Drone and Model Aircraft Code: updated for 2021

Legal & Privacy
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My own take on interpretation of the rules comes down to whether or not I could HONESTLY defend my actions in a court of law should some unfortunate event take place. If I can’t convince myself I could successfully defend my case - I wouldn’t make the flight.
CAA regulations are always open to interpretation. I have spent all my working life (now retired) in the aero industry with responsibility for releasing A/C into pubic service. Every time I had to make a decision of interpretation I would use the above line of thinking and never had any problems.

At the end of the day, only one person is responsible for the flight - the UAS pilot. If you have a SIGNIFICANT doubt - don’t do it, fly elsewhere.

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Excactly; we need some basis to ensure the entire coastline isn’t excluded and all open countryside that may be used by recreational walkers… So that makes good sesne cheers.

Yes, especially if I’m that bloke on the internet… :rofl:
cheers again
Ian

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Shameless plug Ian :rofl:. Given the new Aircraft Code had been thinking of getting a Mini 2 to supplement my Mavic 2 Pro. Your clear explanation of the rules and where you can fly the Mini 2 makes it more likely that I will buy one. But do I really need another drone?

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My wife just asked me the same question :joy:

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I would also say, don’t forget Article 241 that comes out of CAP 393, which relates to flying anything manned or unmanned.

If something hits the fan, there’s a bloody good chance the courts will more than likely fall back on 241…

“A person must not recklessly or negligently cause or permit an aircraft to endanger any person or property”…

Irrespective of the separation distances, or if you can fly over uninvolved people or not, always keep in mind 241…

If you’ve got a few hundred or thousand pounds worth of gear you’re worried will turn in to an expensive paperweight you do have some options:

Join an organisation such as FPVUK for £19.99 per year, fly under Article 16, ensuring you follow the guidance, risk assessment etc…etc… plus you can fly 30m (recreation only)

Or pay £99 and do the A2 CofC.

Simples :+1::+1::+1:

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The secret is to just get it, then, in 6 months time when she spots it and asks ‘when did you get that?’, you can say, ‘oh the new drone, I’ve had it for a while now’. But, with a joint bank account, it’s harder to bluff the ‘how much was it?’ question. :frowning_face:

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#fail

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I had a ‘friend’ who bought a joint something expensive with his paypal account.
It was funded by their joint account.
When he returned the item it was refunded to his paypal account.
He may have then used that a few weeks later to buy his own toys.

He also may buy small things on Amazon and have them returned and refunded to a gift card.

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It’s a partnership, what’s mine is ‘ours’ what’s ‘hers’ is her own.

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Thoroughly educational explanation @ianinlondon video. I learnt all I think of what I need.to know.

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Hi everyone, I’m new to drone photography as a hobby, and I am considering a limited flight (with a DJI mini 2) at a location in central London. I am doing my very best to understand the new 2021 rules and I have zero interest in breaking them, so I want to be certain my understanding is correct before I make any decisions. If anyone more experienced is able to check my thoughts below, and let me know if they agree or disagree, that would be of fantastic help.

Background assumptions are as follows (again, please do correct me if any of this is wrong - I do not profess to be an expert but I have spent quite some time reading through the rules, the new “drone code” and the associated guidance). The mini 2 is sub-250g flying weight and currently sold in a “legacy” configuration without MTOM specified, so is I understand treated as a C0 craft. I would be operating an “open” category flight - within VLOS, sub 120m altitude etc. I understand this would clear me for all sub-categories of open flight - A1, A2 and A3. Obviously one of the main issues in London will be ensuring I avoid overflying crowds, which would breach those sub-categories, but I would be extremely vigilant about this, and it is made somewhat easier during lockdown (the area in question is not always busy and I am confident I could find a time when there would not be significant volumes of people in the immediate area). I will be registered - technically, for a flight on the above basis, I believe I only need the “operator ID” and not the “flyer ID”, though I am likely to have both anyway.

