Hi all. I will be flying on Saturday near to the Oban airfield (where the arrow is).
It is not in the RPZ or the FRZ but in a recreational zone. I have never ever seen a glider there, I have a feeling that the glider club might not even exist any more. Do you think I need permission from ATC?
Thanks Dave. Thatās very interesting. I guess NATS is the one to trust?
I tend to think so. At least if they get it wrong you can have your screenshot saved to show you did your bit.
If It canāt be trusted thereās no point to its existence. 
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I popped in to the airport office yesterday to explain where I would be flying on Saturday. The lady on reception said I had to notify them, even if it was outside the FRZ with times etc. I said that I didnāt think so and she was insistent, anywhere nearby, up to 600ā had to be notified, with drone registration number! I will do it, but I donāt believe it.
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āDrone Registration Numberā 
āThe lady on receptionā ā¦ says it all.
āanywhere nearbyā define??
I would tend to ignore that kind of stupidity.
Itās the old chestnut ā¦ ask permission and youāll be told āNo!ā whatever ā¦
That results in better informed people not bothering to ask permission ā¦ even when perhaps they should.
So counter-productive.
(PS - I wouldnāt have bothered asking - for the above reasons.)
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Its a quandary Dave, Iām pretty comfortable with my rights but thereās always a slight worry that thereās a regulation somewhere that I havenāt seen that covers it and I might be committing an offence, after all, flying inside the FRZ is a criminal offence!
Unfortunately Tom, the guy I saw last time, who is very knowledgable is away on holiday.
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Then itās down to her to produce the supporting evidence for her claims.
So much doesnāt stack up ā¦
- Thereās nothing on NATS
- 600ft (thatās a new one!)
- āanywhere nearbyā - someone that know thereās a genuine limit can quote the actual radius - after all, she knows about the ā600ftā.
- āDrone Registration Numberā - these donāt even exist ā¦ yet.
I could probably phone her up about flying in the Sahara Desert and sheād say āNo!ā ā¦ and quote some gibberish.
You could probably call by another time and sheād be cleaning the toilets.
She is the exact kind of reason people think āWhy did I bother? I wonāt next time!ā
She is a one person liability.
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I agree totally with all those points. As far as sheās concerned, as they say " a little knowledge is a dangerous thing".
Thanks for your input Dave.
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Enjoy the flight! 
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Thanks.
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I completely agree with @OzoneVibe - donāt ask for permission if permission is not required.
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Yes, but when thereās the possibility of a prison sentence if you get it wrong, you have to be absolutely, absolutely sure.
If NATS has it wrong - they go to prison. #Simples.
Even were the glider area as AirMap had ā¦ itās cautionary and still not needing permission. Itās a āKeep your eyes open and keep an eye in the direction of the airport.ā scenario ā¦ and around there thereās more chance of hearing the āthwop! thwopā of a coastguard chopper zooming to/from some incident, Iād have thought.
Not that Iāve checked where they are based near there, or where appropriate hospitals might be - itās just the kind of place Iād keep them in mind.
And, forget ADSB for these guys - (a) that needs ground stations to receive ā¦ and itās a low population area, and (b) they are often too low to be registering. As the straight line in this shows ā¦ they went missing for ages because of height, primarily.
Plus, imo, monitoring ADSB needs another device and adds a further distraction from doing the important job of keeping one eye on the drone and the sky in general for anything thatās a potential problem.
Segulls do NOT have ADSB equipment!
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If you wanted to make sure you had notified relevant people, I would do a notification of the flight through the NATS Drone Assist app.
I agree with the others though, if not in a FRZ then donāt ask their permission because they are unable to give permission For you to fly outside an FRZ. However, you could āadvise them for there informationā if it is close - as that is different.
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Thanks Brian. I have emailed the airport and also logged a flight on Drone Assist, just to make doubly sure.
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Donāt think you could do much more to show you are being conscientious
Yours is the fish farm one I guess? 
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Emailing the airport and logging the flight was the good thing to do. A shame the receptionist didnāt have a clue; if you managed to contact the air traffic controller or someone who has a clue, you could then ask them to enlighten the receptionist with the proper rules.
Even if you donāt have to ask permission, itās good practce to notify when youāre so close to an air strip.
Cheers
Ian
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Haha! Yes
It was actually a disaster, due to the weather on Saturday, No way I could fly. Got some nice shots in the afternoon though.
On Sunday I had another disaster. I livestreamed straight to Facebook from the Mavic but afterwards found to my horror that I hadnāt enabled saving to the card as well. When I downloaded the vids from FB later, one was in HD but most in CR (crap resolution). I worked out that if the signal is poor it downgrades what it saves. It was completely jerky and the audio was all broken. I thought with 4 bars on 3G it would be OK but evidently not. I managed to use a few bits 'n bobs in the final film.
I donāt know why, but in the panic to get out of the house early, I didnāt take my Osmo stabiliser or my sound recorder with the dead cat, so I ended up with very shaky handheld stuff and mainly wind noise. Note to self ; next time, have a muster point the night before and make sure everything is there.
Still, for what itās worth The video is at Citizen Science on Vimeo