Safety and where to fly in Southport

Legal & Privacy
1

I am new to the hobby and I just bought all the parts to build a sub 250 gram fpv drone, and the kit to go with it after being inspired by people flying fpv on youtube. I am still waiting for the parts to arrive and in the mean time I have been practicing hard in the Liftoff simulator. I also did the online CAA exam and got a flyer ID and operator ID. Seeing as I am shortly going to be a drone operator and flyer I bought the insurance from here. Having done all that I used drone scene to have a quick look at where I am allowed to fly in and around Southport and there seems to be a lot of blanket bans in place and by-laws in and around where I live banning all drone flights. I totally get not being allowed to fly around air ports or roads. However I think I should be allowed to fly on the beach as long as I am following the rules. In the nineteen twenties people used to land full sized air craft on the beach and also people used to take their cars on to it in the 90s.

Here are a few weight comparisons with birds

Tiny Whoop weighs 40g roughly same weight as a budgie ( golf ball weighs 46 g )
Sub 250g drone roughly same weight as a magpie or dove
500g drone same weight as a wood pigeon

Pink footed goose 2600g or 2.6 kg max altitude 1000 m ( 40000 live at martin mere )
Mute swan 16000 g or 16Kg max altitude 1219.2 m
Great Bustard 20000g or 20 kg

I am scared of accidentally breaking laws and ending up with large fines.

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I’m not sure of the relevance of something that might have happened over a hundred years ago? :thinking:

I’m not sure of the relevance of that information either, birds aren’t governed by CAA airspace regulations :person_shrugging:t2:

You can fly anywhere as long as you’re following the rules :smiley:

If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime :smiley:

There are a few airspace restrictions near Southport that you need to be mindful of:

Screenshot 2025-03-15 at 09.52.09
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And the whole of Sefton beach is covered by an SSSI that you should look in to as well:

Screenshot 2025-03-15 at 09.52.30
Screenshot 2025-03-15 at 09.52.302940×1828 1.01 MB

Is there something more specific you need an answer to what we can help with?

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So far as I can see, you have pretty much the run of the skies over most of Southport, though there is a Red FRZ for the RAF base at Woodvale which overlays the southern part of the town. You can fly in/over all the yellow areas on the Drone Scene map, they are there to advise you of hazards that you need to be aware of, and there are no restrictions preventing you from flying over them. Over 100’ or so most of the hazards are not going to bother you anyway. The yellow areas include sensitive locatations like schools or hospitals where there may be privacy issues. as well as obvious hazards like railways or busy roads.

And SSSIs. SSSIs are there for various reasons, and where the reason is a specific landscape, rare plant, or a geological feature your drone is not going to be an issue (but don’t step on the rare plant). Wildlife SSSIs need a bit more interpretation, with nesting birds particularly vulnerable to being buzzed by low-flying drones, and requiring consideration and common sense. An oft-repeated rule here is ‘don’t be a dick’, which is the thrust of the CAA’s ‘Drone Code’. Keep to it and you’ll be fine in most places, including Southport!

When you open a drone map covering most urban areas as a novice, the yellow is scary and off-putting, and your initial thought is ‘I can’t legally fly anywhere here, what now?’, but it soon becomes obvious that you can fly over the yellow areas so long as you’re sensible. You probably wouldn’t fly close enough to a railway line to get entangled in the 25kv wiring, or to tresspass on one to retrieve a crashed drone at risk of being splattered by a train, or in proximity to a busy motorway, or over crowded areas, or where you would attract approabation on security or privacy grounds. You might fly over a local recreation ground, but probably not on a Saturday morning when all the football pitches are in use by local leagues and surrounded by parents/spectators. I doubt if Southport beach ever gets crowded, but I’m sure parts of it do on hot summer weekends. Common sense is a pretty good guide to what is legal, and acceptable, flying behaviour.

TOAL issues probably cause more problems to drone pilots than flying issues, and it is your job to find out if permission is required, and if so how to get it, or if you simply cannot use the site for TOAL. Landowners own the land and are perfeclty within their right to prevent you from TOAL on it, but they do not control the airspace above, that’s the CAA’s remit. But you will encounter ‘no drones’ notices, and people who do not understand that the airspace is free to use even when the ground isn’t.

You may even be able to fly in the Woodvale FRZ, with permission from their Air Traffic Control.

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4

John you really need to get out and fly my friend

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No never had an issue

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Still a thing in 2024

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Never had one either… I’m beginning to think Johnster is Geeksvana. Loves to embellish matters but we don’t see any photographic or video footage from him. :face_with_monocle:

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Twitter knows

Hold on I’ll BRB

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:joy:

https://x.com/davidjingram0/status/1899900550746931237?s=46&t=7nuR0Nu7cnhx87rFEia6eQ

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Thanks for the reply. That’s super helpful info for an fpv noob.

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Hi thanks for the reply. My point about the bird weights was to show that there are heavy unregulated things flying about chaotically all over the place. I specifically want to fly FPV with goggles. I think tiny whooping indoors might be the answer. Tiny whoops do more or less zero damage when they strike stuff and you can fly them indoors which means no CAA rules.

Here is a video people having a great time in Birmingham at the Tiny Whoop Race BIRD 2024

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Read and understand the drone code, make use of Dronescene, you wont a accidentally break any laws.

15

Bloody 'ell guys! First my existence is doubted (and to be fair I sometimes wonder about my reality myself), prompting an existentialist crisis, now I’m sombody called Geeksvana or something, promting an identity crisis!

I think, therefore I am. At least I think I am! I mean, I thought I was, I can remember thinking that, but there is only the theoretical and unproven existence of my self-awareness to provide evidence for that unless you accept my corpereal existence, which seems the easiest solution, but now this has been called into question, and apparently I might be someone else, but I don’t think I am therefore, therefore I amn’t Geeksvana. I could be Spartacus, of course, I feel like him sometimes! Enough now, my brane erts…

16

So after a bit more digging on line, I have discovered it is actually illegal to fly drones on Southport beach ( * unless you have permission from SMBC ) as it is subject to a Public Space Protection Order ( bylaws ). It is also illegal to take glass containers on to the beach and a whole load of other ridiculous rules that look like they were dreamt up by a power mad dinner lady!

clause 28

(28) Bring or permit to be used any remote-controlled vehicle including model aircraft or drone
without the express prior written permission of Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council.

The PSPO runs out in June 2025, but it can be extended and it would be a good time to raise objections to it.

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good luck with that, there is no means to challenge a pspo except on the grounds that they did not follow the procedure for implementation, but the content cannot actually be challenged or changed.