Traveling to Iceland

jches22 · Nov 3, 2017

First Post!

Going to Iceland in about 2 weeks and am planning to take my Mavic Pro with me (First trip out of the UK with it)

I have seen online, a lot of general tourists complaining about Drones at the main tourist destinations and wondered if anyone has had any issue with others complaining about you flying?

Also we are doing the Golden Circle Tour, South Coast Tour as well as a Snowmobile Excursion up on Langjökull Glacier.

Has anyone had any problem using their drone at any of these places below? :

- Geysir (Golden Circle)
- Gullfoss (Golden Circle)
- Seljalandsfoss (South Coast)
- Skogafoss (South Coast)
- Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach
- Village of Vik

So far the only place I've found that has any restriction on drone use is at Thingvellir National Park.

Tanguy · Nov 5, 2017

Hi Jches22 I have been to Iceland in April 17 and flew my drone in a couple places but main tourist sites have signs for drone no fly. So I flew it in less touristic places and always try to be off main tracks so not to disturb other tourists. I enjoyed it nevertheless and made some nice footage. The weather is challenging though as it rains, snows, or it is very windy. If you get the chance to go to Fjaórargljufur, it is remote, not so touristic and beautiful for drone flying if weather permits.
Cheers
Tanguy

abuamiri · Nov 5, 2017

No personal experience (Iceland is where the wife and I first started thinking a drone might be a good idea) but Gullfoss will be challenging. Quite windy due to the power of the falls, and I can’t recall too many places where you could stand and fly and not be in close proximity to other tourists. Same for Geysir, although there is a fair amount of open terrain there. One place where you could probably get some amazing shots would be Kerid.

jches22 · Nov 5, 2017

Thanks for the replies! Well we are only able to go to the tourist locations as we're not hiring a car, just doing day excursions. Think i'll just take the Drone with and see on the day. I'm half expecting not to be able to use it at all considering how unpredictable the weather is!

tictag · Nov 5, 2017

I'm not sure I'd want tourists within my drone footage, which means you either go further afield, fly at night or get to the sights before anybody else does. I remember seeing a photo of a moonbow in Iceland. That would be an awesome sight from the air. I hope you have a wonderful trip.

Oh, and don't forget to check out national drone flying laws/guidelines.

Blacksails · Nov 5, 2017

Alright, man. I went there specifically to fly in March. Moving there in April 2018. This was our footage:
Firstly, as stated, keep an eye out for no fly zones. They're always clearly signposted. Loads of people fly at Gullfoss but it's not permitted.

All of the national parks require that you have permission from the park warden. It's easy to obtain, costs nothing and they're very friendly. They give you a little signed permission and a guide of when they would like you to fly/not fly. You show this to any rangers that question you.

Here is the link for the Vatnajökull National park (the biggest one with the easily accessibly glaciers etc) filming application: https://www.vatnajokulsthjodgardur.is/static/files/Stjornsysla/Eydublod/film2017.doc

Send them to [email protected]

Be very careful of magnetic interference. We flew with the Inspire so could easily swap into Atti mode in areas it didn't like. I think it's the geological make up of the island. Our bird certainly didn't like it and we encountered it quite a lot. The bird would start toilet bowling uncontrollably until switched to Atti, in which it ignores compass data. The mavic doesn't have that capability so be extra careful. Any signs of weird behaviour, bring her down immediately. Goðafoss was on of the places we came across this, and was also where we witnessed another guys phantom plummet out of control into the falls when he had the same issue and didn't know to switch modes.

Finally. The wind can be just stupid. Keep in mind you're going to be using way more battery flying back to yourself if you're against the wind. Seriously, it's mental. Never experienced wind like that.

Blacksails · Nov 5, 2017

Oh, and don't trust the black sand beaches or the car parks near them. Stuck our Inspire on the concrete for about five seconds whilst rearranging the car, and in that time the wind managed to carry fine particles up off of the beach and into my motors. Had to spend the evening taking them apart and thoroughly cleaning them back at the air bnb. Black sand is very difficult to clean out of black motors.
This one seems obvious but is an easy mistake to make when you aren't used to those winds

araspitfire · Nov 5, 2017

I took a racing drone to Iceland a bit over a year ago. If the Mavic had been available to me at the time I would have taken it instead. As it was a motorcycle trip, I wanted dynamic footage.. and my Phantom 2 is too cumbersome to fall off a motorcycle with.
It's a seriously beautiful country. Definitely take the drone.

Iceland - YouTube

pogopilot · Nov 5, 2017

jches22 said:
First Post!

