New to the site and wanted to introduce myself and ask a couple of questions?
I live in Southport and the company i work for has purchased a Mini 3 Pro… we are doing some work in Southport Town Centre and wanted to know what the rules were?
I have a drone licence so legal to fly…
If i am using the companies drone to film footage for the company i assume i or they will need commercial insurance?
If i am flying in the town centre, if i stick to the 50m rule do i need to obtain permission from Swfton council? Their rules seem to be different than the rules applied by the CAA.
I have seen a lit of drone footage in Southport, but recreational rather than commercial. Should i ask for permission?
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using a drone for work is detailed here in the section “using a drone for work”
be careful of FRZs (flight restriction zones) around Southport, they do change, especially when the airshow was on, and also with woodvale
you (your company) has a mini 3 pro so it’s a sub 250g drone and does not have a 50 m rule… just don’t fly over assembles of people (that could be a gathering of people in the town centre)
I done know what a “drone licence” is… if you have a flyer ID that’s great but you must have an Operator ID for and stuck on the drone.
you don’t need a flyer ID (because of the weight) but if you had done it, a lot of these questions would have been part of the drone code.
Sefton Council have no authority over drone flights. other than they could (via a byelaw, which I don’t think they have) prevent you from taking off and landing from council land. most of the bylaws are actually for radio controlled combustion engine aircraft not UAVs which are electric
Thanks for the prompt reply and hi from Southport!
Ignore my terminology… new to all of this at the moment! Yes i have a flyer ID and an operator ID. This is attached to the drone already.
Did some recording at the side of the Formby Bypass - at night so Woodvale were happy to grant me flying permissions. Unfortunately, where we were was geofenced so i didnt get the footage i wanted but got some for my first proper go!
Kinda doubt that Sefton Council would do anything, but we are working in behalf of Sefton - which adds to the complications!
Will take a look at the links at thanks for your advice… appreciate it!
if you are working directly for the council (or anyone in a professional capacity), I would ask if they have a policy.
I would then create a Method Statement of planned operations and attach to is a site specific risk assessment.
not a load of BS, if you are working on something which is covered by the CDM regulations then you need to only list those risks which are non generic. 4 pages of specific info beats 78 pages of BS everytime.
if it were me… I would also take a Google sat image of the location and indicate on it my TAOL position(s) including alternative landing spots (or safe crash area, if you had to avoid persons, which direction would you go.
and show roughly where you are going to fly.
I would also take a screenshot of the weather conditions at the time of take off
eg
remember the time that you will need the RAMS will be when something goes wrong… and if it goes really wrong and the HSE or police are involved then that would demonstrate that you tried your best as a competent pilot… sometimes stuff just happens…
