Toronto Mavic Owner: where can I fly?

[modeler]

A lot more restriction than I thought, seems 2.km from helipad is a major killer in city - most hospital has one. And outside city there will be small airport, training center, or industry helipad cover almost everywhere. For busy places like Pearson, the NFZ is absolutely necessary, no one would argue, but for those airdrome may or may not open for days and months the restriction is just way over killed.

There always a possibility of collision, when two objects exist. Please don't try to make up a case for the debate, just for airspace under 100m on city park far away from busy airport, I bet if there is a airplane there ever, you really should worry about it crashed into houses rather than drone flying into airplane.

In TC minister's owner word "there is no overkill in safety", and they certainly did in that way.

 

[f13dfx]

Hello! I’m bringing my Mavic 2 Pro on a visit to the GTA. Is there anywhere in the GTA where I can fly my drone and take a night shot of the Toronto skyline with the CN Tower?

 

[Ken K]

Hello! I’m bringing my Mavic 2 Pro on a visit to the GTA. Is there anywhere in the GTA where I can fly my drone and take a night shot of the Toronto skyline with the CN Tower?

Short answer.....Nope.
The CN Tower is just north of a busy airport on Toronto Island. You won't be able to fly your drone less than about 5.6km or 3.5mi from the tower.
You can download AirMap, UAV Forecast, or other similar app that overlays restricted zones, and check for yourself.

 

[tangy07]

Someone flew a drone over the Raptors parade and the night when they won illegal. These types of things will ruin it for us.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/brazen-drone-footage-of-raptors-championship-party-a-slap-in-the-face-pilot-instructor-says-1.5189772

 

[drone111]

Hello! I’m bringing my Mavic 2 Pro on a visit to the GTA. Is there anywhere in the GTA where I can fly my drone and take a night shot of the Toronto skyline with the CN Tower?

1) You have to be licensed, and 2) You can not fly in that area. Toronto has a downtown airport. Your also not allowed to fly over people unless your drone is exempt (none of the DJI are thus far).

 

[fscali]

I live in West Toronto, so imagine my fun in finding a safe flight area. I have a Mavic Air and my basic Drone license. Flying virtually anywhere downtown Toronto is out of the question. You pretty much have to head east or west of the city.

Wondering if anyone knows of any flying clubs or meet-ups for the GTHA?

Thanks and safe flying.

 

[Jimbo41158]

Yes...I'm new to the hobby and have bought a Mavic air...Love it, but only have been testing it in a large football field when nobody is there....flying very low to get the hang of it..So far, it's great.. anyways, I appreciate any info.. I would like that info too if you please?

 

[TorontoDroneGuy]

Hey there, I'm new to drone flying and live in downtown Toronto. I've been reading through this thread among others and just wanted to confirm a few things. I've been using this site to look for NFZ's - DJI - The World Leader in Camera Drones/Quadcopters for Aerial Photography and have been able to fly within areas where there are no people close to the city (ex. the end of leslie st. spit, riverdale park east at sunrise etc.). I have my beginners license from Transport Canada and I've seen warnings while flying (ex. max altitude 120m) but I've never had any other issues. Is it safe to assume this map is up-to-date and staying away from people/events/blue or red zones means you're not breaking any laws? I've even chatted with 2 police while flying my drone near Casa Loma and they didn't say anything apart from "how much did that cost". Thanks in advance for your responses.

 

[Jimbo41158]

Hey there, I'm new to drone flying and live in downtown Toronto. I've been reading through this thread among others and just wanted to confirm a few things. I've been using this site to look for NFZ's - DJI - The World Leader in Camera Drones/Quadcopters for Aerial Photography and have been able to fly within areas where there are no people close to the city (ex. the end of leslie st. spit, riverdale park east at sunrise etc.). I have my beginners license from Transport Canada and I've seen warnings while flying (ex. max altitude 120m) but I've never had any other issues. Is it safe to assume this map is up-to-date and staying away from people/events/blue or red zones means you're not breaking any laws? I've even chatted with 2 police while flying my drone near Casa Loma and they didn't say anything apart from "how much did that cost". Thanks in advance for your responses.

HI,

Are you using Drone Pilot Canada? That's a great app! You can do your flight plan on it as well.. I'm in Ajax.. I agree.. There are pockets where you can fly.. I was in Caledon yesterday.. Gorgeous areas where you can fly!!

