Pro Vancouver Island - A Hidden Gem

[adventurecampitelli]

There's a place on Vancouver Island that has tons of adventure. Parksville is not widely known, but if you get a chance to go you'll be blown away.

 

[Tentoes]

Looks like fun!

 

[Zbip57]

There's a place on Vancouver Island that has tons of adventure. Parksville is not widely known, but if you get a chance to go you'll be blown away.

Great video! I'm curious. How'd you get away with flying your drone off the bridge over the Englishman River Falls?

My wife attended a conference in Parksville and brought me along for the trip. I got to spend several days on my own finding interesting places to fly my Phantom. There are so many spectacular areas to explore here. Englishman River Falls Park, with its sparkling clear waters, is astoundingly beautiful.

This was nearly six years ago, before it became illegal to fly drones anywhere interesting like in Provincial Parks. I didn't bother anyone at the time. Nobody even noticed the drone, except the kids on the bridge at the end of the video. They didn't seem to mind. I was even contacted by a Park ranger more than a year later asking if they could use my footage.

The resort we stayed at in Parksville was on the same bay as Rathtrevor beach, with its amazing tidal flats. I made another flight with the Phantom around all the kids building huge sand castles. Again, back then nobody automatically assumed drones are only used by pedophiles to spy on kids. Everyone was friendly asking how much the drone costs, how far, how fast, where can they get one too? Of course, while distracted by all the questions, I once again forgot to press record. D'oh!

I went out the next morning after the tide had gone out again to film what remained of the sand castles.

Then we took a trip across to Tofino, which as shown in your other videos is also spectacular. There we went on a whale watching excursion. When checking in at the front desk I figured it couldn't hurt just to ask, but fully expected a stern and absolute, "NO!" So I was quite surprised when, after showing them my drone and politely asking whether I'd possibly be allowed to fly it from the ship, they said, "Wow, that's so cool. Nobody's ever asked us that before. You just need to check with the captain."

The captain also said, "Wow, that's cool." He said as long as I stay away from other boats and keep a safe distance from any whales, go for it! That was awesome, and my first time flying from a boat. The captain never told me that he wouldn't be waiting for me to land and would be constantly repositioning the boat to get ahead of the whales. That was rather challenging.

 

[adventurecampitelli]

Those are some cool shots! Ya there are so many rules when it comes to flying drones in Canada its difficult to know where and where not you can fly your drone. Thinking of getting the mavic mini2 so I don't have to care. The only places you shouldn't be able to fly is near airports and over cities. Parks makes no sense at all. Canada will sorely lose out on tourism going forward as the forward thinking countries remove their bans on drone flying seeing the benefit for the tourism industry. When down in Australia they were lifting some of their restrictions on flying drones.

 

[Zbip57]

Thinking of getting the mavic mini2 so I don't have to care.

I hear ya. I haven't flown my Phantom since the regs took effect, and bought a Mavic Mini instead. Loving that.

"Don't have to care" isn't totally accurate though. There still are many Flight Restricted zones that apply to ALL aircraft, including those under 250 grams. For example over the Parliament Buildings and Niagara Falls etc. But for the most part the Mini certainly does open up many more possibilities.

 

[Zbip57]

Canada will sorely lose out on tourism...

Anything over 250grams requires registration and a licence to fly. But you need to be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident to obtain either of those, or apply months in advance for a Special Flight Operations Certificate (SFOC), which Transport Canada has ceased processing for tourists. Sheesh.

The under 250gram Mini or Mini2 is definitely the answer for tourists, as long as you never do anything obviously stupid to offend anyone.

Overall the Canadian drone regs make a lot more sense than those of most other countries. One big difference between us and the USA, for example, is that we no longer have any distinction between recreational or commercial operations (ie. Part 107).

 

[Deleted member 77603]

Those are some cool shots! Ya there are so many rules when it comes to flying drones in Canada its difficult to know where and where not you can fly your drone. Thinking of getting the mavic mini2 so I don't have to care. The only places you shouldn't be able to fly is near airports and over cities. Parks makes no sense at all. Canada will sorely lose out on tourism going forward as the forward thinking countries remove their bans on drone flying seeing the benefit for the tourism industry. When down in Australia they were lifting some of their restrictions on flying drones.

I totally agree...

The issue, I assume, is people who would be hovering the drone above crowds at Lake Louise or take endless selfies etc. Myself, I don't fly when there are people around and would love to get video up around Lake O'Hara and Mount Assiniboine early in the morning.

 

[adventurecampitelli]

Looks like fun!

It really is

 

[GFields]

Another awesome video!

 

[adventurecampitelli]

Another awesome video!

Thank you!