Drone law change consultation.

[holwellcourtfarm]

HM Government are consulting on changes in the law to better regulate and control drone use. At present it's very "wild west" (my words) and they want to get it under control.

Those of you who are already using drones for farm use or leisure ought to respond.

One proposal is to make it compulsory to use an approved app to log your flight before take-off. Would that work? Do you all have a mobile signal where you would be flying to allow you to use an online app?

The consultation is here:

https://assets.publishing.service.g...ing-flight-the-future-of-drones-in-the-uk.pdf

 

[Pheasant Surprise]

DJI emailed me this at the end of July....


Fellow drone enthusiast,

We need your support in helping to protect the rights of the drone community. The last few years have been a really exciting time in the advancement of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) or, as we like to call them, drones but important decisions lie ahead.

Recently, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) was granted power by the European Parliament and Member States to introduce a European set of rules, which will affect how and where you can use your drone. The draft regulation is currently undergoing final negotiation at EU level, but some countries are considering additional regulations that don’t fit so easily with EASA rules. Here is where you come in.

We are now helping start the Network of Drone Enthusiasts (NODE) in Europe, an international grassroots group dedicated to representing the interests of responsible drone pilots, and we’d like you to get involved and be heard. The group will speak with one collaborative voice to local and regional legislators, guiding them in developing effective rules and regulations that not only protect public safety but encourage the enjoyment and benefits of drone technology.

Just a small investment of your time will play a big role in protecting your rights and the rights of fellow drone owners and pilots.

Join the Network of Drone Enthusiasts today by:

• Taking just 30 seconds to sign up on the website here .
• Following NODE’s Facebook and Twitter accounts for the latest news.
• Spreading the word about NODE with friends and fellow enthusiasts across the country.

Anyone who supports the advancement of drone technology is invited to join NODE.

Working together, we can help ensure that fair and consistent regulations will preserve our right to fly drones.

Sincerely,

DJI

 

[Clive]

think they should be banned unless profesional use can be proved - farmers have legitimate need as professionals and can fly 100% over private land but you average bloke has absolutely no need for one or anywhere to fly it

they are not toys, they are a burglars dream and potentially dangerous to public, they should never be used over private property without permission and never used in a public place

 

[Cowabunga]

HM Government are consulting on changes in the law to better regulate and control drone use. At present it's very "wild west" (my words) and they want to get it under control.

Those of you who are already using drones for farm use or leisure ought to respond.

One proposal is to make it compulsory to use an approved app to log your flight before take-off. Would that work? Do you all have a mobile signal where you would be flying to allow you to use an online app?

The consultation is here:

https://assets.publishing.service.g...ing-flight-the-future-of-drones-in-the-uk.pdf

Government want to control everything so that they can tax it and create more jobs for the boys. Tell them to f**k off.
If Clive doesn't like it if it flies over him, he could always mistake it for a crow and weight it down with lead pellets.

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

Any thoughts @Pan mixer ? I know you are using a drone commercially now.

 

[Doing it for the kids]

Thus putting the onus on Clive and others to police it.

If every other person had ‘gardens’ as large a us farmers they would be fed up to!

 

[Goweresque]

think they should be banned unless profesional use can be proved - farmers have legitimate need as professionals and can fly 100% over private land but you average bloke has absolutely no need for one or anywhere to fly it

they are not toys, they are a burglars dream and potentially dangerous to public, they should never be used over private property without permission and never used in a public place

I agree - if they're flying under the same rules as aircraft (ie airspace is open, you don't need the landowners permission) then they should be regulated like aircraft as well - each drone should be identifiable in the air (either visually or electronically, preferably both) and each owner should be on a register so if someone is up to no good with one there's at least a chance people on the wrong end of illegal behaviour can have a chance of redress.

The alternative is that they can only be flown with the land owners permission. Radio controlled planes can only use private land with permission, so I have no idea why drones should be any different.

 

[Cowabunga]

Thus putting the onus on Clive and others to police it.

If every other person had ‘gardens’ as large a us farmers they would be fed up to!

What have you to hide? I've had drones overhead but they never bother me. They can see the farm from Google Earth and maps and Apple Maps and all sorts, plus a good view into the yard from Street View. So why should I worry about a drone?
What the drone seldom shows is three big noisy dogs with teeth like tiger's.

 

[Tigger]

My hope is that the novelty of what were once unusual videos will wear off - there's only so many 'drone flying backwards away from newly-weds' videos that can be stomached surely before it gets old and boring. The intrusion on expectation of privacy is what most concerns me - I keep certain things hidden from passers-by on road or foot behind sheds or walls - but now my local thieving toerags can use a drone to get to, well, just about anywhere you can fly a drone in - including potentially inside buildings if there's a window open or a vent.

I saw at a vintage rally recently an exhibitor who'd taken their small child for a quick wee behind their lorry and behind roped off area - out of sight and out of public access, or so they thought, only to find a pesky drone appear and start hovering a few feet away - there was some choice language used.

