Privacy & Pedos

[macoman]

Yes, but you shouldn't mind either, if a drone was flying in public place but NEAR your house, or near your family sunbathing on a beach, or climbing on a mountain.

To be honest with you, if a drone pilot fly near my home, I don't mind. Unless the pilot is directly hovering the drone and filming me directly. It's like for example someone have a camera on hand and start filming you in your backyard... How you will react?

 

[lmel2005]

To be honest with you, if a drone pilot fly near my home, I don't mind. Unless the pilot is directly hovering the drone and filming me directly. It's like for example someone have a camera on hand and start filming you in your backyard... How you will react?

I just made devil's advocate...
I mean, someone can film you, with his camera, or drone, out of your yard, in a place where he can stand, if a supposed law prohibits him from flying right over your house.

I think that stepping out of my house, I lose my privacy.

 

[Ping^Spike]

They're far too busy chasing down people who say nasty things on twitter which offend snowflakes

Amen to that my brother.

 

[joekerjoe]

When it comes to photography on its own ... most police are unable to apply the law correctly as they are unable to interpret the law correctly in the first place. This became apparent after some of the terrorist attacks - all of a sudden , every tourist in London with a camera was seen to be taking photos to plan the next attack.
As for flying over houses or housing estate at any altitude - is that allowed ?

 

[Classic flyer]

Playing devils advocate here - the point you raise was exactly the case for me - and in my case, there was a perceived expectation of privacy. If I lived next to a building higher than me, then I would accept that people can see my kids. But I don't. I live in a completely secluded property, not overlooked by anybody, and surrounded by 50m trees. So when it's sunny, I have no issue with my kids being naked in the garden, and my wife has no issue being topless. I was very much pro drone, anti haters until I was sat on the other side of the fence, and I felt that my privacy was very much violated.

In today's world "PRIVACY" is non-existent...a thing of the past...be safe fly smart

 

[Classic flyer]

I just made devil's advocate...
I mean, someone can film you, with his camera, or drone, out of your yard, in a place where he can stand, if a supposed law prohibits him from flying right over your house.

I think that stepping out of my house, I lose my privacy.

Yes sir...When you leave the confines of the house "PRIVACY" becomes just a word... be safe fly smart

 

[gnirtS]

Yes sir...When you leave the confines of the house "PRIVACY" becomes just a word...

In most countries, the law would disagree with that to varying extents.

 

[BossBob]

But not in the UK.

 

[Classic flyer]

But not in the UK.

But not in the UK what...I don't understand what direction you're going

 

[BossBob]

Just agreeing with you. In the UK the law does not give you any expectation of privacy outside of your property.

 

[DJIce]

Newbie here. I've been looking at the drone code and it says 2 things:

Keep the right distance from people and property

• People and properties –150ft (50m)

I thought a regular terraced, or detached house on a street would come under this but when I google "built up areas" (seen below) it comes back as:

"In the UK Highway Code, a built-up area is a settled area in which the speed limit of a road is automatically 30 mph. These roads are known as 'restricted roads' and are identified by the presence of street lights."

I guess that means that unless you live in the countryside, flying above your own house is classed as a built up area, and therefore illegal right?

• Crowds and built up areas –500ft (150m) and don’t overfly

Doesn't flying it overhead in a park come under this too?
Whats more is since we can't fly above 400ft (120m) by law anyway, then I think this completely rules out any flying over crowds and built up areas full stop.

This is way too complicated

 

[gnirtS]

Well "do not overfly" is in the rules for crowds and built up areas regardless of altitude.
Its subjective, crowds of 1000 people or more. CAA define a built up area quite clearly on their website.

A park would likely be OK provided nobody within 30m for takeoff and landing and you're 50m away from them during flight. However flying from that park over a large town centre full of buildings and busy roads wouldnt be.

You don't need to be 50m *above*. Its 50/150m distance. Draw a bubble around the object with a radius of 50m to see what i mean.

https://dronesafe.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Dronecode_2018-07-30.pdf to see what i mean about that.

 

[DJIce]

Thanks for the reply. I can't find the definition you mentioned on the CAA website though.
I think this is quite important as it covers whether I can use my drone above my house or not. It's where I'm most likely to take it for a quick spin and also have family gatherings. The 50m thing is also confusing to me. If I have friends and family around who are aware the drone is going to be flying and filming them in my garden, is that an exception? What would I need to do as a minimum to be able to film such events? because being 50m away from them seems to defeat the purpose and would be very far away.

