I’m quite new to drone flying, had my DJI Mini 4 Pro for a couple of months and have been flying out of people’s way while I’ve practiced using all the functions.
Got my Operator and Flyer ID’s and thought insurance was a good idea just in case.
I’ve been asked by a local village to get footage of their carnival (on a voluntary basis) but I’m confused about the rules.
The CAA rules I read when getting my ID talked about being 50m away from people and not fly over them - easy.
It also then goes on to say not to fly over crowds. It doesn’t give any distance to be away from them, just don’t fly over them. I read this as making sure you are at least 50m.
Is this correct?
A bit of Google searching shows articles that mention being 150m away from crowds of 1000 people or more but this isn’t referenced in the CAA rules. Are these other rules out of date?
I’d really like to get some footage for them but I don’t want to break the rules and risk a fine or worse!
The rules on minimum distances to people are different for drones and model aircraft below 250g.
If you’re flying a drone or model aircraft that’s below 250g, you can fly closer to people than 50m and you can fly over them. You still can’t fly over crowds.
Remember, you must never put people in danger. Even small drones and model aircraft could injure people if you don’t fly them safely.
As can be found at various points on the Geeksvana YT channel in the last year, there has been some ‘further guidance’ issued by CAA to try and clarify what they define as a ‘crowd’ and it’s not encouraging.
According to their latest advice, even 2 tennis players within an open cage court would constitute a crowd in their opinion because apparently ‘they can’t run away from a falling drone in a confined space’ (despite spending the previous hour athletically running towards another fast(er) moving target in pursuit of tennis victory) !
This being able to see and easily move out of the way of a falling drone seems to be a capstone of what they consider enough pedestrian density to be considered a crowd, so we should err on the side of caution there and assume that even small groups of people could be considered crowds if the recommendations were strictly applied. But not overflying them is not the same as having to keep 50m away from them, and if my understanding is correct there is no obligation to do that <250g. You could reasonably fly say 20-30 m to the side of a crowd of people as long as you don’t directly overfly or worse still hover above them for any extended period of time.
Might be an idea to discuss with the carnival committee what sort of footage they are expecting. General aerial shots of the field and the parade can be done with zoom and the drone stood-off to the side of where the ‘crowds’ are without you actually overflying them, but of course attention will need to be paid to buildings, power lines, trees, &c; you’ll need to survey the route prior to flying.
The committee may have unrealistic expectations regarding battery run-times, VLOS, and the shooting angles (having seen professional drone work on tv), and will probably want you to capture the event at it’s most crowded and busy to show off how successful it is, which may raise drone code issues. You’ll probably need to be aware of the timetable, and that these sorts of events often run late, and they’ll need to be aware of your concerns. You’ll want to stand off and be up-wind of the balloon release, for example, and you won’t know which direction up-wind is until the day. In fact the whole enterprise is weather dependent and strong winds might make filming impossible anyway, something else they’ll need to be aware of.
That said, it sounds like a fun project anf you might make some potentially useful contacts.
This is my train of thought also - get info ahead of the event.
The carnival is next Saturday so I’m heading up there today to meet with the organisers and ask the sort of questions you have mentioned, thanks for giving some more things to ask and tell them about.
Some of my initial thoughts are finding. Out where the float vehicles will be staging from, if possible that should be a smaller group of people that I am able to get consent from so I could do a few closer and interesting passes or shots. Then I can back off and film the parade from a distance. I’m being shown the route today, it’s a small village so I should easily be able to stay with the parade.
They have activities on the village green so I’m hoping I can get some of this from around the edges without being over any crowd. I’m thinking maybe a fun hyperlapse as well.
It’s the first thing I’ve ever been asked to do so I’m nervous but excited at the same time.
Be aware that this would probably be considered a commercial shoot, so your recreational insurance may not cover you. GADC public liability cover is also just for recreational purposes.
I was advised, admittedly by Cover drone, that I wouldn’t be covered for voluntary work in my local village.
Recently did a shoot arranged at the local gliding club, and took out a month’s commercial policy with Cover drone. They do a day, a week or a month. Felt it was safer, although the craft were on the ground, because of the value of the craft…
I was told that if someone MIGHT have been paid to do the job, it could be classed as commercial. …. as this is clearly not black and white I get a days commercial cover, from Coverdrone for about £10
