Hello everybody, my name’s Chris and I have joined GADC today, at the kind invitation of PingSpike (many thanks Mr Spike!).
I have a Mavic Pro, as well as a Hubsan H501S. I live uncomfortably close to Heathrow Airport, so have to make sure there are no 747’s in the area when I fly.
We have a large field nearby which was good for getting to know how to fly the drone, and a large National Trust park nearby which I was recently evicted from. I’m looking to take it further afield at weekends - anyone living close to me?
Welcome to GADC Chris, very good to have you with us. I’m also a West Londoner, well Surrey, but also very close to Heathrow (6 miles).
Would love to know where the field is you found and what National Trust park you got evicted from. How did this happen? I also have some NT land near me with no buildings and minimal public use. Was thinking about flying my drones there as there doesn’t seem to be any supervision of it. Did you have the same experience?
Living in this part of the world is not easy if you’re a drone pilot. Always trying to find places literally off the radar to fly.
Hello Londroner, thanks for your reply.
The field is Sutton Playing Field in Heston, close to my house. It’s surrounded by houses, but is big enough to fly in without disturbing people, and is usually empty.
‘Evicted’ is perhaps a little strong. I was in Osterley Park, I’d flown there several times, but last weekend I was approached by an NT official and told that drones weren’t allowed on NT property. Silly really, it’s wide open, consists of a lot of farmland which is unoccupied, but rules is rules. I also use Cranford Park, which is good, but next door to Heathrow. Several people use it to fly model aircraft, so I feel fairly safe there - the flight path is at least a mile away. Where do you fly?
I think Cranford will survive in some form - the new runway will be to the west in what is now Harlington. Hopefully I will have moved before it’s built:smirk:
I used to live in London Chris (Wimbledon) but I moved wayyy up north to Wigan many years ago. I thought I was miles outside of Manchester airport NFZs.
Turns on I was (yay!)
Turns out my back garden is inside the Wigan football stadium NFZ instead (booooo)
Chris, if you’ve not seen it yet, check out our interactive map of places to fly:
That’s only about half an hour from where I live but, as you said, awfully close to Heathrow. Have you had any software warnings about flying there?
Even closer! If fact it shows up in the Heathrow NFZ, according to Drone Assist. Haven’t checked DJI’s NFZ list though.
Thanks for the tips, though. There are a couple of places near me, none of which I’ve checked out properly yet. Richmond Park has a designated RC model aircraft area which was very busy when I visited it.
I’ll take a wander over to Sutton Playing Field sometime. Thanks for the recommendation.
I do get software warnings, but it’s easy to judge the flight path the aircraft are using - if they’re coming straight over you, you don’t fly. More often than not, the planes are about a mile away. If you do visit Sutton playing fields, let me know!
Had a H501S and really liked that drone. No app, no warnings, no extra device to use as a screen. Just charge the batteries and you’re ready to go. Had quite a few features as well.
Only time I’ve flown in West London was a quick flight over Northala Fields. Not an ideal area to fly but you get nice shots of the hills.
Agree 100% - it’s a great drone. My only (minor) gripe is that it can take a while to calibrate sometimes. I was quite happy with the fixed camera too - until I saw the gimbal enabled footage on the Mavic…
I don’t know Northala Fields.
Hi - the National trust website states, or used to, that they have a ban of flying drones on all of their land and OVER their land. I contacted the CAA and the Police about this and both replied that they can ban people flying while on their land but cannot ban flying over their land as they do not own the airspace, its the same as flying a glider, helicopter or light airplane taking off from a nearby airfield, they cannot ban the flying over the land. The suggestion I got was to find somewhere that is public, where you can take off/land in accordance to the drone code and there is nothing they can do.
You are correct … but the point in this instance, where the NT land is in an otherwise rather urban environment, it is (almost) the ONLY sensible place to take off and fly. A nice open parkland with few people about.
For many NT properties, we’d like to take photos/video of the property, for it’s own sake … a house, or whatever, sat in manicured lawns … and what you suggest is the legal way around that.
The only “legal” issue that then arises is VLOS. Some stately homes would test that when flying from outside the NT land!
