Ottawa toughens rules for operating recreational drones

[E92Vancouver]

Found this lovely little gem in the Aeronautics Act (Section 7.91):

Burden of proof
(4) The burden of establishing that a person has contravened a designated provision is on the Minister.​

So evidence that you have contravened any of those prohibitions will be upon TC to provide. For them to prove you were exceeding the measurement limits they have outlined will be impossible without some calibrated measurement tool (e.g. radar/laser measurement).

Or they just take your flight logs. All the evidence they need is there.

 

[Mustaine4prez]

So all weekend I was flying much farther then 500 m away, and the aircraft was working and acting fine.
However,
This is the first time I have flown in a spot that has any kind of elevation change so I went to reset my max altitude from 90m to something more like 150m but the software would not allow it. Said my max altitude possible is 100m only.

I didn't think the max height thing was going to be a big deal for me but it clearly is. At 100m above my takeoff point,as I flew towards an increased elevation height, I was getting uncomfortably close to the tops of some trees in the western Ontario area.
The sole purpose of purchasing the Mavic Pro is the first place was to use it in the mountains when we do our bike trips and stuff.
I sure as Hell didn't buy a Drone to fly around in the flat lands of the Manitoba prairies. If the max altitude height has me nervous in Ontario, then I'm going to be highly restricted with how I use the Mavic out in BC.

 

[Glasswalker]

So all weekend I was flying much farther then 500 m away, and the aircraft was working and acting fine.
However,
This is the first time I have flown in a spot that has any kind of elevation change so I went to reset my max altitude from 90m to something more like 150m but the software would not allow it. Said my max altitude possible is 100m only.

I didn't think the max height thing was going to be a big deal for me but it clearly is. At 100m above my takeoff point,as I flew towards an increased elevation height, I was getting uncomfortably close to the tops of some trees in the western Ontario area.
The sole purpose of purchasing the Mavic Pro is the first place was to use it in the mountains when we do our bike trips and stuff.
I sure as **** didn't buy a Drone to fly around in the flat lands of the Manitoba prairies. If the max altitude height has me nervous in Ontario, then I'm going to be highly restricted with how I use the Mavic out in BC.

Interesting, I've recently checked my settings and my max height on Android (Go4 App) is still set to 150m, I haven't changed it from factory... I wonder if "changing" it triggers some kind of new limitation pushed from DJI in response to the new laws?

Note: your comment on flying more than 500m away, if you're doing that in Canada for recreational purposes note that in itself is a violation of the current laws...

Anyone else able to confirm this behavior in the app? (now I hesitate to change it for fear it will be clamped down, I was going to change it last night, to reflect the laws, but the above comment on varying elevation is exactly what I realized, and I decided to leave it at 150M for that reason, and just manually regulate where possible to comply with laws.)

 

[Mustaine4prez]

Note: your comment on flying more than 500m away, if you're doing that in Canada for recreational purposes note that in itself is a violation of the current laws...

Yes Grasswalker, thank you, I'm well aware that I was violating the 500m away from operator law.
Seemed redundant since I also had a building beside me (the cabin), I was with my dog and some close friends(people/animals). There was a vessel in the yard too, It was all wrapped up for the winter since the lake is frozen, however the laws do not specify if said vessel needs to actually be in the water or not, so I guess I broke that law too!
That's how ridiculous these laws have been written.

Now I'm nothing more then a low life criminal that should be reported to the police. Someone dial 911!!

 

[Glasswalker]

Yes Grasswalker, thank you, I'm well aware that I was violating the 500m away from operator law.
Seemed redundant since I also had a building beside me (the cabin), I was with my dog and some close friends(people/animals). There was a vessel in the yard too, It was all wrapped up for the winter since the lake is frozen, however the laws do not specify if said vessel needs to actually be in the water or not, so I guess I broke that law too!
That's how ridiculous these laws have been written.

Now I'm nothing more then a low life criminal that should be reported to the police. Someone dial 911!!

