Drone law confusion

Questions & Answers
1

Hi

Getting confused with
It’s legal to fly over private property
Maintain 50 meter distance from buildings.

Today I launched from a public footpath but was close to private houses, I flew away from the houses towards a field.

The owners of the house came out and accused me of filming their house, I wasn’t but couldn’t convince them otherwise. They said they have me on CCTV and will go to the police.

I’m innocent on the filming private property, kept the footage.

Just not sure about if I launched legally.

Thanks for any advice.

1 Like
2

Hi @angela , it looks as though you’re quite new here :wave:t2:

Why not nip over to the Introductions page, and say hello properly and tell us a bit about yourself. :+1:t2:

3

Thank you I will - just very worried about the incident today.

4

What drone was you flying

5

Mavic Air (not sub 250)

6

Use this, it will tell you

3 Likes
7

Thank you - that is a really helpful tool.

Answer is
You can fly because:

Flying in this area >50m away from uninvolved persons is Open sub-category A2
You have the right weight of drone and the necessary A2 CofC to fly here

Your drone weighs 430g
You hold an A2 Certificate of Competency
You do not hold an Article 16 Operational Authorisation
You do not want to fly directly above uninvolved persons
You want to fly over 50 metres away from people
You want to fly in an industrial, commercial or residential area

However referencing https://register-drones.caa.co.uk/drone-code/the_drone_code.pdf

“Keep at least 150m away from residential,
recreational, commercial and industrial
sites
150m is the minimum distance. Be prepared to increase the
distance if you need to do that to fly safely.”

8

The 150m rule is for flying in the A3 sub category, so a drone over 250g and the pilot does not hold an A2 Certificate of Competence.

If you hold an A2 Certificate of Competence then you can fly around buildings with a drone under 2kg,

The drone code doesn’t describe the A2 CoC restrictions as it is intended for pilots without the cert if that makes sense

9

I took the 40 question test online so I think I’m Open A1 and A3 Basic, low-risk flying - Not Open A2.

10

So you haven’t got or taken the A2-CofC :thinking:

But you said

:person_shrugging:

11

If it was the free one that’s for your pilot ID, then yes you are A1 and A3, so you will need to be 150m from residential buildings as per the drone code

1 Like
12

Thanks Akey yes I did the free one, I’ve just confused it with A2 cert of competency, when I went to the the online tool.

Is this very serious?

13

Sounds like you may have got your flyer ID

Flyer ID is free.

A2 C of C is a course with an exam that you pay for. There are discounts with one company on G A D C to get this.

1 Like
14

Thanks Foley just looking into it now, sounds like it might be worth it.

15

If you have Airdata UAV (app), this records all flight data, so you should be able to prove retrospectively that you were flying within the regulations should that be necessary; certainly that the drone was facing away from the complainer’s house. I would not rely on the Police to be up to speed with all the regulations in any great detail!

Bring it on; their CCTV will prove that you were not filming them as well.

2 Likes
16

Thanks TheJohnster given I launched a few meters from a residential property and don’t have the A2 license I don’t think I was flying within regulations and this is the worrying bit.

1 Like
17

Nothing will come of it, but lesson learned

My advice would be to get your self some PL insurance (available here as a gold member)

Then either do your A2-CofC (we have discounts for this as well)

Or buy a smaller drone (also discounts available with us as a gold or silver member)

7 Likes
18

No one actually answered this part of angela’s question. If one has a sub 250g drone (or any drone really), does the owner of the land that has a public footpath running across it have the right to prevent a person from using said path as a TOAL site?

3 Likes
19

Honest mistake, like Sparky says nothing will come of it, and you came here looking for advice which is a good thing (IMHO).

Its a great and helpful community here (I’m still a relative newbie) with some great excuses to get out and fly either with one of the challenges or with members on a meetup.

2 Likes
20

Thank you everyone appreciate the advice and reassurance. Started looking into A2-CofC as the beginner licence is very restrictive. Everything is making much more sense now.

I sell stock video and would like to get something a bit more useful than fields. I do have PL insurance as I’m commercial flyer.

Still not sure about public footpaths either can’t find anything conclusive in online discussions.

Thanks again