Good evening, very new to drones and really glad I found the grey arrows before spending the money out on a drone.
I have the land owner’s permission to fly but it looks like the whole of wembury near plymouth (pl9) is covered be restricted air space. This means where I spend most of my time due to the kids/wife’s hobbies is a no fly zone, only planing to use the drone as a hobby to start with
am I right with the above or have I miss read the Drone scene maps?
Dose it make a difference what you use the drone for?
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
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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That area, directly over Wembury, is a danger area EG D009B. It is only active via NOTAM so check the NOTAMS and if it is not active you can fly. I suspect that it is only occasionally active and probably never at weekends but you have to check each day.
I’ve spoken to plym mil radar (generally friendly folks) about that inner danger zone, fella said to me he’s been there 3 years and never seen it activated so you’ll pretty much always be fine but do check of course
The outer one is active on a defined schedule which you can see on dronescene / altitude angel but it’s basically mon-fri 0800-1700
That’s great thank you. so good to go from the farmers filed (with permission).
There is just so much information to take in before you start! Wanted to check before I spent the money out on a new drone.
I live near Plymouth, and have flown inside Plymouth once, but due to the big, Navy site and militarized activity, we have in the city. I personally would just avoid it, get yourself up to Dartmoor and take your drone for a spin there, you’ll have so much fun and less trouble from the general public, and ANY NFZ. At least that’s the experience I’ve had. Please keep in touch, it would be amazing to find people in the Ply area to hang out, fly with, take some aerial shots, and enjoy the hobby/life.
Hi @Ghosty_W, I can see where you are coming from when you say just avoid flying near/in Plymouth but I don’t agree with that entirely. Yes, Plymouth has some special considerations but providing you are flying safely, legally and are following the Drone Code I think that to just say avoid it is rather defeatist. We needn’t be scared off in the way.
I would say yes, there are considerations. There is the citadel, lots of people around The Hoe. But there are many places where you can fly legally and safely.
However, flying on Dartmoor is prohibited because it is a National Park and the Dartmoor regulations prevent us legally taking off and landing. Sorry, but you are much more likely to find somewhere legal to fly in and around Plymouth than on Dartmoor.
Personally I don’t fly on Dartmoor, there’s so much green space round here that you aren’t short of locations to fly and when I’m up there it’s generally to get away from tech & screens, not to indulge in it, plus it’s almost always windy up there
I can totally understand why someone would want to, the rangers are so few that personally I’ve never seen one, do keep an eye out for SART as they might have drones up in case of accidents/missing persons, and the military ranges for that matter.
If you do want to fly on Dartmoor look at getting permission to TOAL from private property (specifically ‘excepted land’) which is outside the purview of the by-laws.
Hi I would like to just say thanks for letting me know. I actually didn’t think about checking the actual Dartmoor site regarding drones. I don’t remember seeing anything about it on the CAA page, so I just went ahead and did it and flew within the height restriction. And, regarding Plymouth yeah i was just thinking about if people would prefer to fly near the Hoe and so on, and Dartmoor is only 5min drive from my house so it was the “easiest choice” kind of excuse for me. Once again, thanks for educating me on the matter, I appreciate it!
You will soon get to know what we can and cannot do. I am still pretty new and only got my drone a couple of months ago and I felt a bit lost as to where I could and could not fly. You will become familiar with the core rules pretty quickly.
I now work on the basis that if it is publicly accessible land, I search on the web and see if there is anything stopping me from flying and if not, and there are no signs prohibiting it, then I assume that it is fine. If anyone asks me to stop then I will generally stop but it hasn’t happened yet!
There are a few well-publicised no go areas… National Parks, National Trust and some towns and cities that have published no fly policies from public land but there aren’t many of those that I have come across. Of course, the FRZ, danger areas and restricted areas on Drone Scene but that goes without saying Even then, if you want to fly inside a FRZ a call to the airport ATC concerned can sometimes get you permission. There are lots of examples that have been discussed on the forum.
I am still very much learning myself but the more you know the easier and more enjoyable it becomes
No, you didn’t miss anything. I in fact owe two, a DJI Mavic Mini and an FPV. I do have an old-school “real FPV drone” is the term I’ve heard being thrown around, but that is something I will learn more about, and wish to get more info about and get more into it when I “feel” like it, kind of a silly excuse but unfortunately, it’s the one I’m going with for the time being.
