Police (UK plods) to get new powers to tackle illegal drone use

[flames]

Indeed. The public are so gullable with regard to what they hear. Here is a good example from a few years ago.

Drone in ‘near miss’ with passenger plane carrying 62 people

The drone is reported as "flying alongside the aircraft".

Well the approach speed of an ATR 72 (the aircraft involved) is around 140 kts, which is 160 mph. That's some drone to be able to fly at that speed.

That's why we have an uphill struggle with our hobby

 

[adam3112]

Doesn't sound too bad to me, 5km will cover the fools who think it's ok to go 1km out and 400ft up directly on approach paths, which is currently legal but unsafe and dumb
registration?, no skin of my nose.



Of course it all means nothing to someone who willfully breaks the Law and lets face it the state of policing in this country renders most new laws a waste of time, but that's another discussion

The problem is, there are airfields big and small within a radius of a few KMs from eachother across the UK, particularly around where I live.

Restricting it to 5KM from all airfield / airport boundaries really will give us limited options on where we can fly. @FoxhallGH aint far wrong when he says half the UK will become a NFZ.

 

[flames]

Interestingly, I live near the former Manston Airport in Kent, UK. It's been closed for 4 years, but still shows up as a NFZ on a number of apps including DJI

 

[DesG]

I'm a Civil Servant, and work with (not for) the CAA from time to time. The registration and testing is going to happen, and work has already started on putting these processes in place. I agree on the timescales though. Not realistic.

Definitely agree on Policing this. Although, given the negative publicity you can bet chief constables will make this a priority for a couple of months just to tick the boxes.

I was in that position a few years ago before I retired and found that a number of senior CAA officials dissaproved of anything which flew that was not an airliner under their control. One in particular hated general aviation with a vengance and made it his life's work to ban it. I had difficulty biting my tongue during meetings with him. Within the private pilot community in the UK they are often known as "cease all aviation". I fear they will try to ban drone flying because we pollute their pristine sky.

 

[Peter Hughes]

The thin end of a gradually thickening wedge, perhaps?
How long before mandatory third party insurance and licensing requiring annual subscriptions and pilot re-testing become a reality?
As hobbyists, our best strategy must be to behave responsibly, stick together and speak with one voice; and perhaps offer a method of self-policing or self-governance (if that ship has not already sailed)....

I think we can safely say the good ship “Self governance and Policing “ has well and truly cast off, set sail and sunk with no trace or hope of salvage. To be fair, we shouldn’t be surprised. Actions by those with shoe sizes bigger than their IQ have seen to that.

 

[old man mavic]

I think we can safely say the good ship “Self governance and Policing “ has well and truly cast off, set sail and sunk with no trace or hope of salvage. To be fair, we shouldn’t be surprised. Actions by those with shoe sizes bigger than their IQ have seen to that.

well they did manage to raise the titanic we can only hope our good ship gets the same treatment but i know what you mean though ah well time will tell

 

[¬Nomad]

The problem is, there are airfields big and small within a radius of a few KMs from eachother across the UK, particularly around where I live.

Restricting it to 5KM from all airfield / airport boundaries really will give us limited options on where we can fly. @FoxhallGH aint far wrong when he says half the UK will become a NFZ.

Adam, I don't think it will apply to all airfields, rather it will still only apply to protected airfields as was the case before.

(the definition of protected as far as I remember is either it has an ATZ and/or a Tower with a controller}

The extension to 5km is a sensible one, 1 KM was too close for safe separation from aircraft on approach.

 

[Peter Hughes]

Doesn't sound too bad to me, 5km will cover the fools who think it's ok to go 1km out and 400ft up directly on approach paths, which is currently legal but unsafe and dumb
registration?, no skin of my nose.



Of course it all means nothing to someone who willfully breaks the Law and lets face it the state of policing in this country renders most new laws a waste of time, but that's another discussion

Totally agree. Sometime ago now, way before the Gatwick drama I was saying that 1Km was wayyyy to short using the logic that a jet traveling at x miles an hour is seconds away from landing and at 400 feet a drone in the pilots field of view is the last thing needed. At best it’s a distraction and reporting of drone near misses would be numerous, at worse.....
At the time I was shouted down , it’s nice to see I wasn’t alone in these thoughts.

 

[DesG]

Totally agree. Sometime ago now, way before the Gatwick drama I was saying that 1Km was wayyyy to short using the logic that a jet traveling at x miles an hour is seconds away from landing and at 400 feet a drone in the pilots field of view is the last thing needed. At best it’s a distraction and reporting of drone near misses would be numerous, at worse.....
At the time I was shouted down , it’s nice to see I wasn’t alone in these thoughts.

