Greetings from Oxfordshire

Sadly living far too close to an RAF base to be able to fly locally, I think Mavic Pro will rust and rot before it gets worn out!!!

Myth has it that the Brylcreem Boys tend to work a 9 to 5, 5 day week. Have you tried contacting there ATC to see if you can fly out of hours?

nice thought but this one is a 24/7 base, I just need to be a little more pro-active and take the drone with me when ever I go anywhere out of the area, which I have not managed to do yet…

Hi @Wally2sox and welcome to Grey Arrows :wave:t2:

Have you seen our members map? (Click the burger-menu in the top right) You may find some pilots living near you. Feel free to add yourself to the members map too :+1:t2:

We’re a well established club with many knowledgeable members so it’s very likely that any issues you come across will have been discussed here before. Our discussion forum has very powerful search features which should help you find what you need but if you get stuck you can post a new question in the #questions-and-answers category.

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And please feel free to add locations of your own too.

Please also take a moment to look at the Membership Levels section on our FAQ as we’re quite different to other clubs and you’ll be eligible for some rather exclusive club discounts as your membership level increases :blush:

Welcome once again!

Welcome @Wally2sox

I live near RAF Odiham and have chinooks buzzing around frequently. The first time I went out to a nice big field, checked on gridreferencefinder that there was enough separation from everyone, drove down there and I fired up my drone. Did my checks. And the damn thing wouldn’t take off because I was in a height restriction zone! Bit of a schoolboy error. So I went home, googled it and quickly found out it was really simple to unlock via the app so I went back and had some fun flying!

All the best

Andy.

Hi Andy,
hmmm, yes, well, I’m ony a few miles from Brize and wanted to do a flyover of the holes of my local golf course but it’s all inside the exclusion zone, so that’s scuppered that!
I’m sure I could do all the usual clearance checks and get permission but it’s not a quick project and all the other nause that goes with obtaining clearance just doesnt make it worth it
Wally

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Have you tried? I wanted to fly withing the FRZ of Odiham during the day and gave them a call. They sent me a few questions regarding my flights and it was all approved in about 30 minutes. Granted it was a simple flight but they were very approachable and nice. I’d say it is worth getting in touch with them just to find out more. Test the waters if you will. From my interactions with ATC’s they always appreciate the call. It might be less paperwork than you think!

Andy.

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Hey @Wally2sox - welcome to the site.

I totally feel your pain as I live on an ex RAF base turned commercial airport.

However, by driving around a couple of miles I can have totally uninterrupted flights.
There’s always a way around it!