As London City Airport closes over the weekend, I noted that it is possible to request permission to fly during these times. I requested it last week for a possible flight late April (2-week window requested), and just got approval today! I wanted to ask advice from greater minds what else you would recommend to prepare for this flight. I will be using my Mini 4 Pro. I also hold A2 C of C.
The documentaton I received back did provide some advice on what needs to be done before the flight, such as contacting London City Watch manager at least one hour prior to the flight, and to notify the Aerodrome Ops Manager via email 24 hours prior to the flight.
I plan to take off and land from Royal Victoria Gardens and fly South (but not over) the airport. Has anyone else flown here? I checked Drone Scene and Newham Council does not have any restrictions relating to drones.
I am sure that I also read here somewhere that it’s advisable to notify the Met Police, but couldn’t find anything specific when searching.
Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks in advance.
I personally wouldn’t…There’s no legal requirement to do so. You apply via the NATS NSF and that application is forwarded to LCY. If all is approved and you were approached by the Police when flying, provide the info and let them do the checking.
They said in their approval that I cannot fly over the airport directly. (I wouldn’t want to anyway - imagine, in the event of an issue, knocking on the door - ‘please sir, can I have my drone back?’
The airport closes every Saturday lunchtime and reopens on Sunday. Not sure of the exact times, but I can fly between 1pm Sat and 10am Sun.
Safety in numbers might be a good idea! Given the bad press that dones get around airports, I want to be as prepared as I can be that in the event of someone stopping me I have ensured that I’ve informed all relevant parties. I’d have a printout of the approval with me, of course.
I tried to find a previous thread where this was mentioned, but couldn’t. I thought that by doing this, if someone phoned the police to say that there was a drone flying somewhere, they would have it on record and would not need to respond. Otherwise, I could imagine them dispatching someone to investigate and them being none too pleased, regardless of whether permission was in place. I’d rather err on the side of caution with this one!
How do you not know LCY provide that info to the Aviation Policing unit already based at LCY. All I’m saying is don’t make work for yourself if there’s no legal requirement to do so.
I hear what you are saying. I guess I’m looking at it more from a ‘preventing a potential problem’ perspective. I’m sure I saw a Met Police email address somewhere here which was a standard one to let them know of flights in restricted areas. That would take no time at all to send (apart from the time to find the email, of course) and would also be handy to have a print out of on the day.
Maybe I’m being overly cautious here, but flying directly by an airport is something likely to attract attention, so I want to cover all bases.
A little update: The Met Police has a text chat system on their website, so I asked if there was a dedicated web page or email to submit such notifications. I was directed to a generic form for submitting any and all types of requests, which I completed. Today, I got a phone call back where they just wanted to validate the information I submitted. I received a follow up email, where they asked who at London City Airport I was talking to - I replied with the email thread that contained the approval document and reference number. I’ve just got an email back thanking me for providing the details, and they’ve given me a CAD reference number.
While it might not be a legal requirement, I’m glad I went through this exercise. I’ll be printing this email out, so if I get stopped on the day I can simply provide them with this and direct them to Newham Police. That should quell even the most ardent of ‘Karens’!
Well, as you said, LCY probably already passed the details to the police, so they’d already have everything that I submitted. They didn’t ask me anything over and above what was on the NATS form. (Even the date of birth field was optional )
Yes, I certainly feel more at ease making the flight now. I’m still relatively new to the game, and if I’m going to get stopped anywhere, it’s going to be there, so I’d rather be fully prepared. Just wanted to share this with the group in case anyone else decides to do the same. It’s also given me more confidence to consider requesting permission to fly in areas that I may not have looked at.
The biggest concern now, of course, is the weather for the end of April! Time will tell.
If you could document the entire process on video. From where / how you applied as well as any things you are required to do. (Radio tuned to aviation frequencies?).
As well as any times you are approached by PC’s/Public I am certain that video would help the community to better understand the processes behind doing something like this.
I was already on a system. I’m just in two instead . Let’s face it, if they wanted the details they’d be able to get them one way or another (if something happened on the day).
I’ll keep a log of what happens. I might not make a video, but can certainly publish a walkthrough of everything. That won’t be until after the flight, late April.
Given the bad press that dones get around airports, I want to be as prepared as I can be that in the event of someone stopping me I have ensured that I’ve informed all relevant parties. I’d have a printout of the approval with me, of course.
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