 

[tangy07]

Hey there, I'm new to drone flying and live in downtown Toronto. I've been reading through this thread among others and just wanted to confirm a few things. I've been using this site to look for NFZ's - DJI - The World Leader in Camera Drones/Quadcopters for Aerial Photography and have been able to fly within areas where there are no people close to the city (ex. the end of leslie st. spit, riverdale park east at sunrise etc.). I have my beginners license from Transport Canada and I've seen warnings while flying (ex. max altitude 120m) but I've never had any other issues. Is it safe to assume this map is up-to-date and staying away from people/events/blue or red zones means you're not breaking any laws? I've even chatted with 2 police while flying my drone near Casa Loma and they didn't say anything apart from "how much did that cost". Thanks in advance for your responses.

All of Toronto is a controlled airspace. You can't fly with a beginner license in the city. You will need to have the advance license.

 

[TorontoDroneGuy]

All of Toronto is a controlled airspace. You can't fly with a beginner license in the city. You will need to have the advance license.

So the link I'm following isn't showing the flight zones correctly? Wouldn't the drone come up with errors or notifications warning you that you're in a controlled airspace? Why does this map even exist then? I've reached out to DJI about this because this is the first map I came across and it's the easiest to use (in my opinion). Regardless, with the beginners license I can't fly within 100m of people anyway so it doesn't matter too much since Toronto is insanely busy.

 

[tangy07]

So the link I'm following isn't showing the flight zones correctly? Wouldn't the drone come up with errors or notifications warning you that you're in a controlled airspace? Why does this map even exist then? I've reached out to DJI about this because this is the first map I came across and it's the easiest to use (in my opinion). Regardless, with the beginners license I can't fly within 100m of people anyway so it doesn't matter too much since Toronto is insanely busy.

That just shows the distance within the airports. Applies to both basic and advance license. For basic license, the other rule is that you can't fly in a controlled airspace which most of Toronto. So the link is not wrong technically. Just not as detailed

 

[maxpower]

So the link I'm following isn't showing the flight zones correctly? Wouldn't the drone come up with errors or notifications warning you that you're in a controlled airspace? Why does this map even exist then? I've reached out to DJI about this because this is the first map I came across and it's the easiest to use (in my opinion). Regardless, with the beginners license I can't fly within 100m of people anyway so it doesn't matter too much since Toronto is insanely busy.

@TorontoDroneGuy use the link in post #1 of this thread to see where you can’t fly with the Basic license, it will be sown in red.

Here’s what Toronto and surrounding looks like with a Basic license:

 

[TorontoDroneGuy]

@TorontoDroneGuy use the link in post #1 of this thread to see where you can’t fly with the Basic license, it will be sown in red.

Here’s what Toronto and surrounding looks like with a Basic license:

Thanks for this. I've seen this map before so I'll start following this instead. I'm assuming the one I've been using simply shows where you can fly with the most advanced license. Oh well, good to know before I get fined! Gotta go for that advanced license soon.

 

[drone111]

For what it's worth, the entire city I'm in is covered by a few air ports, sea ports and helipads. Got my advanced, did my flight review, started getting my NavCanada clearance. I got a 3 ring binder filled with documents, approvals, insurance (was 50 a year more to bump it from 100k to 500k, so yes I have a lot of insurance), ground school courses, maps, emails from control towers etc...

Overkill? No.... I'm glad they make people do it all...

The shots you can get are epic. I've had to call my flight into the tower so many times before and after flights. Everyone is so cool about it as long as your professional and prepared with approval numbers etc...team leads around a few of the local towers know me quite well with all the communication. Lots of good stuff can happen when you follow the rules and do it right.

Hopefully some of you with the basic consider the advance. Good luck to all.

 

[tangy07]

For what it's worth, the entire city I'm in is covered by a few air ports, sea ports and helipads. Got my advanced, did my flight review, started getting my NavCanada clearance. I got a 3 ring binder filled with documents, approvals, insurance (was 50 a year more to bump it from 100k to 500k, so yes I have a lot of insurance), ground school courses, maps, emails from control towers etc...

Overkill? No.... I'm glad they make people do it all...

The shots you can get are epic. I've had to call my flight into the tower so many times before and after flights. Everyone is so cool about it as long as your professional and prepared with approval numbers etc...team leads around a few of the local towers know me quite well with all the communication. Lots of good stuff can happen when you follow the rules and do it right.

Hopefully some of you with the basic consider the advance. Good luck to all.

Where did you do your flight review and was it hard?

 

[drone111]

I think the average person would find it very hard. I spent weeks prepping for it which some people would probably think is crazy however I live in a remote area and took me almost 6 hours just to drive to my flight review. That's a long drive home if you don't pass. So before I went I had made dam sure that I had everything I needed, and I knew what was expected of me before even showing up. I came with a 3" binder that had all my check lists, emergency protocols, all my paperwork (insurance, past certificate of ground school courses, VNC/VTA maps, NOTAMs for the day, copies of the near by airports from the CFPS) ... was it overkill? Maybe... but then again it takes an hour to get all this stuff together and that's not a lot of time when it takes me 12 hours to do a round trip and a few hundred in gas.

