Actually, I'm fairly amazed you are allowed to fly there and that is not criticism or raising those issues (folks policing others). In Seattle, we canNOT fly anywhere except over our own private small lots or with permission, others' small lots!!! And many of our parks are very restricted, too. I was hiking in the national forest recently and the trailhead sign "No drones permitted."
I have to drive 25 miles to a soccer field to fly and it is quite BORING! Here's where I fly! Both the Mini and the Zoom.
That does soundvery boring! However, I'm not legally able to fly in my own back yard!
You raise an interesting point. Here we're relatively free to fly anywhere away from airports, people and built up areas. However, if you ask enough people (land owners, passers by, house owners etc) for permission I'm sure someone is going to object to you flying in nearly any location. I don't think
any of the other visitors to this castle sought out filming or photography rights, yet most were taking at least a few selfies and maybe some videos on the cell phones.
I did some research on one location where I'd thought to fly and the website of the owners of the abandoned property in question had a detailed policy on drone usage on their sites. I'd have had to provide details of flight plans, number of crew, number of support vehicles, details of each piece of filming apparatus, risk assessments, details of what the footage was to be used in (broadcast, advertisements, documentaries etc), filming durations, insurance details... the list goes on. I was also expected to liaise with staff on the grounds (this is an abandoned property with no on-site attendant, nor anyone or anything nearby!!) Overall it was totally inappropriate for 20min of flying for fun, in the middle of nowhere, with a drone that's not even heavy enough to need basic registration. It was tempting to forge ahead and fill out the forms asking for permission, just to see what kind of response I'd get! ?
I normally use common sense as a guide. Can I damage someone else's property? Will I likely lose control of the drone? Will I be invading someone's privacy? Will there be many members of the public about? Will I be breaking any local flying laws? If the answer is no to all of these then it's usually a good start.