A kilometre to the side of a runway is perfectly safe to fly drones, model aircraft kites, whatever. 2 km away on the aproach path is not. I did some flying in the states where I was on approach in my little cessna with a jumbo jet landing on my right hand side and people playing golf by the runway on my left! Sounds madness but it seemed to work, AS LONG AS PEOPLE FOLLOW THE RULES! Have a look at Pooleys flight guide for details on every airfield in the UK.

 

[Peter Hughes]

"For minor drone offences, police will be able to issue fixed-penalty notices, with fines of up to £100 for offences such as failing to comply with an officer when instructed to land a drone or not showing the registration required to operate a drone."
So - what's a 'minor drone offence'? And who's going to be first to tell a Policeman - "Just back off while I land this Drone please" ....
No mention of needing to carry 3rd party Insurance ... I would have thought that would have been important to HM Gov'??

I would like to think that most people would think twice about telling a Police Officer to “Just Back off” I don’t think including the word “please” would lessen the somewhat confrontational language.

Maybe something more like “No problem, just give me a moment “ would be less inflammatory and having landed a discussion can then ensue. Never give someone a stick to hit you with. Remember most officers now have body cameras, to record the incident. IF it ever went to court, which response would be better played out to the magistrate?

 

[FoxhallGH]

I would like to think that most people would think twice about telling a Police Officer to “Just Back off” I don’t think including the word “please” would lessen the somewhat confrontational language.

Maybe something more like “No problem, just give me a moment “ would be less inflammatory and having landed a discussion can then ensue. Never give someone a stick to hit you with. Remember most officers now have body cameras, to record the incident. IF it ever went to court, which response would be better played out to the magistrate?

Hands up - did use the wrong language there sorry I agree with you 100% ... The point I was considering, was that it is important as Pilot in command to 'politely ask' anybody who approaches you to 'kindly wait' while you get your drone on the ground and safe, before you engage in any 'Ello, ello - wot's that you're doin' then!' conversations.

 

[PC1134]

In Australia, we have had now two recent drone incidents involving choppers. One in Tasmania where a drone flew above a fire chopper and forced all 6 to land and halt their fire-fighting operations, and the other in Queensland where a rescue helicopter was forced to land when they spotted a drone in their flight path. Plus Gatwick, plus now Heathrow!!!

The real problem here is similar to the 'all muslims are terrorists' ideology. All drone pilots/enthusiasts are irrisponsible idiots intent on crashing into aircraft and creating mayhem and terror for the general public. All this type of hysteria will fuel are more stringent and draconion laws to restrict or ban drone use altogether. Already there is talk of reducing the 120 metre (400') flight ceiling, and that is a worry.

Here in Oz, we can't fly any closer than 5km to a working airport, so I think that is fair to extend that to UK Airports. Registration and perhaps mandatory online questionnaire testing to ensure people know and acknowledge the rules is also not a bad idea.

For me, I'm going out to buy a T-shirt - 'No, I'm not a terrorist or an idiot; I'm one of the 99.9% responsible drone users out there!'

 

[adam3112]

Adam, I don't think it will apply to all airfields, rather it will still only apply to protected airfields as was the case before.

(the definition of protected as far as I remember is either it has an ATZ and/or a Tower with a controller}

The extension to 5km is a sensible one, 1 KM was too close for safe separation from aircraft on approach.

I do agree that flying a drone 1km is too close to any airport with busy air traffic, but yeah I just hope it wont apply to all airstrips where for many, the risk is nearly nonexistent.

 

[SpinItUp]

eyeballs

 

[bonzo]

[QUOTE="As hobbyists, our best strategy must be to behave responsibly, stick together and speak with one voice; and perhaps offer a method of self-policing or self-governance (if that ship has not already sailed)....[/QUOTE]

At this point, I don't think this will make any difference.

 

[ataraxia]

As hobbyists, our best strategy must be to behave responsibly, stick together and speak with one voice; and perhaps offer a method of self-policing or self-governance (if that ship has not already sailed)....

At this point, I don't think this will make any difference.

I'd like to offer a one-on-one "self-governance" course for pilots that fly into the airport to educate them on improving their ways - only thing is I'll need a remote location with no witnesses and no questions asked

 

[PC1134]

Is that the remote location, a long way from home, where at the end of the course, you impound their shoes and invite them to walk home, ha, ha!!!!!

 

[ataraxia]

Is that the remote location, a long way from home, where at the end of the course, you impound their shoes and invite them to walk home, ha, ha!!!!!

No it's a windowless room, between rooms 100 and 102

 

[SpinItUp]

Sky News: Drone detection firms summoned to Heathrow as police hunt for culprit.
Drone detection firms summoned to Heathrow as police hunt for culprit

 

[zocalo]

No it's a windowless room, between rooms 100 and 102

There are *FOUR* props...