Hi, I am Bruno and I live in Stourbridge.
I am new to this group and to flying a drone.
Mine is a DJI Air 3S. I did a 90
Min training with an instructor. I found the controlling with the RC2 quite intuitive. I am practicing with virtually flying my drone. The learning curve with Drone Scene is steep. I got my head around NOTAM, danger areas. The SSSI areas are tricky because there is no clear indication of the restrictions for flying. In practice do you always ask permission from Nature England/Natural Ressources Wales and the landowner to take off/land from a public land/park/field/woodland? I would welcome your feedback.
Hi @Brunovinel and welcome to Grey Arrows ![]()
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Welcome once again!
Hi Bruno @Brunovinel and welcome to GADC
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Hi @Brunovinel Bruno and welcome to GADC ![]()
Welcome @Brunovinel to GADC.
Personally (I have only been flying for a month) if I am at a paid-for place I ask. Some say I can fly over but I can’t take off or land on their property. Some flat out say you can’t even fly over them. While we can at certain heights, if we don’t cause upset or a nuisance to the owner, you have to think is it worth it. They may threaten you with the police, or just ask you to leave. Even if you are legally allowed to fly somewhere, sometimes it is better not to, or pack up and leave if asked to.
The same for woodlands where there are lots of signs about nesting birds, and areas for animals to breed. I tend to stay away from these to give the wildlife respect and some quite.
If a place is really busy, I don’t even ask, I just get a little grumpy while I walk around (and occasionally open my drone bag to tell it it will get get a chance to come out and play later).
Hi @Brunovinel welcome to GADC ![]()
SSSIs are shown with a link to the citation - the reasons why it is an SSSI . Check this. If the reasons are geological, or rare plants, you are usually good to fly because the drone can’t affect them. However if there is wildlife e.g. ground-nesting birds you need to find somewhere else to fly.
Hi Bruno @Brunovinel - welcome to GADC
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Many thanks for sharing your experience. I understand we need to respect people and wildlife. That makes sense. All the best with enjoying flying.
Hi Bryand thank you for your advice. It makes sense. I read that the restrictions for birds nesting are only until end of August - September and the period October- March is fairly good for flying.
Hi Bruno
Welcome to the club
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Hello from Walsall and welcome @Brunovinel to the GADC group
Hi from sunny Blackpool
Thank you John.
Morning Bruno, welcome from a not so sunny Walsall.
If you had said that you needed some instruction, I’d have come over and flown with you for as long as you needed, and it wouldn’t have cost you anything. If you need any more help, just ask and you’ve got it.
THERE IS NO RESTRICTION WHATSOEVER ON FLYING OR TOAL AT AN SSSI OR ANY OTHER ‘YELLOW’ HAZARD ZONE! NONE!!! The purpose is to make you aware of a potential hazard or a privacy/disturbance issue that might, at some times and in some conditions, prevent you from flying or bring you into conflict with other rules, or simply to warn you of a hazard sush as power lines or a busy motorway. All SSSIs are marked in this way, though a site designated for geological reasons is not going to be affected if you fly it. Nesting birds are another matter, and common sense comes into play, and this does not always sit well with people who prefer definitive do/don’t yes/no rules without grey areas to fly to. Flying doesn’t work like that, it is problem solving in 3 dimensions in real time…
If you fly high enough to not disturb the nesting birds, you’ll be fine. I always recommend that beginners go up to about 150’ to practice; it’s much safer up there where ther is nothing to hit, and a drone falling from 20’ is just as totalled as it would be from 150’…
Obviously, don’t buzz the nests during breeding season, don’t fly low over the playing fields on Saturday mornings when the local league footie is taking place, don’t fly close to the motorway or the main line railway, stay away from crowds. Checking permission for TOAL is not included on the map, and is your responsibility. Getting the information is a minefield of illegal notices and bullshit, which is why we usually recommend that apologising is better than asking permission; nobody will ever officially give you permission to fly even where you are fully legit, because they are terrified of 3rd party claims…
John @TheJohnster thank you very much for your feedback and sharing your experience. It’s really inspiring.
Hi John @Hotrodspike thank you for your offer. I will contact you separately to arrange an opportunity to meet and fly together
OK mate, there’s very few days when I’m not available, so just drop us an email and we’ll sort something out.
Thank YOU. Not every day I get called ‘inspiring’, and mostly I’m not!