Hi all new user here just purchased a DJI Mini2 what are the laws regarding flying over empty (no events on) over football stadiums? Ive read in a previous post something about getting a geo unlocked but does this apply to a sub 250g device too ?
All DJI drones will be equally restricted by their Geo Zone system,
You can check on the DJI Geo Zone layer of Drone Scene for any particular stadium you might be interested in.
But, outside of the DJI Geo Zone system, and depending on the circumstances, the UKās Drone Code will also probably render such a flight illegal.
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the UKās Drone Code will also probably render such a flight illegal.
Why would such a flight be illegal?
Obviously in use there would be crowds. But when emoty which Drone Code rule would be broken?
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Did I not say ādepending on circumstancesā?
Yes - I wasnāt aiming to disagree. Just curious what you specifically you were getting at.
Obviously any flight can be against the rules depending on circumstances.
The OP specified flying an MM2 over an empty stadium and (assuming itās not a NFZ) Iām curious what circumstances would make such a flight illegal?
As I say - not trying to disagee. I want to make sure I always fly legally and wondered if there are rules Iād missed.
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Depending on the stadium youāre likely to be out of VLOS pretty quickly
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I think the way to think about this one is: if this has gone wrong, how do I justify what I did?
Compliance with the separation limits in Open sub-category A1 (in this case thatās just avoiding crowds) is necessary but not sufficient to demonstrate the flight was conducted legally.
Article 241 of the ANO 2016:
A person must not recklessly or negligently cause or permit an aircraft to endanger any person or property.
The drone has lost power and vanished down below the stands and therefore the pilot (outside the stadium) has lost VLOS. There may or may not be some people inside who are now endangered. Is this ānegligentā?
Article 4 of the Implementing Regulations:
Operations shall be classified as UAS operations in the āopenā category only where the following requirements are met:
ā¦
the remote pilot ensures that the unmanned aircraft is kept at a safe distance from people and that it is not flown over assemblies of people;
How did the pilot ensure the drone remained at a āsafe distanceā from people at all times?
Or from UAS.OPEN.060:
During the flight, the remote pilot shall:
ā¦
(b) keep the unmanned aircraft in VLOS and maintain a thorough visual scan of the airspace surrounding the unmanned aircraft in order to avoid any risk of collision with any manned aircraft. The remote pilot shall discontinue the flight if the operation poses a risk to other aircraft, people, animals, environment or property
How did the pilot know when the situation changed and there became a risk to people, so that they could discontinue the flight if necessary?
These are over-riding obligations and flying in A1 doesnāt eliminate any of them. Itās not a ālicense to flyā. Ultimately, the pilot still has to make their own judgement on safety, and be ready to justify that if things go wrong.
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Orā¦
Article 666a - does just the mere thought of flying the planned operation make your arse squeak?
If so then donāt be daft.
My arse would be squeaking like a badly oiled conveyor belt in a squeaky toy factory just standing there going through pre-flight checks.
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Our local stadium, sadly lost to Chelsea yesterday, is always marked on dronescene with the standard This may raise security, privacy or safety concerns. On match days thereās an NFZ around the stadium but not on DJIās map so it would let you fly.
Some good answers for you to mull over but if itās empty, why not ask them and fly from inside?
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Wasnāt getting at anything.
Quite simple - without knowing any more info about the location and other aspects of the intended flight one cannot offer much more in the way of guidance.
.
Too easy for someone to respond āEmpty stadium? Yeah - go for it!ā ā¦ which could have all sorts of repercussions.
Like ā¦ getting a reputation for being one of the biggest drone dickheads on YouTube:
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Wow Kvetner that is the very stadium I have in mind!
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Wondered if it might be, from your username 
If you did fly there, please, no shoddy camerawork like that guy in the YouTube video!
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Wowā¦ that stadium is just down the road from me, I have scoped out a flight myself but deemed it too dangerous and simply just not worth it in my opinion I did find a drone code compliant take off and landing site for it and if I was going to do it, it was only going to be an up in the air 150m away from the actual stadium and just take a couple of photos wasnāt even planning on doing a video. But like what you stated above I planned out the flight and then couldnāt justify to myself why I was planning the flight so how would I justify my actions if it went wrong so I decided against the flight.
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I see from your profile you are north of the stadium. If itās a risk then I will not bother but some would argue the best time to have flew a drone over there was when Coventry are at home as the ground would surely be empty 
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Football doesnāt interest me in the slightest Iām a Blaze fan
Yep Iām an absolute novice but his youtube page says ānobody has footage like meā but even I can see in some of his vids the footage is totally washed out.
Its the Kanye music over it and his sausage fingered manoeuvres that I particularly enjoy.
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Agreed Covdrone was quiet specific - mini2
āregarding flying over empty (no events on) over football stadiums?ā
- NATS DroneAssist
Much better inside u donāt get if u donāt ask - what are those funny goalposts with no net.
This,
And this.
But mostly the rule that covers 99.9% of circumstances:
Donāt be a dick.
As my mother told me often - just because you can do something, doesnāt mean you should.
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