A quick video I threw together from a visit earlier this month to family in Dorset.
It’s a lovely bit of coastline, and the early morning allowed for some nice flying.
Briefly seen near the end is Highcliffe Castle, here’s the obligatory blurb from Wiki:
Highcliffe Castle, situated on the cliffs at Highcliffe, Dorset, was built between 1831 and 1835 by Charles Stuart, 1st Baron Stuart de Rothesay in a Gothic Revival style near the site of High Cliff House, a Georgian Mansion designed for the 3rd Earl of Bute (a founder of Kew Gardens) with the gardens laid out by Capability Brown.
Just a thought, as I live in Highcliffe. The village of Highcliffe, the castle and surrounding areas are within the restricted flying zone as its within 3 miles of Hurn Airport. I would love to take shots similar to you but due to the restrictions in place, I am unable to do so.
Were you able to get authorisation to fly within this area? I am curious.
But that’s only Class D Airspace … and, other than we should be aware of it, it has no direct restriction on drone flying up to 400ft agl, and - most significantly for both ourselves and the poor ATC guys at Hurn - no permission need be sought.
I used dronescene to check the area before visiting. Initially it did look like there’s restrictions, but it seems the only layer that includes this is the Class D restrictions. As per Ian’s comprehensive video linked above, this layer isn’t required for drone flights.
So I checked with NATS and that was clear
There were no alerts or warnings on take off, so all good.
As a newbie, to decipher these restrictive is confusing, or is it me? I just want to make sure that when I start flying my drone that I am 100% correct with what I am doing, so if I am challenged, I know that I the correct information in hand to show and prove it. I just wish there was an app that can be used that is simple and just says yes or no to flying and not as in this case in between.
@AndyD DS gives you pretty much all you need to determine the flight to be a goer or not. Like Chris says turn off Class D (I actually leave it on purely for information but turn it off once I get to the location of my intended flight).
This is my workflow for what it’s worth.
Check the FRZ’s (Turn off Class D after initial check). This doesn’t necessarily preclude you from flying as you can use the Contact numbers of ATC’s etc, if available, to ask permission to fly.
Check the SSSi and use Reference to see what the protection is for.
Check for NOTAMS
If National Trust is involved I check distance from nearest TOAL point outside their perimeter using the measuring tool (or sneaky areas to TOAL ).
If all is okay above I use the local authority tool to identify the area for the corresponding Freedom of Information (FOI) request made by Simon Hawkins or anyone else that have requested UAV Flight policies and/or bylaws. I respect their Policies… and duly ignore them but I do follow Bylaw’s(ish).
Check out other members entries for any additional information that are often extremely useful; they have been invaluable to me!
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