 

[gnirtS]

Thanks for the reply. I can't find the definition you mentioned on the CAA website though.
I think this is quite important as it covers whether I can use my drone above my house or not. It's where I'm most likely to take it for a quick spin and also have family gatherings. The 50m thing is also confusing to me. If I have friends and family around who are aware the drone is going to be flying and filming them in my garden, is that an exception? What would I need to do as a minimum to be able to film such events? because being 50m away from them seems to defeat the purpose and would be very far away.

All of this is on the documents linked from the CAA website (the diagram above is from the official CAA DroneSafe website and its in the PDF of rules to download).

From the official CAP 393 (Air Navigation Order):
The Air Navigation Order 2016

95.—(1) The person in charge of a small unmanned surveillance aircraft must not fly the aircraft in any of the circumstances described in paragraph (2) except in accordance with a permission issued by the CAA.

(2) The circumstances referred to in paragraph (1) are—

(a)over or within 150 metres of any congested area;

(b)over or within 150 metres of an organised open-air assembly of more than 1,000 persons;

(c)within 50 metres of any vessel, vehicle or structure which is not under the control of the person in charge of the aircraft; or

(d)subject to paragraphs (3) and (4), within 50 metres of any person.

(3) Subject to paragraph (4), during take-off or landing, a small unmanned surveillance aircraft must not be flown within 30 metres of any person.

(4) Paragraphs (2)(d) and (3) do not apply to the person in charge of the small unmanned surveillance aircraft or a person under the control of the person in charge of the aircraft.

(5) In this article, “a small unmanned surveillance aircraft” means a small unmanned aircraft which is equipped to undertake any form of surveillance or data acquisition.

The bolt is mine in response to your question. So the filming in garden thing is fine as they'll be under control of you. Obviously 50m from a neighbours house etc might be the issue. Depends how big your garden is....Or just ask the neighbours if they mind first and if not, no issue as they're under your control.

The full ANO 2018 isn't online yet but the changes document is here:-

The Air Navigation (Amendment) Order 2018

This contains the new distance from airport and max 400ft for all rule etc.

 

[Malcx]

All of this is on the documents linked from the CAA website (the diagram above is from the official CAA DroneSafe website and its in the PDF of rules to download).

From the official CAP 393 (Air Navigation Order):
The Air Navigation Order 2016



The bolt is mine in response to your question. So the filming in garden thing is fine as they'll be under control of you. Obviously 50m from a neighbours house etc might be the issue. Depends how big your garden is....Or just ask the neighbours if they mind first and if not, no issue as they're under your control.

The full ANO 2018 isn't online yet but the changes document is here:-

The Air Navigation (Amendment) Order 2018

This contains the new distance from airport and max 400ft for all rule etc.

I suspect like DJIce - The specific terms I can't find strict definitions for are: congested area and built up area. The closest to a definition is the Highway code defining "built up area" with it's 30mph stipulation.

Or is there somewhere else on the CAA site I can find these terms defined accurately so I won't inadvertently misinterpret them?

Cheers

 

[Congoblue]

I don't think the term "built up area" is used in the Air Navigation Order, just on that graphic, so no legal standing anyway. I guess we will have to wait for the first person to be taken to court to establish a legal opinion. Personally I think "congested area" applies to such areas as town/city centres where there are a lot of people or vehicles, and outdoor events. Suburbs and housing estates I would say come under the 50m rule. But that is just my opinion.

 

[Malcx]

That's my thoughts and how I'm interpreting it too. Congested area is unclear for me though with regards to small / medium villages so as always I just try to follow common sense.
Let's just hope none of us are the test case!

 

[Congoblue]

With the 150m rule I think they are just trying to protect against a drone collision/crash hitting people. The 50m rule would seem to also address issues about privacy. In my opinion it would be OK to fly over a small village at 50m. But not if they are having the village fete for example.

 

[gnirtS]

The ANO defines a congested area as:

'any area of a city, town or settlement which is substantially used for residential, industrial, commercial or recreational purposes'.

It also helps to step back and look at the intent. These rules come from aviation and VFR based regulations. Basically "Can i perform a forced landing *now* from my current height and not hit anyone/anything". Remember drones don't glide when they go down.

Yes there is some wriggle room there like all the regulations such as dangering aircraft but ultimately as it states you need to apply sound judgement....and potentially be prepared to defend that judgement in course against an expert witness.

Some obvious examples, i dont think anyone would safely judge flying directly over the main shopping street of a city centre as anything but a congested area. A busy town main street the same.
Flying directly over the M4 at rush hour.

However it gets more blurry the lower down you get, flying over a village with wide, mainly empty roads etc. Ultimately operate with care and in a way you can argue your case and show you made effort to reduce risk.

 

[Congoblue]

Thanks Gnirts, that is useful info.