EASA and the UK!

I’d argue it probably was mostly in line of sight given the crappy distances you can actually fly a mini in built up areas (or so my friend told me)

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I like how he helpfully shares his flier and operator ID below each post on YouTube. I now know what I’d be labelling my Mini 2 with should I ever get one and fly in these areas :wink:

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Quick look on NATS suggests its in restricted airspace but obviously local ATC permission would cover that. There is a prison too - not sure how you gain permission to fly in such a zone. That aside, for a MIni 2 it all looks legal to me - but not sure I’d fly it though :man_shrugging:

This one is a mini, although he does have some mini 2 stuff on his channel too

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One thing we’re all assuming is that the CAA won’t use their powers under the new regs to declare whole urban areas off limits “for safety, security, privacy or environmental reasons”, as they are allowed to under Article 15 of the IR. Hopefully there won’t be so much bad press about Minis zooming down high streets that they come under pressure to do so.

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Can you explain what you mean by “NATS suggests its in restricted airspace”?

I can see the circular manchester zone with the following description on dronescene:
Restricted Area
The flight of aircraft within this area is restricted in accordance with certain specified conditions. Notes attached to this area provide additional information.

So what are these restrictions? Where do we find them?

I ask because I’m trying to understand the situation in London and there’s a similar zone covering London out to Zone 2 (R160).

Here’s the thread discussing the London zone:

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There aren’t any meaningful zonal restrictions on drone flights in Manchester that I’ve found, indeed I flew within the city earlier this evening, although following the drone code of course!

I have exactly the same issues as yourself - the NATS app indicates a restricted area but fails to provide any detail with regard to the restriction :man_shrugging:

I’ve had a look on SkyDemon and the circular restricted area (EGR319) says “Applies to helicopters only” - same as the EGR160 in London.

So apart from the very small No Fly Zone over Strangeways prison I can’t see any drone restricted areas.

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SkyDemon is a bit too pricey for me I’m afraid. Sounds like good news. Just wish NATS would give the same level of detail rather than just indicate a restricted area. As always - its down to money :man_shrugging:

Agreed especially for what we would use it for. The 30 day free trial is worth downloading.
It saved my bacon the other week. I was cussing as it looked like a total no fly zone had been implemented until I read the NOTAC. It was a royal flight, so it was just a temporary restriction from the ground up.

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Was planning to keep the 30 day free trial for a future event where I absolutely need to know the detail of the restriction for somewhere I may need to fly - who knows, I may drop a Xmas present hint to SWMBO :thinking: :thinking: :joy:

Or try a temporary email address :wink:

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Just found SkyDemon Lite on the Apple App store - it appears to give the info needed and its FOC. In the middle of experimenting with it now :+1: :+1: :+1:

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Nice one :+1: I’m just doing the same. Looking good :grinning:

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I find SkyDemon Lite on the PC easier to use.
Unfortunately it is Windows and Internet Explorer only

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Latest revision is 292 pages, easy access my arse!

:man_facepalming:

Bits that may actually be useful:

  • Diagram on page 143: note that the 120m distance is now from the surface of the earth at any angle (not just vertically as in the current UK ANO): helpful if you’re flying near a cliff (but only if you are some kind of bonkers stickler for the rules)
  • Er, that’s probably it

So I was just watching one of the YouTubers looking at the ‘bad’ aspects of the Mini 2.

(1) What DJI Don’t Tell You about DJI Mini 2 - YouTube

He stated that he has ‘discovered’ that it does not actually fall under the C0 category of drone.

This surprised me as it for all the discussions and reading this doesn’t seem to be the case.

However I decided to do some digging and I found this comment on the DJI Forum site.

‘As a potential first drone buyer form Europe I did a fair bit of research and from what I have gathered it is a really bad time to buy basically any current drone model on the market, without a clear classification under the new regulations. The mavic mini’s weight of 249g is now completely irrelevant as it’s got a camera, and weight categories are calculated from maximal take-off weight not the actual weight of the drone at the time of a take-off (ridiculous for regulations that pride themselves on being purely risk-based). So the Mini fits in the below 500g maximal take off weight category and a very radical weight savings used on the mini have basically been for nothing, unless you are into hiking and need to save every gram.’

New EU UAS Regulation. | DJI FORUM

So after reading this I’m questioning the validity of our theory that it is indeed a C0.

You can see from the categories below that it states <250g MTOM (Not sure if this is in the latest version).

MTOM is the Maximum Take Off Mass. This is not necessarily the actual weight of the drone.

Am I missing something here? Please say yes. :slight_smile: