Permission to fly over the Thames

Legal & Privacy
1

Hi there,

I recently purchased a mini 2 for a bit of fun and have been amazed by the footage you can get.

However i recently took it down to my construction site which is based on the isle of dogs in london and got some great footage that i would like to publish on social media on behalf of my company. Before i do i wanted to be absolutely sure i have kept within the guidance from the CAA.

I have attached the flight path I took and an image just to give you an idea. The airspace is designated as class D so I signed the disclaimer that DJI provide but there has been mention of that part of the river having a secure terrorism zone that requires further permission, which I’m not sure about.

Any advice welcome and apologies if this is going over old ground but i couldn’t find anything relating to this topic.

Thanks in advance

Flight plan 002
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Flight plan 001
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NUW
NUW2000Ă—1126 678 KB

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2

Have you looked at https://dronescene.co.uk/

3

Ah good, very useful. Thankyou for that.

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4

From Dronescene

Screenshot_20210312-083317_Chrome
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Looks to me as if you were outside of this but it’s difficult with my eyes!

5

Hi there, yes just double checked.
Much appreciated

6

YOU are near city airport

NFZ

I worked on Berkeley homes highest double apartment in Europe

7

Is that an FRZ ?

Perhaps read up on the differences

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8

Looks like you have found one of the only places to fly in Central London!

image
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9

Just worth noting that if you were paid for the flight i.e. did it during work hours and it will be used by your firm, you need to hold commercial drone insurance (which is very easy to get, you can buy it by the hour).

If you didn’t have it on this occasion, I wouldn’t personally be worried, but worth checking in future.

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10

That’s a good point. My initial intentions was to do this for bit of fun and general interest, but the footage I took was so good that it has escalated into some PR material for the company. I will look into getting this insurance sorted. Any recommended companies ?

Thanks again for the insight

11

I always say no fly zone

flight restriction zone

he’s just abiut allowed to fly anyway

12

He either is or he isn’t

Really good thread on it here

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13

I don’t fly commercially, but if I did I’d probably try Flock.

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14

@Jono I use Flock for my stuff. Dead easy to use via the app. They base it on risk for a specific flight b based on its location. Helpfully the app also shows a 500m circle from your chosen location.

15

Please don’t, when referring to an FRZ. They are not the same thing, and more often than not they do not even coincide geographically, let alone in height.

Please read that thread that @milkmanchris linked to, wherein the differences are identified.

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16

If your intention was not for commercial gain and your company didn’t discuss it before flying, the flight would be recreational.

Having talked to your employer and using your footage, any more flights over the property would probably be seen as commercial.

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17

Thanks, yes I will definitely fly a few more times as the site progresses because the development is in such an impressive location. I’ll sort the insurance out so I’m covered. Just need to get better a flying with different shots in mind.

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18

For this flight you did not need commercial insurance. If in the duture you fly at the request of your company and get paid for it, then you would need some. As someone mentioned earlier, you can buy this by the day.

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19

This PLA guidance may be of use: Use of drones/unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) | Port of London Authority

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