Sorry, Wasn't actually jumping on you, just beeing cheeky...

And yeah never thought of vessels on the land

Yeah it's painful how ridiculous these are under literal interpretation.

FYI I've started a thread with an idea on (maybe first steps) on taking some action about it in case you're interested:
Canadian UAV Operators Organization to Parallel MAAC?

 

[RWalrond]

See what Marc Garneau is tweeting about? I think this hobby in this country is in big trouble.

Marc Garneau on Twitter

 

[raymo]

Or they just take your flight logs. All the evidence they need is there.

That's why I said they will confiscate your drone and controller on the spot, then ask questions later. Look for that in the new Canada (CAN"TADA) laws.

 

[raymo]

So all weekend I was flying much farther then 500 m away, and the aircraft was working and acting fine.
However,
This is the first time I have flown in a spot that has any kind of elevation change so I went to reset my max altitude from 90m to something more like 150m but the software would not allow it. Said my max altitude possible is 100m only.

I didn't think the max height thing was going to be a big deal for me but it clearly is. At 100m above my takeoff point,as I flew towards an increased elevation height, I was getting uncomfortably close to the tops of some trees in the western Ontario area.
The sole purpose of purchasing the Mavic Pro is the first place was to use it in the mountains when we do our bike trips and stuff.
I sure as **** didn't buy a Drone to fly around in the flat lands of the Manitoba prairies. If the max altitude height has me nervous in Ontario, then I'm going to be highly restricted with how I use the Mavic out in BC.

You obviously have to start out in a high area, then descend to the lower elevations. That will allow you to get really high!

 

[raymo]

Today I got to thinking about one part of the issue, and that being privacy issues. How many people using iPhones for example, take photos of crowds where people could be identified? If so, privacy laws are broken. Some commercial programming is careful about this, but others aren't. So will the same thing happen with multicopter operators? Duplicity of law is simply ignorant, and I have used this argument other times in other arenas. This is how we end up with "Bloat-Law".

 

[Magicman]

Red Deer RCMP say seized drone was near flight path of air ambulance

Can't say he didn't deserve to get his Mavic seized if he truly was in violation, but this type of stuff just makes it harder on the rest of us.

 

[RWalrond]

Red Deer RCMP say seized drone was near flight path of air ambulance

Can't say he didn't deserve to get his Mavic seized if he truly was in violation, but this type of stuff just makes it harder on the rest of us.

Yeah, it does. If it was an incident with a building an animal or even the elusive "etc" it wouldn't sting as much as an incident with an aircraft. Hopefully some of the details will come out, like how high this person was flying, how far out where they from the heliport, etc.. (<---- hey, look an etc... got to keep my drone away)

 

[Magicman]

More details would be nice. "Near flight path" is pretty vague and is very subjective. Get the nervous type and 10km might be to "near"...

 

[Johanna]

My rant...Ah this is just like my Boat operator licence ( B.C. Canada).
I have a 9 ft boat with a small electric motor, one person plus gear limit. The test covers all aspects of ocean fishing regs 97% of which is completely irrelevant (and forgotten). The other 3% is common sense..life jacket, safety items, courtesy/right of way on the water, etc. For this I had to take a course, write the exam, and pay of course, in order to be 'legal'.
And now this...at 70 I found a new hobby that would keep me active and get me out to enjoy life. So, I guess Mr. Garneau would prefer me to move in to the 'old folks home' and sit around waiting to die! Well, I am now a criminal because I dared to fly my toy in my own backyard today. Went up 50 ft right next to my house! And my dog was only a few feet away. Guess my neighbors should have called 911, Heh? I plan on flying over my favourite lake next week..probably see an eagle or two, scare some fish maybe? Mr Garneau, the older I get the less crraapp I am willing to take. Every year Vancouver has the big 'smoke in' where thousands of people gather in defiance to smoke pot...all sanctioned nobody gets arrested, all totally illegal. Maybe we will have to have some flying days...every drone in Canada rises to the air in defiance of ignorant laws. 911 and police overwhelmed with thousands of calls, courts inundated with cases..etc etc. Make sure they all fly within 75 metres of the "etc" restriction. Hahahaha. Totally irrational...Maybe space flight screws the brain Mr Garneau!
Ok..done my rant ..still p'd off.

