I’ve had a search through the Q&A section and couldn’t see an answer to my question (apologies if I’ve missed anything). I have a DJI Mavic 4 Pro and wanted to know what the situation is with being able to fly over abandoned buildings/structures such as old windmills or cooling towers that are no longer in use etc (height restrictions depending)?
In addition, what, if any, advantages does a CofC have for this type of flying with a UK2 class drone?
I just don’t want to get anything wrong by misreading the revised guidelines.
Just because Good 2 Go hasn’t yet been updated means nothing! It only has UK0 marked Neo 2s on there after I shared an image of mine last week. In the past few days images of UK1 marked Air 3Ss have appeared too - which could very well be genuine. So although UK1 Air3Ss aren’t listed on Good 2 Go yet, it doesn’t mean they don’t exist. The logical implication is that newly manufactured Mavic 4 Pros may very well have a UK2 classification too.
The “you must not fly over uninvolved people” bit is why you can’t just fly it over a town in low-speed mode, so (abandoned or not) it’s up to you to decide if you’re certain there are no uninvolved people in your old windmills, etc. If you are, have at it.
Notice that in that category you need to stay away from buildings (whether they’re occupied or not), and there’s no get-out-clause of “unless said building looks really old”.
Regardless of the abandoned buildings part of your query, I’d say that if you’re flying a Mavic 4 Pro it is well worth your time and money to get yourself an A2 CofC (don’t forget to check on the discounts for Silver/Gold members). Not only does it open up your options for where you can fly, it will also help you understand the rules more (which is the main reason I took it).
Surely there is no practical difference in operations between a C2 and UK2 drone before the end of 2027. They are being treated as the same standard in the UK at the moment
A manufacturer may enable their customers to retrospectively class-mark their drone under the UK class-marking scheme. It is not the role of the CAA to oversee this process and is purely at the discretion of the manufacturer to undertake.
There’s been a whole lot of confusion around the new rules (despite them being almost the same as the old rules), and we’re now just 620 days away from things changing again. So, for me, even though there’s currently no difference between them, I’ll be avoiding blurring the lines and a C-class drone will stay a C-class drone until it’s got an official re-label… even if somebody else has the exact same model that rolled off the production line this month with a UK stamp.
