insurance is not mandatory for recreational flights, recommended yes, not required.
commercial flights, yes it is mandatory… what becomes deemed as “commercial” could be a grey area… (£750,000 minimum plus compliant with (EC) 785/2004)
if I get paid for doing it one would say yes it is commercial… but how would one know that at the time of (before take off)
say I am a recreational flyer… how would one learn without being recreational… some of clips I think “wow, they are good”. so I now upload them to YouTube or some of the photo sharing websites… no guarantee they will be monetized or I will earn any money off them
if I earn 1 penny of any of them… does that now mean those are commercial? maybe… but this would be after the event… how would I now buy insurance retrospectively?
also I don’t need to register a side hustle and pay tax on it (potentially!!!) if I don’t earn over £1000 per annum… (search register as sole trader)
I would say that if someone commissioned me in advance to do something, that now becomes commercial, and should be treated as such… ie someone asks me to do something, and I agree to it and they accept that there is going to be a clear monetary payment for that.
if I’m just flying my drone about and upload it to YouTube or think it’s good and forward it to the business I may have been flying over as I thought “wow that looks good” … that would not be commercial as there is no guarantee of remuneration for it… providing I was not a sole trader for drone photography…
once I become a sole trader (some or all of which my side line earnings are attributed to drone photography) and am now earning more than £1000 from my side hustles (sole trading activities)… I could reasonably presume that I would be able to earn money from the imagery… then a whole lot more (most?) of the flights would automatically become “commercial” by nature… instead of being a sole trader, I would set up a limited company… that way you split what goes through the company and what is personal … it also limits your personal liability too
Air ambulances and police helicopters can and do fly below 400ft, often without prior notice, so a UAV pilot has to be vigilant. It’s not necessarily a drone flying too high…
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Is the general law on drones the same if I fly indoors or (with permission) on private property (apart from altitude obviously) ?
Do I need to have any legal concerns about teaching people to fly my drones (E58 & Mini 3) in the church hall at my church games evening ?
For example, when propeller guards (for safety indoors) take me slightly over 250g, could I be in trouble for flying too close to people ?
Would there be any issues with liability if someone was injured ?
no the CAA are not interested if you fly indoors as you are of no risk to other aircraft be that manned or unmanned.
do what you wish indoors (but consider people as you cannot fly over assemblies of people!!!.., IE you couldn’t fly a drone within a closed concert, ice hockey match (with spectators), Wimbledon court 1 with the roof closed or a music venue
extract of cap722 attached
here are two documents from the CAA that say the drone rules don’t apply to flying indoors… I’m not sure I agree because if you fly over assemblies of people they could not get out of the way if it
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://publicapps.caa.co.uk/docs/33/CAP2003_EU_Drone_Rules_Factsheet_V7%25201.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwj-7O-e17aDAxU8XEEAHb85A9UQFnoECC8QAQ&usg=AOvVaw0zSgHzzbsF9beu_zIfHqqi
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://publicapps.caa.co.uk/docs/33/CAP2007_EU_Drone_Rules_Factsheet_V7%25205.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwj-7O-e17aDAxU8XEEAHb85A9UQFnoECC4QAQ&usg=AOvVaw2SsySYPc-qB5EB6OWjtjem
and another source with an explanation
you would always be liable if you injure someone with your actions with anything… that is why one would take out insurance… but you may be covered under your home insurance or car insurance through personal liability insurance cover (one would need to read the policy cover and any exclusions as some home insurance or car insurance policies (with added personal liability cover as it’s normally an add on) cover other things as the cover is relatively cheap as the likelihood of actually being sued is relatively low as an actual occurrence (one generally has to prove negligence
For liability in negligence to be founded, four key ingredients must be present:
duty of care
breach of that duty
damage (which is caused by the breach)
foreseeability of such damage
the “reasonable person test” would also be applicable
