Permission is not needed to fly over reservoir?

I keep seeing entries on the website map where people have said that permissions aren’t needed for flying over lakes and reservoirs. Is this really true in the Uk? Surely you would need somewhere to take off or land on which would be under some council jurisdiction. Are there any other places SUA pilots with PfCO can fly without permissions in the Uk , I’ve heard it’s possible to on the shoreline which is the sea or a river has revealed during low tide. Does this mean we can fly over the sea in Uk with out permissions?

Most reservoirs are owned by water companies or the canal trust and not councils.

PfCO? If you’re intending to fly for commercial reasons they you may very well have to apply for permission.

Severn Trent for example: https://www.stwater.co.uk/content/dam/stw/my-severn-trent/documents/visitor-site-filming-policy.pdf

Recreation and hobbyist flights are not commercial hence the many entries on the drone scene map where it is assumed the land owner has no legal restrictions in place regards take off and landing.

Or are you asking a different question?

I suspect someone better qualified will be along soon.

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Hi and thank you for the response. I have a Permission for Commercial
Operations, I am looking for interesting places I can practice flying where
I don’t need permission if that is possible. I’m not sure what the rules
are for this situation as I don’t know what the rules are for hobbyist or
recreational flights and I don’t know if I would fall into that category, I
have a DJI Mavic Pro 2 which take-off weight is about 906g. So if I’m not
flying for commercial reasons the rules are different for getting
permissions?
Many thanks
Louis

If you’re not flying for commercial reasons and flying for recreational purposes then the standard drone code is what you must abide by as well as any landowner permissions.

Use DroneScene’s good to go:

This is fantastic news, I don’t think I was ever told this. I assumed I would always have to follow the PfCO rules even on ‘recreational’ flights.

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Also if you join fpv uk or the BMFA you can fly under article 16 when flying as a hobbyist which will give you a bit more freedom. But note you cant use Article 16 for commercial flights

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