1000 drone any time soon.

I have been reading the new rules on Heliguy's site and this graphic concerns me somewhat.



I think the original Mavic Air sits in the circled area as a Legacy drone but does the circled part mean that I cant fly at all after 31-12-2022?

 

[scro]

That's how I understand the changes. It makes a lot of current drones potentially obsolete, which is not good. Currently the Mavic Mini looks like the drone to have, regarding the change in regs. No limitation on operating date and slight relaxation on proximity to people/buildings.

edit: you'll be able to continue flying after 31 Dec 22 under the A3 category requirements, which aren't much worse than current regs. You just won't have the more lenient restrictions available in the A2 sub category.

 

[Father Cool]

Well I think that stinks tbh. People have paid good money for equipment and should be able to fly if away from others. maybe the rules will change by then?

 

[scro]

just updated my post... scroll up and have a look...

 

[Father Cool]

What does that mean though? You have to take online training?

Is the training and test just the registration test that I have done already with the CAA?

And what distance is area of flight?

 

[scro]

I understand it to be the "training" required to do the foundation test (the same thing that is currently required if you need to register and get a flyer ID). Interestingly the draft updates don't seem to talk about max distances allowed. Currently the max is 500m horizontal.

The actual document is here: https://publicapps.caa.co.uk/docs/33/CAP1789 Edition3 June2020 cor.pdf

 

[maelstrom]

I think the original Mavic Air sits in the circled area as a Legacy drone but does the circled part mean that I cant fly at all after 31-12-2022?

Although this talks specifically about the MA2, it should apply equally to using the MA in the UK:

 

[Father Cool]

Cheers for that, it seems the MA is an A3 drone so that clears that up. However the question still stands now to how far away is 'no uninvolved people within area of flight?'

 

[scro]

Cheers for that, it seems the MA is an A3 drone so that clears that up. However the question still stands now to how far away is 'no uninvolved people within area of flight?'

If you have a read of that document I posted a link to in post #6 you get the answer. It's not specified, but there's an expectation that >50m would typically be reasonable.

 

[maelstrom]

Cheers for that, it seems the MA is an A3 drone so that clears that up. However the question still stands now to how far away is 'no uninvolved people within area of flight?'

The FAQs in the CAP1789 for the new regulations (page 46 of the document linked in post #6) states:

"What are the separation requirements from uninvolved people in the A3
subcategory?

There should not be any uninvolved persons “endangered within the range where
the UA is flown during the entire time of the UAS operation”. This means that there
should not be anyone that is not part of the flight in any part of the area that the
aircraft is planned to be flown, and people should be at least 50m away from the
‘boundary’ of the flying area. If an uninvolved person ‘strays’ into the flying area,
then the aircraft must be moved away from that uninvolved person immediately.
The 1:1 rule (see Q 14 below) allows remote pilots to make a quick and simple
assessment of the relative risk. However, if the person stays in the operating area
(as opposed to just ‘passing through’), then the flight would need to be stopped."

 

[Father Cool]

That's a bit ambiguous, it in reality means you need to be 50m from uninvolved persons however it implies that you need to cordon off an area inside another area with a 50m buffer. That is unworkable in practice.

 

[scro]

I read all of that to mean do your best to keep at least 50m away from uninvolved people.

The wording is such that it admits there could be times that, despite taking all due precautions, you could still end up being less than 50m away from uninvolved people. In such circumstances the pilot would be expected to try to fly away from the people, such as not to pose a risk to them. There's also the possibility that the flying area is a dynamic boundary that can move over time, in just the same way that flight plans can change dynamically. eg, you initially plan to fly around a field and during your flight someone stops to have a picnic in one corner of the field, you dynamically reduce your operating area to exclude that corner and carry on flying in your new operating area.

In other words, fly safely, sensibly and do your best to keep away from others.

 

[Father Cool]

Yes I would think that sensible however it says

This means that there
should not be anyone that is not part of the flight in any part of the area that the
aircraft is planned to be flown, and people should be at least 50m away from the
‘boundary’ of the flying area.

