Picked up a Dji mini pro 3 last week and as yet (due to weather mainly and making sure I’m comfortable with the operation) not been up in the air. Looking to get out over the weekend when I find a spot that seems suitable or I can be sure of no restrictions.
Naively thought with a 249g drone I would be able put it up in the local park at a quiet time for some practice but seems there may be restrictions on that if I am reading it right.
Seems YouTubers lob them up over industrial areas without a care in the world but finding sensible/suitable areas to practice maybe somewhat trickier unless Iv misunderstood.
Any advice, input on starting out, great places to go I am all ears.
Looking forward to seeing your contributions and content.
Have you seen our members map? (Click the burger-menu in the top right) You may find some pilots living near you. Feel free to add yourself to the members map too
We’re a well established club with many knowledgeable members so it’s very likely that any issues you come across will have been discussed here before. Our discussion forum has very powerful search features which should help you find what you need but if you get stuck you can post a new question in the #questions-and-answers category.
Looking for recommendations of places to fly? Check out our interactive map on Drone Scene - be sure to log in to gain access to the full suite of features and map layers:
And please feel free to add locations of your own too.
Our Associates are able to enjoy a lot of great services for free but our Members are eligible for a whole lot more! You can find all the details about our Membership Benefits on our FAQ
Straight off the bat what makes you think your local park or other areas have UAV restrictions in place? I can pretty much guaruntee they don’t for a multitude of different reasons it would take too long to explain now. There are few threads on here that cover them.
Take it over your local park, assuming it’s a large one, find somewhere away from people, tree, buildings and pylons etc and just put it up in the air. Spend time just going up and down, back and forth, circles etc to get used to the controls and the DJI Fly app. If you are or have been a consol gamer you’ll take to it like a duck to water as you’ve already got the hand/eye/movement co-ordination.
YouTube is a great resourse for beginner videos that can help greatly in understanding everything and here at Grey Arrows is a great place to get all your questions answered.
Don’t get over ambitious. Just practice reasonably close to you keeping it well within VLOS (visual line of sight) and if you feel overly anxious at all just take your thumbs off the sticks and let the bird just hover where it is while you regain yourself. It won’t go anywhere.
As you say some YouTubers just lob them up anywhere they please. They do this because basically with a sub 249g drone you can. Rightly or wrongly, it’s that simple. There are very few restrictions on where you can fly and they are all made clear in apps such as the Fly Safe, Altitude Angel or indeed on Grey Arrows Dronescene as mentioned by DeanoG60. Basic rule of thumb is if it’s publically owned and administered land you are free to take off and land but of course always use your common sense with regard to people and animals.
Don’t be put off by anyone that may approach you. 99% of the public I’ve encountered while flying have been inquisative rather than confrontational.
Have fun and take it slow to start. The t’internet is littered with stories of beginner operators that have gone all gung ho out of the box and then blamed the drone when it’s smashed into the side of a 300 year old oak tree.
Thanks for the response mate. I have been watching loads of YT videos and taking as much in as possible. The park side came from some threads on Google about bye-laws in Leicestershire parks so it confused me somewhat.
I had planned to go to our local park or common (Burbage Common) as there is lots of space but again there were these bye-law threads so it put me off.
I want to be responsible and not get into any hassle first time out. The common is public access land so I’m just trying to establish if it makes any difference. Am I right in thinking of there are restrictions of any kind drone assist should tell you?
I am going to venture out today as the going looks good weather wise here so we will see if we encounter any problems with people.
As for taking it easy and building confidence that’s my exact intention. I want to feel in total control before trying anything to daring. More really so if anything starts to go wrong I know what to do. I can imagine the manufacturers get the blame for incompetence no end. I have a feeling there will be more to flying these things than meets the eye.
Worth looking through these. Simon asked most - if not all - councils about their drone bye laws through freedom of information requests. Most of the restrictions turn out to be bluster, not backed up by any actual legal restrictions. This is the Leicestershire-related responses, but if you’re travelling you can search for other locations.
I’m not an expert on the subject, but I would suggest that the Leicestershire City Council one can be summarised as ‘No bye laws and we don’t understand the CAA rules’ so you can do anything the CAA regs allow you to do.
I was in your position 12 months ago … and you are doing the right thing.
It’s scary at first, but it won’t be long before you realise you are instinctively controlling the drone, and are no longer stressed over it.
Good luck
I checked and they do indeed have a bylaw and included it in a FOI request made by Simon of the area the OP is concerned about. I didn’t however read the detail of said bylaw.
That’s the one I saw too. Well I’ve been out to the common and other than my handset saying I have no SD card when I do so couldn’t record all went well. Some dodgy looks by some of the dog walkers but all was fine. I think if anyone stops me in future I will ask them to explain the bye-law and if needed cease flying.
Thanks for the kind words. I just want to enjoy it without getting into arguments with the local busy bodies of the area who don’t understand anything about it.
Not far from me mate. I was actually going to go to Croft quarry after seeing your post. If your ever about let me know be good to meet someone who knows what they are doing .
.