Can a line of dense trees be classed as separation

:thinking:
Can i assume a dense line of trees would count as safe seperation when considering the 50m from people

Trees make no difference to the distance. 50 metres is measured horizontally across the ground.


The line of dense trees might prevent you from having Visual Line of Sight to your drone.

I see an interview with the caa the other week about this ( trees as seperation ) as the OP says in the post above the rules still apply, you may not know who or what is on the other side of the trees with obscured VLOS which is obviously a hazard.

I know what the rules say, my intention is keeping to one side of the trees away from whatever is on the other side and obviously with vlos at all times, my question is can the tree line be classed as i natural safe barrier for whatever is the other side aslong as the arcraft is keept within it.
For istance if im in open countryside with a line of dense trees in front of me and cant see the other side of trees as long as the aircraft is flown this side of said trees can i assume its a barrier to whatevwe or whoever is the otherside

I think that is a ‘thing’ for the FAA in the US, but I don’t think it’s relevant here.
As far as I’m aware, the restriction is 50m, irrespective of whether there is a physical barrier or not.

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:point_up:This

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As the ‘bubble’ would swallow the trees :person_shrugging:

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“I know what the rules say”

Sorry for being very blunt, but, you obviously don’t.

“my question is can the tree line be classed as a natural safe barrier for whatever is on the other side”

No, it can’t

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Thanks for your bluntness, it is uncalled for and i take offence, i do know the rules, the tree line scenario is not mentioned anywhere in the caa drone rules and i think is a valid topic of discussion so you know what you can do with your know all attitude

Its just hypothetical but if the tree line is 25m high and i set my max altitude at 20m then surely there is no danger to the other side of trees

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“Thanks for your bluntness, it is uncalled for and i take offence, i do know the rules”

Cool :sunglasses: . Life wouldn’t be life if we all got along

You fly however you want Skidoo, none of us here are the drone police, and none of us will attempt to be so. You asked a question on an open forum, you got some answers.
ps i don’t know all the answers, was just giving my opinion, which you asked for. But yeah, I can have an attitude :+1:

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The treeline scenario doesn’t exist because…it doesn’t exist. It’s not in the rules because… well you see where I might be going eh?
50mtrs is 50mtrs. Regardless of obstacles between you and other people. So go back and read the rules, have a look for where it says you can use a line of trees as seperation, you wont find it. And yes, it is of course a valid topic for discussion, but that’s not how you phrased your original question

I beg your forgiveness in my utter ignorance your worship :pray:

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As has already been said, there is no mention of anything being able to be used as a ‘natural safe barrier’ within the CAA Drone code, so although it could be argued that the trees would make the flight safe for people on the other side of the trees, it would still not be legal in the eyes of the CAA to fly close than 50m to uninvolved people - unless you are flying a sub 250gm drone or have an A2CofC and your drone is sub 500gm.

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I do get where you are coming from, there wouldn’t be any danger, but you wouldn’t be flying legally unless you had a sub 250gm drone as Suzanne said below.

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It’s not included in the rules as the rules are to mitigate injury in case of an accident.
So your drone develops a fault, rises to 60m flies over the trees, and then drops on top of the people on the other side of the trees, injurying them. So, no, it wouldn’t count as it’s still within the 50m bubble.
Now spread nets over the top and sides like an avery, then as the drone can’t escape, it would fall within the interior flight rules wich the CAA don’t regulate, and falls under H&S legislation.

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