Just outside Ballymena, near the village of Broughshane, Slemish has a free car park with a small information centre & toilets (which are temporarily closed due to covid). There are great views from the top even without a drone. It is a very exposed mountain and can often be too wet or windy to fly, which is when your backup (phone?) camera comes in handy.
The originator declared that this location was not inside a Flight Restriction Zone at the time of being flown on 23/10/2020. It remains the responsibility of any pilot to check for any changes before flying at the same location.
You’re very welcome Chris, I’m just doing my bit in the hope that someone else might enjoy visiting somewhere I’ve flown. I think what might be a nice feature on Drone Scene would be an ‘I’ve flown at this location’ button so that we could see if anyone has actually found our ‘where to fly’ places useful.
I only live about 3miles away from Mount Slemish and did go there earlier this year to fly my A2. I couldn’t check in the
Tourist centre shop about permissions as it was shut, but as
the car park was fairly full I did ask those people parked near
me if they had any objections to me flying and filming and they
were all ok with it.
It was a clear sunny day so all ok weather wise, the big problem for me, was the large number of buzzards soaring in the skies
around the sides of Slemish and as soon as I took off a large number of them took an interest in my Drone, so my flight was
short lived. I do intend returning to film when hopefully there is
less activity but the weather just lately has been too wet and
windy.
The tourist building wasn’t open last time I was there either, but I’ve been inside before and there’s no shop or staff, it’s only a small exhibition centre and toilets. Sometimes the car park is busy, at other times you can go there and be the only visitor. As far as the buzzards go, in my experience they’ll investigate the drone then go about their business. So far I’ve found that to be the case in all my encounters with birds, though I try to be ready to react in case they do get aggressive. I’d maybe visit Slemish once or twice a year, but there are lots of other nearby places you could go to like Cargan Dam or Sallagh Braes here, on Drone Scene
Hi, thanks for info about the buzzards. Still improving my flying skills so didn’t want to push my luck with the buzzards as there were quite a number of them in the area the day I was there. Had the odd one when I have been flying from my home only about 3 miles from Slemish but they haven’t come anywhere close to my drone.
Thanks for details of the other sites you mentioned, will have to give them a try whenever the weather allows.
