Sydney drone incident

[MAvic_South_Oz]

In Geelong Victoria you can apply and receive free, a permit to fly drones from Council controlled land. Easily done and no hassles. The salesman that sold me the drone pointed out the Council permit requirement and the Where Can I Fly phone app., otherwise I would not have known that.

That's a reasonable way to do it.
Is that for each flight, or a blanket term ?
At least they have an idea of who's flying UAVs on their authorised land, and I would think it is mostly about liability and identifying people.

This is where the new regulations coming might relax some authority in some locations.

From what I've seen most councils want a written application and fee for a permit, in the few cases I've seen where they give you an option to outright ban.
I guess having RePL would be advantageous when applying for such a permit.

At this stage it hasn’t been tested in court, but there is a case coming up in the Norther Territory that may set the course of future cases.
Being a member of AAUS is handy, as they are a bigger body that will advocate for your rights if you find yourself in court.

That will be an interesting outcome, hopefully won't miss the court result here on the forum or in the general media.
I'll look AAUS up and have a read, thanks for the heads up.

Best to avoid conflict with authorities in most cases, defending in court will cost an individual quite a lot in both time and money, councils have access to a bottomless pit of ratepayers funds, and state / federal govco to taxpayer $, to cover their sometimes misguided legal actions.

I wonder if the NT case might see action dropped just before court date ?
It's often that time that councils back down where someone has a case against their legal action.

 

[AMann]

That guy probably suffered from oppositional defiant disorder- at least he just had a drone, but the car? Scary!!.

 

[Remote Pilots Australia]

@MAvic_South_Oz is almost correct

It's Logan city just South or Brisbane that has the blanket ban, Pioneer Park where he has flown is right on the border of the two municipalities, you can take off from Pioneer park and Fly over land within Logan City without violating the "line of sight rule".

You can obtain permission quite readily from Brisbane City council for a measly $800, which is why generally when doing a commercial job there we just approach a nearby property holder and obtain permission to fly from their land.

In reply to someone's comment about flying from parks near beaches, while it is correct that many if not most councils ban flying from parks or council land by the sea what is not well known but is in fact legal truth is that the council owned land end at the high water mark. You can take off and land between the high and low water mark without breaching any bylaw ...doesn't work so well at high tide of course

Edit:- Quick tip which has paid dividends for me. If you are flying near the beach ring up the nearest VMR (volunteer marine rescue) or lifeguards and tell them you are just giving them a courtesy call and tell them who you are, give them your A.R.N. if you have one, soon you'll HAVE to have one, and tell them where you'll be operating and give them a mobile number to call you in case they have an incident requiring a chopper call out near you. You're not required to but they really appreciate it. One of my common training areas for me and my pilots is near a very active local boat launch area and I've reached first name basis with the Commodore and most of the tower staff, they actually actively keep the local boys in blue both land and water and boaties in the loop that I'm a known commercial operator and no risk.

Regards
Ari

 

[bushie]

My local city was going to ban drones in its parks but received legal advise that they did not have the powers to do so.

This is there policy now

https://www.mandurah.wa.gov.au/-/me...e/Use-of-Drones-Factsheet--External-Users.pdf

A very sensible position. It is why I queried the legality of the regulation above.

 

[deleted member 877]

Some like BCC (Brisbane City Council) had a total ban, but after a trial have opened up 10 parks with areas for drone flying.
I visited one a while ago, Voyager Dr Park Kuraby . . . very small, uninspiring, only good for testing etc.
Not sure about the others.

The park at Carindale is a lot better than Kuraby - it's a bigger space.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

My local city was going to ban drones in its parks but received legal advise that they did not have the powers to do so.

This is there policy now

https://www.mandurah.wa.gov.au/-/me...e/Use-of-Drones-Factsheet--External-Users.pdf

A very sensible position. It is why I queried the legality of the regulation above.

Good to see, hopefully more may follow suit like this, instead of trying to ban drones, as well as other states National Parks authorities (QLD and WA Nat Pks are ok to fly).
Of course, then drone flyers have to do the right thing and fly to CASA regs, and use some common sense.

@MAvic_South_Oz is almost correct

It's Logan city just South or Brisbane that has the blanket ban, Pioneer Park where he has flown is right on the border of the two municipalities, you can take off from Pioneer park and Fly over land within Logan City without violating the "line of sight rule".

Regards
Ari

Thanks Ari, BCC did originally have a total ban, but then did the one park trial, and after a short campaign by local flyers / clubs (model assoc ?), opened up 10 parks to flyers, as listed on their website somewhere.

Yes, Logan is another with blanket ban. Now.
I'm sure there are MANY other councils in SE QLD and right around Australia with the same blanket ban.

The park at Carindale is a lot better than Kuraby - it's a bigger space.

View attachment 62987

Indeed, that is a much larger area, better as a test site, but still I wonder how busy these parks (10 or them) get on weekends etc ?
I still haven't seen many drones flying around when I'm out flying mine, or any other time for that matter.
Think I've seen maybe a dozen all up flying anywhere.
Surprising considering the sales curve for DJI and other such consumer drones.

 

[deleted member 877]

Indeed, that is a much larger area, better as a test site, but still I wonder how busy these parks (10 or them) get on weekends etc ?
I still haven't seen many drones flying around when I'm out flying mine, or any other time for that matter.
Think I've seen maybe a dozen all up flying anywhere.
Surprising considering the sales curve for DJI and other such consumer drones.

Yeah, same - I hardly ever see more that one other drone operator at the parks. Most of the time I'm on my own. Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast is another matter with lots of guys out usually late afternoon when the wind drops.

Unfortunately, I have noticed a few instances of drones flying low over people and up high when the Seaworld chopper is in the vicinity. However, the beach going public seem to be either oblivious or couldn't give a toss which is a good thing I suppose. Maybe it's because, by now, they are used to seeing drones flying around incident free and simply no longer associate them with danger if they ever did in the first place.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Hopefully new registration regs coming along and testing of hobby flyers will see at least better education / knowledge about the rules and common sense things.
I'll be back up in Brisbane Saturday, and a few weeks later should be doing a mid week run over to Moreton Is.
Looking forward to seeing the wrecks and other such locations from the air.