UK Drone users look likely to take drone test

[Gubernator]

The US brings in a test (or was it just DJI ?), so the UK follows.

Listed is one incident, well documented in the news and on forums, here on Mavic Pilots included . . . the rest ?
99 this year (so far), 62 last year, and 29 in 2015, roughly looking at perhaps double each year ?
How much has drone ownership increased ?

Yes, that is still a concern, but how many of these drone near misses are real or imagined ?
There have been plenty of arguments either way about just how much a pilot can actually see and identify a drone flying under flight conditions, speed of plane, size of drone, background camouflage of drone to ground, cockpit activity (rarely look out windows !), it brings to mind this posted pic put up here by another member recently . . .

View attachment 25591

I honestly think geofencing like DJI does here in Australia would stop most of the issues near airport.

The problem with this is that there will always be hacks easily obtainable.

 

[Scobo]

So they have absolutely no idea who took the test..... sounds stupid enough for them to take that option. Hope it doesn't turn into a money making scheme.

Sounds like yet another tax to me.
And as per usual, the people who abide by the rules will be the only ones paying it !

 

[4wd]

So they have absolutely no idea who took the test..... sounds stupid enough for them to take that option. Hope it doesn't turn into a money making scheme.

As an example I recently did an online course and test to be certified to use rat bait on a farm.
You had to read through about two hours worth of stuff and 'learn' details such as what age a rat can start breeding, and how heavy an adult rat is.
Then you answered 30 multiple choice questions and were only allowed to get three wrong.
fee for this by Paypal £60

It occurred to me that if I was less patient anyone could have been sat alongside doing it for me, or just google each question as there was no time limit. You still had to pay £60 though.

They will be scratching heads to invent enough questions which are barely relevant and you will be expected to absorb little details to do with weight of drones and distances from people etc.
After passing you will just carry on as before of course.

 

[MavicPro2]

Personally I don’t mind sitting any test, but how can this be policed and monitored, if little Jimmy gets a Mavic Pro for his 13th birthday.
We have all seen the videos on YouTube of irresponsible flying, and it was only inevitable this would happen in the UK.
I think certain drones should only be sold to people at least 18 years of age.

I dont mind either but In the UK it will just be another stealth tax, £50 to sit the test, £20 for a bit of paper that cops wont even know exists or care about even if they had the time to patrol parks and chase us drone flying scum for flying at 410ft... They can stick it. The UK has a great drone defence system called shite weather. Is it really worth all the agro for 30 flying days a year?! for the dozen flights a year i manage to get in i'll go illegal thanks.

 

[Ren57]

Always the way

I posted this on another part of the forum yesterday. But since the same thing has come up again I'll copy and past what I wrote below.

I've just read the official report. It's typical knee jerk reaction to media hype. It seem s to be more about privacy than safety. In the UK we live in a CCTV society. Every time you go out of your front door and into any town centre, you're going to get photographed/videoed on an array of different CCTV systems. From cameras that now seem to be on every street corner to shop CCTV systems. Add to that, dash-cams and people everywhere taking pictures/videos with their mobile phones. It's estimated you'll get picked up by 48 different image capturing systems every single day! All this without your permission by the way.... Are the powers that be going to do anything about that? No, of course they aren't. It is drones, apparently that are the scourge of all our privacy...... REALLY?!! And what are the CAA getting involved in privacy issues for in the first place? It's not the CAA's remit to be involved in privacy, their remit is the safe control of airspace and nothing else.

Just in case someone from the CAA or any of the other regulatory bodies is reading this. No-one has been killed by a drone in the UK and as far as I'm aware, anywhere in the world! Yet just last week, 2 manned aircraft collided mid-air killing 4 people in the UK. That's despite the rigorous training that manned aviation pilots have to undertake. It made the news but was soon forgotten about. If that had been a drones colliding mid-air resulting in a death (or even an injury), the proverbial would have hit a very large fan and it would've been all over the papers, TV news and the media in general! And there are really bigger privacy issues than drones here in the UK, see above. Get a grip you lot, you're reacting to media hype and making up stupid regulations for a problem that just doesn't exist. I despair of this country sometimes, I really do......

 

[StevenPSCC]

I posted this on another part of the forum yesterday. But since the same thing has come up again I'll copy and past what I wrote below.

I've just read the official report. It's typical knee jerk reaction to media hype. It seem s to be more about privacy than safety. In the UK we live in a CCTV society. Every time you go out of your front door and into any town centre, you're going to get photographed/videoed on an array of different CCTV systems. From cameras that now seem to be on every street corner to shop CCTV systems. Add to that, dash-cams and people everywhere taking pictures/videos with their mobile phones. It's estimated you'll get picked up by 48 different image capturing systems every single day! All this without your permission by the way.... Are the powers that be going to do anything about that? No, of course they aren't. It is drones, apparently that are the scourge of all our privacy...... REALLY?!! And what are the CAA getting involved in privacy issues for in the first place? It's not the CAA's remit to be involved in privacy, their remit is the safe control of airspace and nothing else.

Just in case someone from the CAA or any of the other regulatory bodies is reading this. No-one has been killed by a drone in the UK and as far as I'm aware, anywhere in the world! Yet just last week, 2 manned aircraft collided mid-air killing 4 people in the UK. That's despite the rigorous training that manned aviation pilots have to undertake. It made the news but was soon forgotten about. If that had been a drones colliding mid-air resulting in a death (or even an injury), the proverbial would have hit a very large fan and it would've been all over the papers, TV news and the media in general! And there are really bigger privacy issues than drones here in the UK, see above. Get a grip you lot, you're reacting to media hype and making up stupid regulations for a problem that just doesn't exist. I despair of this country sometimes, I really do......