That implies that you need to set out a boundary where you intend to fly and people should by a further 50m from that whole area prior to taking off. So for instance you were taking off and intending to fly over the area of a football field you need to ensure that no people are a further 50m outside of that whole area before you start and then if someone comes within the whole area you have to move away from them and land if they don't move on.

That is somewhat different from not flying nearer than 50m to uninvolved persons.

 

[maelstrom]

That implies that you need to set out a boundary where you intend to fly and people should by a further 50m from that whole area prior to taking off. So for instance you were taking off and intending to fly over the area of a football field you need to ensure that no people are a further 50m outside of that whole area before you start and then if someone comes within the whole area you have to move away from them and land if they don't move on.

That's also how I read that. The comment about staying 50m away from uninvolved people only seems to apply if, despite your best efforts, someone strays into the operating area you initially cleared. You would then need to either move your operating area to somewhere else which is clear of uninvolved people or reduce it such that they were 50m outside the new boundary. Whilst it will undoubtedly be interpreted differently by different people, it does appear quite specific. Incidentally, the table at the end of the document just says "No uninvolved people present within the area of flight". It does seem very restrictive but it's also a great excuse to get a Mavic Mini which won't be affected by the new regulations!

 

[lannes]

Looks like you'll have to fly in isolated/uninhabited areas going forward.

I wonder how "flying area" is defined ?
If that is 100m area around the drone , this would then imply that people would need to be a minimum of 150m away from drone if it's 50m from the boundary of the flying area.

 

[scro]

It gets more ambiguous. The 1:1 rule implies that if you're more than 50m high then you need to be more than 50m away from uninvolved people. 1st bullet on pg 47 reinforces that idea:

A3 subcategory – The 1:1 rule is a short-term separation measure for dealing with unexpected issues. If the aircraft is above the 1:1 line (i.e. closer to the person than its height), then it must be moved further away quickly, or its height reduced, until below the 1:1 line. If the aircraft is below the 1:1 line, then the remote pilot can continue to monitor the situation until the person has vacated the operating area. But the separation from any uninvolved person must not be reduced below 50m horizontally at any time.

There's no guidance on when you need to set out your planned flying area, nor whether this can be updated during your flight.

Another potentially onerous point is the requirement to keep at least 150m away from "residential, commercial, industrial or recreational areas". What counts as a recreational area? A large park? a field where people may go for a walk? A national park? A beach? You'd potentially have to keep at least 150m away from all of these! Does a farmer's field count as an industrial area?

 

[maelstrom]

I wonder how "flying area" is defined ?

According to the new regulations, it's the whole of the area in which you intend to fly the drone plus a 50m buffer. That implies that you should decide on the flying area before starting the flight (without any random, unplanned excursions) and make sure it's clear!

Another potentially onerous point is the requirement to keep at least 150m away from "residential, commercial, industrial or recreational areas". What counts as a recreational area? A large park? a field where people may go for a walk? A national park? A beach? You'd potentially have to keep at least 150m away from all of these! Does a farmer's field count as an industrial area?

It looks like a real minefield and is likely to be heavily open to interpretation. I'm glad I've got a Mavic Mini!

 

[Father Cool]

I think its a case of do your best and then have a word with anyone in your area to get them on board as 'involved'

 

[Father Cool]

Ok so I weighed the Mavic Air and it comes in at 430g without prop guards and 472g with the guards. That puts it in the A1 transitional category. I can thus fly it the same as the mini. However the original question now stands. Can I no longer fly it after december 2022 or does it become an A3 after that?

Or is it only A1 if you take an A2 CofC or else its an A3? If thats the case then the mini falls into the same category as well.

 

[scro]

If you do the a2 CofC you'll be able to fly the MA under subcategory A1 until 31 Dec 22. After that, or without the CofC you'll only be allowed to fly in subcategory A3.

The Mini can be flown in subcategory A1 indefinitely as it weighs less than 250g. Registration will be required, but CofC won't.