Unfortunately I live close to Gatwick which is a flight restriction zone. Is it worth me approaching Gatwick to see whether they would allow me to practice at my house or do you think it’s not even worth asking as it will be a No No,
Would not hurt to give than a call? What have you got to lose. Hopefully 
they we say 
.
The FRZ is only 5km why not venture a little further afield ?
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And keep away from the runway protection zones (RPZ) you should be OK.
Not worth asking. I will take that a step further. It makes you a prime candidate next time theres a drone incident at that location. If you want to risk armed police making a raid on your home, locking you in a cell for days, putting your name and picture on the national media as being a potential terrorist, then go ahead. Doing the right things never goes without being punished. Trust me on that.
Been flying near airports have we? 
There’s nothing quite like being approached by people holding guns, happened to me 3 times now and it never gets any less arse twitching.
1st was because I was “loitering” on a back road, in a transit, near edinburgh airport. I had stopped to eat my lunch while watching the planes take off and land. They were quite polite
2nd was when working on a telephone exchange near Faslane, I never knew it had a silent alarm linked to the base and that they had equipment installed at the exchange. My supervisor probably neglected to tell me on purpose, prick. They were relatively polite
3rd was carrying out rabbit control on Dunblane golf course, late at night, clothed in camo and carrying an air rifle with silencer. That one was a real pants filler. They were not very polite, quite aggressive, and pretty scary. It wasn’t till I got home, still shaking, that it dawned on me. I gave up my air rifle after that.
In all seriousness I still think it’s worthwhile asking and providing co-ordinates of your garden along with a promise to keep within a 10mtr radius and restricting height to say 30mtrs. Practising your garden will very quickly become quite tedious and boring though.
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Blimey thanks for your advice 
Come on @Strax007 you’re going to have to tell us the gossip pal? Might even help us all in the future?
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Where I work we get quite a lot of self harmers, and sometimes call handlers for the emergency services can be a bit over zealous, especially when the question is asked ’ do they still have a blade/knife?', ‘are they a danger to themselves or others?’ if they deem its an ARV response they don’t fuck about, they are very shouty and only ‘calm’ down when everyone is in a prone position and they have control of the area.
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Hey Chris I wasn’t complaining in any fashion, these guys do a dangerous and tough job. The air rifle I was carrying was a BSA Lightning with a shortened barrel and silencer, it looks very like a real rifle, as in FAC rifle. I just did what they told me, then asked rather sheepishly if I could go into my pocket to retrieve the permission slips and PLI. Once they had a read and inspected the air rifle they suggested I keep clear of the houses along the left hand side of the course, and it might also be wise to call the local bobbies to let them know when I’m out shooting wabbits.
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I think the only way you’ll get to fly in a FRZ is if you’re undercover, and even then you may not be immune from abuse.
There is a college campus near me that is in the FRZ for LBA. During the winter months model flyers from around the area meet once a week to use the Sports Hall for some indoor fun. I believe they’ve been approached by some over zealous “You don’t wanna do that” individual claiming they’re flying illegally
I often fly within the Bristol airport FRZ. I have to call Air Traffic Control before each flight to get permission and have never had a problem. They are very friendly and helpful and just ask me to call them when I have finished. The location I fly is 2.5km from the runway and at 90 degrees - so nowhere near the line of the runway and RPZ. If you want to fly off to one side like that then hopefully Gatwick won’t have a problem. Call Gatwick ATC on 01293-601031 or 601033 and see what they say. They will want to know the coords of the take-off location, radius of flight, max height…
Brilliant thank you