Couldn’t agree more

 

[Bergumbira]

This is an interesting, article.

UK drone users to sit safety tests

Please consider my reply as black humor or sarcastic..
I think those tests are a big mistake from governments. Because if they need to pass a test the users will finally really learn to use their drones properly instead of crashing the first day while flying in the living room 2 minutes after unpacking... And these will result in more drones in the sky than expected so more issues .. Rofl

 

[mav09]

This is an interesting, article.

UK drone users to sit safety tests

Mine already taken. It's 2 days. Sorted!

 

[ChrisW]

Step 1:- log into your bank account
Step 2:- transfer money to their bank account
Step 3:- print out certificate
Step 4:- Go Fly

 

[geevee]

I posted this on another part of the forum yesterday. But since the same thing has come up again I'll copy and past what I wrote below.

I've just read the official report. It's typical knee jerk reaction to media hype. It seem s to be more about privacy than safety. In the UK we live in a CCTV society. Every time you go out of your front door and into any town centre, you're going to get photographed/videoed on an array of different CCTV systems. From cameras that now seem to be on every street corner to shop CCTV systems. Add to that, dash-cams and people everywhere taking pictures/videos with their mobile phones. It's estimated you'll get picked up by 48 different image capturing systems every single day! All this without your permission by the way.... Are the powers that be going to do anything about that? No, of course they aren't. It is drones, apparently that are the scourge of all our privacy...... REALLY?!! And what are the CAA getting involved in privacy issues for in the first place? It's not the CAA's remit to be involved in privacy, their remit is the safe control of airspace and nothing else.

Just in case someone from the CAA or any of the other regulatory bodies is reading this. No-one has been killed by a drone in the UK and as far as I'm aware, anywhere in the world! Yet just last week, 2 manned aircraft collided mid-air killing 4 people in the UK. That's despite the rigorous training that manned aviation pilots have to undertake. It made the news but was soon forgotten about. If that had been a drones colliding mid-air resulting in a death (or even an injury), the proverbial would have hit a very large fan and it would've been all over the papers, TV news and the media in general! And there are really bigger privacy issues than drones here in the UK, see above. Get a grip you lot, you're reacting to media hype and making up stupid regulations for a problem that just doesn't exist. I despair of this country sometimes, I really do......

It’s similar to the hatred of 4x4s.

 

[Youser]

We should start a poll for how much we think this certificate will cost

 

[Ren57]

We should start a poll for how much we think this certificate will cost

I reckon initially £10. Of course after that it'll probably go up every year?

Thinking about it, though, how the hell is it going to be implemented? If you were buying your drone over the counter at a retailer maybe you'd have to give your details before you could take it from the shop. If you were paying with good old cash, you could just give a false name and address, take it away and fly without taking the test. Who is going to know? And what if you buy on-line (like most people do)? Is every on-line retailer going to forward your details to the authorities every time someone purchases a drone, really, are they going to bother? Sounds like a logistical nightmare to me! Who is going to process all that information? Sounds like there'd be some privacy issues here for a start. And are the police really going to be chasing people that are flying drones? They don't even bother to turn up at your house if it's been burgled anymore! You just get a crime number over the phone and get told to contact your insurance company.....

 

[Haloweenhamster]

It could be that you need to pass the test to register, once registered you are issued a registration number (like Ham radio with a call sign)

Dji have updated to allow a programmable uuid & purpose

Uuid would be the issued registration number
Purpose could be hobby, commercial etc

Using products like aeroscope that could be fitted to police cars they could have an automatic system that gives the operators location if uuid is missing or invalid

 

[Ren57]

Using products like aeroscope that could be fitted to police cars they could have an automatic system that gives the operators location if uuid is missing or invalid

Really?!! Cash strapped UK police forces getting aeroscope fitted to their cars! There's the pretend world and then there's the real world Mr Anderson.

 

[Youser]

Can't see police responding to any reports of illegal drone flights unless it's near an airport or a blatant NFZ.

Can't see them coming out for an illegal flight in a park where the pilot is keeping vlos and trying to stay away from people.

I reckon there'd be loads of reports made to the police when this goes live and is advertised all over the media.

 

[scooot]

I can't see how it would be implemented or in fact enforced for people who already own drones.For new purchases it may be introduced the same way as when you buy a tv and the shop sends your details to the tv license department.Wether that would work who knows.

 

[Argee]

AFAIR, the proposal involved drones weighing more than 250grammes, which would include most "proper" drones. Mavic weighs 734grammes.

 

[Ren57]

I can't see how it would be implemented or in fact enforced for people who already own drones

Agreed. The horse has well and truly already bolted! And, the existing rules in the CAA's Air Navigation Order are more than sufficient. The message should be one of education, not more regulation.

 

[Wirezfree]

Call it "Big Brother" or enforced "Control" there are means to "Self Regulate" drone usage.
("Caveat this will not apply to users who never update drone f/w or software or hack ")

In the latest F/W there are the "non-mandatory UUID / Registration fields, the UUID will be from the drone.
Registration will probably issued by whoever manages any testing.

It will be very easy to implement a "Kill Switch"(No Fly) feature in the software, if it's not already there..??
The app only needs to interrogate some "registration" database to look for a "valid" UUID/Reg details.

Remember DJI(et al) will do whatever to appease local authorities, they don't want to jeopardise sales...

 

[geevee]

In Australia we have to register with the aviation authority. It was free, but I have an offical authorisation document and number. If the UK is going to implement a “real” licence it will be expensive, just to cover the increased bureaucratic needs.