 

[Magicman]

Minor update to the Red Deer incident, no more specific details released but the operator apologies to the public.

Drone pilot apologizes for flying near STARS flight path

 

[Mustaine4prez]

Minor update to the Red Deer incident, no more specific details released but the operator apologies to the public.

Drone pilot apologizes for flying near STARS flight path

That's a major update if you ask me. Dude basically told us exactly what happened.

Using tap fly in a situation of distress, is not what I would have done. Strange thinking on that one.
This dude says he was unaware of the new laws that recently took place, I call BS on that one, but even if it were true, common sense has always been a thing, and taking off from a public sidewalk is not using common sense.
His side of the story just reinsured my opinion of his actions.
I'm happy he lost his Mavic,

In this case, since he just admitted to using the drone for his VLOG, I bet they will check for his Special Flight Operations Certificate as well.
And assuming he does not have one since he didn't mention it at all, I would expect they will hammer him for that as well.
He's hoping that they will be easy on him after they look at the footage. Good luck on that bud...

 

[Magicman]

Guess I should have watched the whole video. After his apology he showed the equipment he was going to be using and the Mavic wasn't on the table so I thought he was just going into this regular vlog

 

[videolester]

My rant...Ah this is just like my Boat operator licence ( B.C. Canada).
I have a 9 ft boat with a small electric motor, one person plus gear limit. The test covers all aspects of ocean fishing regs 97% of which is completely irrelevant (and forgotten). The other 3% is common sense..life jacket, safety items, courtesy/right of way on the water, etc. For this I had to take a course, write the exam, and pay of course, in order to be 'legal'.
And now this...at 70 I found a new hobby that would keep me active and get me out to enjoy life. So, I guess Mr. Garneau would prefer me to move in to the 'old folks home' and sit around waiting to die! Well, I am now a criminal because I dared to fly my toy in my own backyard today. Went up 50 ft right next to my house! And my dog was only a few feet away. Guess my neighbors should have called 911, Heh? I plan on flying over my favourite lake next week..probably see an eagle or two, scare some fish maybe? Mr Garneau, the older I get the less crraapp I am willing to take. Every year Vancouver has the big 'smoke in' where thousands of people gather in defiance to smoke pot...all sanctioned nobody gets arrested, all totally illegal. Maybe we will have to have some flying days...every drone in Canada rises to the air in defiance of ignorant laws. 911 and police overwhelmed with thousands of calls, courts inundated with cases..etc etc. Make sure they all fly within 75 metres of the "etc" restriction. Hahahaha. Totally irrational...Maybe space flight screws the brain Mr Garneau!
Ok..done my rant ..still p'd off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Johanna .... I am IN for your "CANADA FLY-IN !!!" Name the place & time! Anyone else???!!!

 

[Johanna]

That

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Johanna .... I am IN for your "CANADA FLY-IN !!!" Name the place & time! Anyone else???!!!

That makes 2 of us so far...

 

[DJILeaks]

When Canada feds eventually come out with rules (these current regs are just a stop-gap measure) expect a training & licensing regime to be created. Insurance will be mandatory. The where and how might loosen up some from there.

 

[Glasswalker]

When Canada feds eventually come out with rules (these current regs are just a stop-gap measure) expect a training & licensing regime to be created. Insurance will be mandatory. The where and how might loosen up some from there.

Completely agree. Also why I'm fighting to establish UUAG as a recognized non-profit organization to Transport Canada, and to help drone users navigate training, registration, and insurance. Our hope is that the laws can be "re-worked" slightly once there is safety training, licensing, and registration involved. And laws that aren't as "rushed" are put into place later this year.