CAA Regs - indoor flying

Drone News
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When watching last nights @Mads-Tech live stream, towards the end (1h 04m 32s) there was a conversation around a recent change to the rules, relating to indoor drone flights (enclosed areas)

Ian advised that the CAA had received an instruction to implement this change, however the CAA website has still not been updated to reflect this request.

The current regs state that flights in enclosed places are exempt.

Apparently, it is believed this change has been put in place, so in the event of an incident happening involving the flight of a drone in an enclosed area, then the pilot would be able to be prosecuted by the police. :scream:

Which sort of makes sense, because there seem to be more and more incidents of idiots flying drones at Concerts and other large gatherings of people. :flushed_face:

As always, there are a few idiots that chose to spoil it for us law abiding pilots. :enraged_face:

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Whilst a micro drone / whoop weighs virtually nothing (sub 50g), if one were to hit a person in the face (specifically an eye) the potential injury could be life changing for the individual (loss of sight) and no one would want that to happen to one of their loved ones and themselves.

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What’s the gist of the change, Jason?

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And does the gist come in to effect on 1st April :thinking:

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I don’t mean to make light of the situation but there are far more dangers and risks at home that are unregulated by CAA (or any other authority for that matter).

I’d assumed this was a windup when I replied to your first post.

Please tell me CAA regulating the air inside my gaff is a windup :grimacing:

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Ladders, for example :flushed_face:

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Feel free to watch Madstech Live Stream that was broadcast on Sunday 29th March, fast forward to 1h 04m 32s and you’ll be able to gather more information.

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TLDW; Geeksvana has done another clickbait based on 24 words he ‘uncovered’ in 2019/947.

Think I’ll fire a quick email over to the CAA in the morning and assume nothing has changed until they confirm otherwise :wink:

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Right now there is no rules for them to specifically Inforce however the very fact they have added a section for covered areas is concerning but not a total surprise to me.

My suspicion is this actually relates to things like stadiums and events where we have seen all sorts of stillyness however it’s not clear.

regardless there is no actual rule today so it’s carry on as normal.

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Thanks Ian.

Your response in this thread will stop the micky taking.

:+1:t2:

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I imagine it is to be a code of practice aimed at those operating drones in enclosed public spaces, rather than your own living room. At home, who’s going to report you? Your other half? The dog?

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I think mine would if he had the ability to communicate it - he absolutely hates any of my drones :winking_face_with_tongue::man_shrugging:t2::grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

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Same here, both my Pugs hate drones. Got to the stage I don’t even have to turn them on, just the sight of them is enough. They’d definitely shop me :grin:

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CAA = Canine Anti Aviation? :winking_face_with_tongue:

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I watched the madtech stream(v interesting btw) and saw the segment of a tiny cinewoop buzzing around an airport lounge. My initial thought was “what a bunch of idiots” totally inappropriate place to fly, if you are bored waiting for a plane read a book..
Yes, the drone might be small and risk low but it’s very disruptive to the public in a place they can’t really move from.

So IF that’s the use case (flying inside with lots of uninvolved families) that’s been banned I’m all for it.

One of the impressions that I think is harming the hobby is the one that drone fliers fly drones with scant regard for what’s around them, doing very little risk assessment or the assumption that their enjoyment trumps that of others. It’s incorrect ofc, but doing things like that do nothing to help disprove that.

Time and a place and all that.

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It will be interesting to see how these regs also impact autonomous indoor drones in warehouses

Granted some of these indoor “drones” don’t fly as such but there seems to be some that to for what ever reason.

https://dronedj.com/2026/03/25/corvus-one-warehouse-inventory-drone/

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I’m assuming if they are in warehouses there wont be any uninvolved people and would have the full safety briefing.

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Here’s my understanding of this situation. It’s in an order I understand it so try to follow as best you can and if you have any questions I will try my best to clear anything up.

Article 2 of Regulation 2019/947 deals with definitions. It’s just a dictionary, per sĂ©, of what the regulator can use in its basis to help regular people understand what is being referenced.

What’s really handy here is it says itself what the document is based upon: art. 2 Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation, the definitions in Regulation (EU) 2018/1139 apply.

You can also find the same in the S.I.

The Secretary of State makes these Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by Article 57, paragraph 1 of Article 58 and paragraph 3(a) of Article 127 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1139 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 July 2018 on common rules in the field of civil aviation.

Importantly, Regulation 2018/1139 governs aviation, this is very important because it does not have the scope for anything that’s “indoors”. It is quite literally airspace safety. This means nothing in 2019/947 relates to flying a drone indoors. Or it didn’t until the above S.I. was created back in October 2025.

Regarding the subject article: Article 2A Scope (operations in an enclosed area)

I believe the CAA are basically just closing a grey area. Indoor flight is not governed, but, the safety of people around sUAS is something the CAA are going to have a vested interest in. Essentially, if you bounce your drone off someone’s head doing a warehouse fly through, the CAA is now being explicit in their interest of such matters.

But
this goes deeper.

Here’s a paragraph right at the end of the S.I.

Article 2 is amended so that UAS with a maximum take-off mass (“MTOM”) of less than 100g and UAS which are designed to be exclusively operated in areas which are wholly or mainly enclosed are excluded from the scope of the Regulation.

Could it be
that this Article was actually only supposed to consider a working environment where (for example) a caged or micro drone would be flying about, potentially around uninvolved people, in a commercial setting? Like when doing checks in pipework. Has it inadvertently crept into an area it shouldn’t by not further emphasising what it does, and does not cover in regards to flying in the Open Category? Purely speculation but a nice outcome if I’m right.

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The CAA’s powers cover airspace. You end up with a situation where the rules technically apply, though enforcing them indoors is very murky.

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Especially if the pilot is flying with the lights turned off. :scream::scream:

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

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