I have checked various sources and maps on airspace restrictions and I find the area I want to operate in is covered by London’s “specified area” according to the (official) NATS / Altitude Angel data. My understanding is that this is not a “no-fly zone” or hard restriction area, and simply requires caution as it is within London. I will most likely triple-check this point with NATS myself but would appreciate any input from anybody more experienced.

Two other questions are at the front of my mind - firstly, does it make any difference that I would be very close to the edge of one of the stricter “no fly zones” - for me the zone in question is “R158” (City of London). I would obviously be careful to keep away from the border of this zone, but I worry that as I would be very close I cannot be completely sure I won’t end up anywhere near it. Is it acceptable just to be very vigilant and avoid any risk of windy conditions leading to unintentional straying? I’m hoping it is as simple as you are either “in” or “out” of the zone, and even 1m “out” is ok.

Secondly, I can also see that I would be in the “Controlled Traffic Region” for City of London airport (which extends over a large chunk of Central / East London), but I would not be anywhere near the relevant “FRZ” (the airport’s immediate area) - I understand this is ok, but again happy to be corrected.

In addition to the above from the official NATS / Altitude Angel maps, I have checked DJI’s interactive map (obviously not the authoritative source) and it seems to indicate that I would be able to take-off where I want to.

Thanks for reading through all this if you have done so! Any helpful discussion welcome.

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As you say, they are totally different things.

The GVC is just a qualification - on its own it doesn’t allow you to do anything. However, it does allow you to apply to the CAA for an Operational Authorisation.

That OA is currently pretty much the same as a PfCO. It lets you do whatever the OA says. Flying under an OA is the same thing as flying in the Specific category. You can’t be flying in Open and Specific at the same time.

You can of course fly in Specific without the GVC: the model flying associations OA is an example of this.

The whole point of Specific is to let you do things that Open doesn’t allow. So, for example, you will never be able to fly a 5kg drone in a residential area under Open, whether or not you have an A2 CofC. You’ll never be able to fly a 2kg drone above anyone’s head in Open. But you can in Specific if your OA covers it - the model flying association OA, for example, allows the second of those.

So if you got a GVC and OA today, the main use is to fly larger drones where Open doesn’t permit them, or to fly closer to people. In 2 years’ time, the big advantage of that will be to be able to do things other than Open A3 with legacy drones >250g, including your example of the Mavic Air.

How could a GVC/OA help you today with your Mavic Air? Since the MA in A1 transitional can be flown anywhere except overhead, the only advantage for most people would be to fly overhead. There could be more specialised uses such as extended VLOS or flying above 400ft as well.

A better example is the MA2, which is too heavy for A1 Transitional. With an A2 CofC you can fly that in a residential area but must stay 50m horizontally from uninvolved people. With a GVC/OA you might be able to reduce that 50m to something much smaller or even fly overhead.

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Another great video from @ianinlondon:

https://youtu.be/_7_5GF182kQ

I can see me just pasting that repeatedly in some of the more negative Facebook threads!

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Brilliant, Fantastic and extremely helpful.

Your video input is very welcome.

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@kvetner I figured we needed to highlight the positives in the new rules, and I genuinely see some positives in them, I just still get annoyed at the way we’ve all been shafted with legacy before we can even buy a new classified model… But hey ho… :slight_smile:

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Great video @ianinlondon. :+1::sunglasses:

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Another great video Ian @ianinlondon
To put it simply though (for us simple people) am I right in thinking that as my Zoom comes in A3, in order to fly in A2 I either :

  1. Have to take A2 CofC test OR
  2. Be a member of either BMFA or FPVUK (which I am)
    Cheers and keep up the good work!
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@rafter see if the diagrams in this previous post make sense to you, they show the differences between what you can do in A2, A3 and under the BMFA/FPVUK OA:

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@kvetner Thanks for the reply :+1:

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@ianinlondon I enjoyed watching the video, very informative - thank heavens for generated captions :+1: - and answered a few questions that I wanted answering!

Thanks for your effort in compiling these videos.

I look forward to seeing more of your videos.

I’m halfway through my A2 CofC course as I have a ‘legacy’ Mavic Air 2.

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