South Coast near Durlston Park - Swanage

Yes, there we saw many climbers in Dancing Ledge the other time. There is written in the Code of Conduct for Durlston Park, the climber will not be allowed during drone flying - for protection. Also, they don’t allow to fly from the 1st of March close to the cliffs because of the birds. I totally understand, but it’s so difficult to understand what’s allowed and what’s not.

Just to clarify - you say that “Durlston National Park” requires drone flying permission. Were you referring to Durlston Country Park or the adjacent National Trust land? Did you actually get permission from the Country Park or did you TOAL from nearby Crown Estates foreshore of which there is quite a lot in the area?

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Durlston National Park requires permission - yes. At the time I was flying I dod not know that and the Ranger told us we need to have permission. We then moved to a nearby Nationa Trust land - free to fly zone. I did not fly a drone further than I can physically see it. Now I am awaiting permission from the Durlston Nation Park to fly again. I hope that clarifies.

their rules on drone flying are pretty strict - of course thats only if you take off and land from their property.

To summarise their rules :
£5m public liability
PfCO certified
Commerial only
Hi Vis jacket
2 x spotters
and i think 50m cordon from pilot

Good luck with getting permission … :wink:

That’s for commercial flights, not hobbyist :wink:

Yep but they state they only allow commercial … so hobbyists probably dont get a look in

Thanks for the link to the Country Park Drone Code of Conduct. As is often the case with this type of document, it seems to consider only commercial pilots and not hobbyists. It is also guilty of substantial overreach by atempting to prohibit “flights over” their land which they have no authority to prevent. I had previously ruled out this area in my own mind in any event because it is in a military flying zone. It’s one thing to have a disagreement with a park ranger. It’s quite another to have it with a bunch of SBS squaddies who have just arrived by helicopter!! :open_mouth: :smile:

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In my application, I stated I would like to fly as a hobbyist. They come back to me that I need insurance. I wanted to get this anyway so will get one and post it back. I will update here with the outcome.

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To be fair they issue NOTAMS for the days they are doing stuff there …quite interesting when you live here and see them dropping stuff off …

Looking forward to seeing how the request from the OP goes on this one. It’s been a very interesting topic for those of us down here .

It certainly is a very interesting topic for locals. I tried phoning Durlston to get some clarifications but nobody was available. I may send an email after I’ve got my mind round all the intricacies.

I cannot see anything where they say they “only allow commercial”. What they say is "You must hold a current PfCO (Permission for Commercial Operations) granted by the CAA to fly at Durlston. For clarity, we deem the uploading of material to YouTube and other income generation sites as commercial work. A fee may be applied dependant on the type of commercial flying you wish to undertake."
If you have a YouTube account and do NOT gain any form of income from it then it is not commercial.
They also say “All pilots to have a banksman/watchman/observer with them.” I don’t think you need 2 observers.

I have a PfCO but have never done any commercial flying and did not intend to. I just wanted to learn as much as I could.
If I wish to make a flight under the PfCO conditions I have to have commercial insurance and I have arranged this via Flock. You only pay when you are actually going to fly and it is only for commercial work. flockcover.com.

The BMFA provides cover for hobbyist model aircraft and drone flyers. It comes with the membership which costs £38 per year. Cover is up to £25 million.

If you don’t already have a PfCO it is not possible to get one anymore. Durlston will presumably change this to GVC at sometime.There is no longer any distinction between commercial and hobby flying as far as the CAA is concerned.

If anyone can add anymore to this discussion it would be helpful in asking Durlston for clarifications.
Have I got any of this wrong?

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I’d deffo ask if you’re that way inclined (although I wouldn’t personally, I’d just fly) for clarification on the foreshore and crown estate.

The foreshore there doesn’t really exist …it’s cliffs you’d need to climb down …