When I showed up for my flight review they were very professional, seemed really organized and we sat down on 2 chairs, face to face about 5 feet apart and it was just them asking me question after question for about 45 minutes. First simple stuff... can I see this document, that document etc... then they start off easy by asking questions about your airspace ... and it got harder after that But like i said, I was prepared. I can only imagine that someone would probably get in a bunch of crap if they put their exact questions they remembered here so i'm obviously not going to do that.. but i'll give you a few examples of things that were similar to questions. IF they asked you stuff like what is the wingspan of your drone... they don't expect you to memorize it .. they do let you look it up. But what they are looking for here is that you have the user manual for your drone so that you can look stuff up. Again, something else for your 3" binder...

The flying part is (or should be) a joke. That's because if you have a drone, you have probably flown it many times. I'd even say a dozen times and your probably good to go for the flight review part... then its just the knowledge side of things. Get all your documents together ... know exactly what will be expected of you... create your own check lists, emergency protocols (i'd attach those to a clip board - yes go buy one if you don't have one) and show up PREPARED.

Hope it helps, but this is what got me through mine.

Edit: Adding in the fact that my bag also contained a fire extinguisher (cheap little one off amazon) and a first aid kit (again off amazon) all would fit in a backpack with my binder, drone, batteries, clipboard etc... Also once I was flying right in the flight path on their approach so my request went from the portal, to the flight service station team lead to get approved. Required me to call the tower before I started my flight and I must say, the guys were very professional about it - again, be prepared. You want your approval reference numbers all handy so they can look it up. But the guys were great - I think one of them has gone out to buy a drone now. The big thing I have to stress if you want the flight review and drone flying to go well, be prepared.

 

[sarniac]

I think the average person would find it very hard. I spent weeks prepping for it which some people would probably think is crazy however I live in a remote area and took me almost 6 hours just to drive to my flight review. That's a long drive home if you don't pass. So before I went I had made dam sure that I had everything I needed, and I knew what was expected of me before even showing up. I came with a 3" binder that had all my check lists, emergency protocols, all my paperwork (insurance, past certificate of ground school courses, VNC/VTA maps, NOTAMs for the day, copies of the near by airports from the CFPS) ... was it overkill? Maybe... but then again it takes an hour to get all this stuff together and that's not a lot of time when it takes me 12 hours to do a round trip and a few hundred in gas.

When I showed up for my flight review they were very professional, seemed really organized and we sat down on 2 chairs, face to face about 5 feet apart and it was just them asking me question after question for about 45 minutes. First simple stuff... can I see this document, that document etc... then they start off easy by asking questions about your airspace ... and it got harder after that But like i said, I was prepared. I can only imagine that someone would probably get in a bunch of crap if they put their exact questions they remembered here so i'm obviously not going to do that.. but i'll give you a few examples of things that were similar to questions. IF they asked you stuff like what is the wingspan of your drone... they don't expect you to memorize it .. they do let you look it up. But what they are looking for here is that you have the user manual for your drone so that you can look stuff up. Again, something else for your 3" binder...

The flying part is (or should be) a joke. That's because if you have a drone, you have probably flown it many times. I'd even say a dozen times and your probably good to go for the flight review part... then its just the knowledge side of things. Get all your documents together ... know exactly what will be expected of you... create your own check lists, emergency protocols (i'd attach those to a clip board - yes go buy one if you don't have one) and show up PREPARED.

Hope it helps, but this is what got me through mine.

Congratulations - looks like you were very focused and prepared for your meeting. I have my basic and plan to look at what I would need to do for my advanced over the winter. Seems like study material is becoming more available to help with advanced studies. Again, congratulations, you should be pleased with your efforts and end result.

 

[drone111]

Congratulations - looks like you were very focused and prepared for your meeting. I have my basic and plan to look at what I would need to do for my advanced over the winter. Seems like study material is becoming more available to help with advanced studies. Again, congratulations, you should be pleased with your efforts and end result.

Thanks, my flight review was done right when the new laws came into effect. I did phone a few other places and they seemed clueless. The place I ended up using seemed to know what they were doing and have done these before. They seemed just as prepared as I was so I went with them. So don't just phone one place, I'd suggest phoning a few and see where you get the best vibe. Also when I did mine, some people were charging $500 others were charging $250... I think now there is enough of these reviewers that the prices have balanced but it certainly wasn't like that at the beginning.

 

[Mini6ix]

All of Toronto is a controlled airspace. You can't fly with a beginner license in the city. You will need to have the advance license.

Do you know if this applies to the Mavic Mini as well ??