Going to Iceland in about 2 weeks and am planning to take my Mavic Pro with me (First trip out of the UK with it)

I have seen online, a lot of general tourists complaining about Drones at the main tourist destinations and wondered if anyone has had any issue with others complaining about you flying?

Also we are doing the Golden Circle Tour, South Coast Tour as well as a Snowmobile Excursion up on Langjökull Glacier.

Has anyone had any problem using their drone at any of these places below? :

- Geysir (Golden Circle)
- Gullfoss (Golden Circle)
- Seljalandsfoss (South Coast)
- Skogafoss (South Coast)
- Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach
- Village of Vik

So far the only place I've found that has any restriction on drone use is at Thingvellir National Park.

Just spent 4 days there and flew most of the places you mentioned except Geysir (too small and crowded). Vik was also a bit of a challenge. Here is some advise to consider;

Take off and land AWAY from parking lots and people. Nobody wants to see or hear the drone. I would find a secluded spot and then take off straight up and then quickly head towards target.
I would fly to my target, take the shot/video and then bolt straight back. I never made a second pass
Fly early in the morning when possible to avoid crowds.
Avoid flying directly above people when possible.

pixl · Nov 5, 2017

pogopilot said:
Just spent 4 days there and flew most of the places you mentioned except Geysir (too small and crowded). Vik was also a bit of a challenge. Here is some advise to consider;

Take off and land AWAY from parking lots and people. Nobody wants to see or hear the drone. I would find a secluded spot and then take off straight up and then quickly head towards target.

I would fly to my target, take the shot/video and then bolt straight back. I never made a second pass

Fly early in the morning when possible to avoid crowds.

Avoid flying directly above people when possible.

This is an excellent set of rules for flying ANYWHERE....and it's my rule of thumb always. Besides, the light and conditions are usually best in early mornings.

jches22 · Nov 6, 2017

Thank you all so much for the Replies! All good information to go away with. To be honest while I am new to this I do pretty much already follow those rules, I don't like to hang around up there longer then needed. Hopefully i'll get an opportunity to use it at least once.

pisan60 · Jun 21, 2018

Just came back from a 7 day trip.
1. Flying with EasyJet from London - don't even bother to take the bird out of the case and off the camera bag. Same with the 3 batteries - all stay in the camera bag alongside my Sony A7 with 2 lenses and the GoPro
2. Restrictions - at the parkings of all waterfalls there are "no drone" signs. Same for the Thingvellir, Dyrholaey, Skaftafell and Jokulsarlon.
3. Able to fly over Hallgrimskirkja church in downtown Reykjavik, DC-plane crash site (Solheimassandur), Reynisfjara beach, Diamond Beach, Vik, Fjaðrárgljúfur and Fjallsarlon.
If someone needs specific information - let me know

abuamiri · Jun 21, 2018

Ha - that's interesting that they will let you fly over the church but not over Þingvellir. I was there when Iceland played England in Euro 2016 and there were at least 2 Phantoms in the air downtown near the waterfront, though they may have belonged to news organizations.

pisan60 said:
Just came back from a 7 day trip.
1. Flying with EasyJet from London - don't even bother to take the bird out of the case and off the camera bag. Same with the 3 batteries - all stay in the camera bag alongside my Sony A7 with 2 lenses and the GoPro
2. Restrictions - at the parkings of all waterfalls there are "no drone" signs. Same for the Thingvellir, Dyrholaey, Skaftafell and Jokulsarlon.
3. Able to fly over Hallgrimskirkja church in downtown Reykjavik, DC-plane crash site (Solheimassandur), Reynisfjara beach, Diamond Beach, Vik, Fjaðrárgljúfur and Fjallsarlon.
If someone needs specific information - let me know

pisan60 · Jun 21, 2018

Thingvellir and Skaftafell are national parks so there is forbidden to fly by default. Flying in downtown center is not forbidden - your drone shouldn’t be above the height of the tallest building - in this case the church. When powering the MPP I’ve got a warning “domestic regulations applied” or something like that.

neps · Jun 21, 2018

We went August 2017 for a week, and I brought the Mavic Pro with me - We rented an AirBnb off the Golden Circle. Echoing the comments above, the wind is insane there.

I thought I had done all the research prior - stating that Iceland was a pretty drone friendly place, observed the signs at Geysr even though others weren't. I went to Gullfoss, and saw others droning, but didn't know what was mentioned above at the time, and a local got in my face - how they're banned in the country and he was going to get the police. Even though my drone was over the falls, and I was piloting it far away from the crowds, I brought it down and left. Felt very unsettled.

Great tips above as well!

Beautiful video @Blacksails !

I also felt like I had issues with Color balancing with the Mavic Pro - maybe I was and still am too much of a novice. I'll try to upload some stills to show you what I mean