New 2021 UK Drone Rules - Flying in London

Hi everyone, I’m new to drone photography as a hobby, and I am considering a limited flight (with a DJI mini 2) at a location in central London. I am doing my very best to understand the new 2021 rules and I have zero interest in breaking them, so I want to be certain my understanding is correct before I make any decisions. If anyone more experienced is able to check my thoughts below, and let me know if they agree or disagree, that would be of fantastic help.

Background assumptions are as follows (again, please do correct me if any of this is wrong - I do not profess to be an expert but I have spent quite some time reading through the rules, the new “drone code” and the associated guidance). The mini 2 is sub-250g flying weight and currently sold in a “legacy” configuration without MTOM specified, so is I understand treated as a C0 craft. I would be operating an “open” category flight - within VLOS, sub 120m altitude etc. I understand this would clear me for all sub-categories of open flight - A1, A2 and A3. Obviously one of the main issues in London will be ensuring I avoid overflying crowds, which would breach those sub-categories, but I would be extremely vigilant about this, and it is made somewhat easier during lockdown (the area in question is not always busy and I am confident I could find a time when there would not be significant volumes of people in the immediate area). I will be registered - technically, for a flight on the above basis, I believe I only need the “operator ID” and not the “flyer ID”, though I am likely to have both anyway.

I have checked various sources and maps on airspace restrictions and I find the area I want to operate in is covered by London’s “specified area” according to the (official) NATS / Altitude Angel data. My understanding is that this is not a “no-fly zone” or hard restriction area, and simply requires caution as it is within London. I will most likely triple-check this point with NATS myself but would appreciate any input from anybody more experienced.

Two other questions are at the front of my mind - firstly, does it make any difference that I would be very close to the edge of one of the stricter “no fly zones” - for me the zone in question is “R158” (City of London). I would obviously be careful to keep away from the border of this zone, but I worry that as I would be very close I cannot be completely sure I won’t end up anywhere near it. Is it acceptable just to be very vigilant and avoid any risk of windy conditions leading to unintentional straying? I’m hoping it is as simple as you are either “in” or “out” of the zone, and even 1m “out” is ok.

Secondly, I can also see that I would be in the “Controlled Traffic Region” for City of London airport (which extends over a large chunk of Central / East London), but I would not be anywhere near the relevant “FRZ” (the airport’s immediate area) - I understand this is ok, but again happy to be corrected.

In addition to the above from the official NATS / Altitude Angel maps, I have checked DJI’s interactive map (obviously not the authoritative source) and it seems to indicate that I would be able to take-off where I want to.

Thanks for reading through all this if you have done so! Any helpful discussion welcome.

A post was merged into an existing topic: Drone and Model Aircraft Code: updated for 2021