I’m trying to figure out if I can fly a drone at the place called Llansteffan, south Wales. According to Drone Scene I can fly on the foreshore but I want to fly slightly further inland (about half a mile). Both the allowable foreshore area and the area where I want to fly are in a ‘Danger Area’, but if you click on the area at the following link you’ll see the area and what the text says:
note that it’s not in the Flight Restricted Zone category although the Summary does state: “Red zones are regulated high-risk areas and operation of your drone may be hazardous or prohibited.”
Which is rather generic and lacks specifics.
The RAF sometimes do some exercises in the general area and the Pembrey area has the Pendine weapons range some miles away, zoom out on the map to see the more obviously heavily restricted area.
So I’m wondering how I can find out for certain whether drone flying is permitted or not, perhaps at certain times of the day or week for example.
Thanks
The airspace is closed during certain times of the day during the week.
Open at weekends for you to fly.
Intermittent Airspace
This scheduled airspace is only active: On Mondays between 09:00 (UTC) and 16:00 (UTC), valid all year. On Tuesdays between 09:00 (UTC) and 16:00 (UTC), valid all year. On Wednesdays between 09:00 (UTC) and 16:00 (UTC), valid all year. On Thursdays between 09:00 (UTC) and 16:00 (UTC), valid all year. On Fridays between 09:00 (UTC) and 14:00 (UTC), valid all year. On Mondays between 08:00 (UTC) and 16:00 (UTC), valid all year. On Tuesdays between 08:00 (UTC) and 16:00 (UTC), valid all year. On Wednesdays between 08:00 (UTC) and 16:00 (UTC), valid all year. On Thursdays between 08:00 (UTC) and 16:00 (UTC), valid all year. On Fridays between 08:00 (UTC) and 13:00 (UTC), valid all year.
Thanks for the replies, so basically I can fly a drone before 8 AM and after 4 PM weekdays and any time of the day at weekends (and presumably public holidays too)?
If so that’s excellent news, I can now look into buying a drone.
I wouldn’t assume, it’s the mother of all f ups! I doubt the military observe bank holidays.
Stick to what the notice says.
This suggest that you live in the area. Flying a drone repeatedly in the same place can become quite boring, so I wouldn’t use any inability to fly in your “back garden” as a reason not to buy a drone.
I live close to the centre of an FRZ, but even if that FRZ didn’t exist there wouldn’t really be any locations within it that I’d want to fly more than a couple of times, max.
Also - if this is your “back garden” … why not contact Pembrey and explain that you may be flying close to their area, and also may want to fly inside the edge of one of their areas occasionally, and would like to know who to contact, and how, and the amount of notice they’d need.
You may find them very accommodating. Remember, some of these areas were set up before drones and were to prevent light aircraft entering. The fact that they go down to the surface would have been to prevent light aircraft going beneath them.
Chances are, a drone always being below 400ft at the edge of their areas is quite probably of little significance to them.
Just may be worth opening a dialogue with them. Most ATC would rather that than people chancing it without making contact. So it can benefit both parties.
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@firstadekit - Good point, duly noted regarding not assuming about public holidays.
@OzoneVibe - some great suggestions there, many thanks for the tips.
Being able to fly after 4pm only (weekdays) is fine, plus all day weekends of course.
BTW, is it worth keeping an eye on NOTAMs?
You should always check before you fly anywhere even if it’s somewhere you’ve flown umpteen times before in the past. You never know what might be going on. From her Maj taking a flight, A political party having a conference, the red arrows doing a display, other drone users in the area etc etc etc etc.
Just load Dronescene before you take off (or leave for wherever it is you’re going)
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Agree with all comments so far. What you may actually find though is that you are unable to fly in there as your drone will stop itself as DJI prevent their drones flying into restricted areas anyway. I have had this a few times. You try to fly near or into and drone just stops. What you may also find is that if you fly into it and lose signal, and being in restricted area that your drone may not return to home. So in my opinion is a bit risky.
I had a particular job to do and was in a FRZ (red Zone) and I simply sent email to the RAF control tower with the 6 figure grid reference, radius distance of flight, (example 500ft), maximum height etc…asking them for permission. Then they emailed back saying all was ok.
You can then request an unlocking license code through dji, sending them the permission email. They will then send you unlocking license for that area. Simply go into Safety section on app while drone is on, goto unlock GEO Zone, enter license etc. follow steps and then drone will be fine to fly.
Also if you are ever reported to police or even police turn up, you can show you have full permissions and can show them proof. I always save these documents onto a file on my ipad just in case.