I'd have no issue with use being restricted to professional/business - it's just sad though that yet more laws or regulations would be needed, as if we don't have enough already.

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

My hope is that the novelty of what were once unusual videos will wear off - there's only so many 'drone flying backwards away from newly-weds' videos that can be stomached surely before it gets old and boring. The intrusion on expectation of privacy is what most concerns me - I keep certain things hidden from passers-by on road or foot behind sheds or walls - but now my local thieving toerags can use a drone to get to, well, just about anywhere you can fly a drone in - including potentially inside buildings if there's a window open or a vent.

I saw at a vintage rally recently an exhibitor who'd taken their small child for a quick wee behind their lorry and behind roped off area - out of sight and out of public access, or so they thought, only to find a pesky drone appear and start hovering a few feet away - there was some choice language used.

I'd have no issue with use being restricted to professional/business - it's just sad though that yet more laws or regulations would be needed, as if we don't have enough already.

It's actually an offence now to operate one within 50M of an unrelated building or person. That law is currently unenforceable though.

 

[Henarar]

fair enough fly them where you like but you should be allowed to shoot them on your own land just the same as any other vermin

 

[Doing it for the kids]

What have you to hide? I've had drones overhead but they never bother me. They can see the farm from Google Earth and maps and Apple Maps and all sorts, plus a good view into the yard from Street View. So why should I worry about a drone?
What the drone seldom shows is three big noisy dogs with teeth like tiger's.

Street view and google eart to v little to help the pikies find my scrap bin and see what’s parked where and when. Drones are a totally different chat. They use night vision for poaching and drones for eying up targets.

You obviously have nothing of value nor any pikies sniffing around on a near Daily basis.

 

[Clive]

Government want to control everything so that they can tax it and create more jobs for the boys. Tell them to fudge off.
If Clive doesn't like it if it flies over him, he could always mistake it for a crow and weight it down with lead pellets.

if the one that come over my house or pokes around our yard quite often happens to come when I'm cleaning a gun it will certainly be the last time its owner sees it

 

[Clive]

I agree - if they're flying under the same rules as aircraft (ie airspace is open, you don't need the landowners permission) then they should be regulated like aircraft as well - each drone should be identifiable in the air (either visually or electronically, preferably both) and each owner should be on a register so if someone is up to no good with one there's at least a chance people on the wrong end of illegal behaviour can have a chance of redress.

The alternative is that they can only be flown with the land owners permission. Radio controlled planes can only use private land with permission, so I have no idea why drones should be any different.

air space isn't completely open - I had to do an air law exam when I got my pilots licence along with half a dozen more exams - none of which were easy !

You cannot fly over a congested area of a city, town or settlement below a height of 1000ft above the highest fixed object within 600 metres of the aircraft,

and

you cannot fly closer than 500ft to any person, vessel, vehicle or structure.

Both are subject to certain exemptions.

the 500ft is not necessarily vertical, it could be horizontal or slant.

https://www.caa.co.uk/General-aviation/Safety-information/The-Skyway-Code/

 

[Grassman]

Apparently very popular with criminals. Used for transporting drugs and delivering to customers.
Surveying property prior to burglary, etc.
But we have to be realistic. Too much legislation only affects the law abiding. Criminals don't give a feck about rules.

 

[Cowabunga]

I'd have no issue with use being restricted to professional/business - it's just sad though that yet more laws or regulations would be needed, as if we don't have enough already.

Apart from flying in some danger areas, we really don't need more laws or regulations than we currently have. We just don't. The growth in sales and private use of drones is already flattening out if not falling. Its something people fairly quickly tire of.
Peeing behind a hedge has always been a 'risky' business, especially at events. I'm sure there were portaloos on the field somewhere. There had to be and they were there for use to avoid public defecation, not as ornaments.

It reminds me of people demanding laws to reduce diesel car sales and use. Diesel car sales have fallen to probably half what they were five or six years ago without any extra regulations, so why bother having any more regulations. Nobody in cities is buying a diesel car nowadays.

 

[Goweresque]

air space isn't completely open - I had to do an air law exam when I learnt to fly along with have a dozen more

flying below 500ft would get any non military pilot in a LOT of trouble, same as getting anywhere near a public crowd etc

What I meant was that drones seem to operate more under aircraft rules (ie can fly wherever they like without permission, within certain parameters) than under normal private property law, ie you couldn't use a remote control car, or a quad bike on private land without permission, so why a drone?

If they're business tools then having to have permission would not be an issue as you'd be working for the landowner, if they're toys then there's no need to suspend the need for permission either.

 

[Clive]

What I meant was that drones seem to operate more under aircraft rules (ie can fly wherever they like without permission, within certain parameters) than under normal private property law, ie you couldn't use a remote control car, or a quad bike on private land without permission, so why a drone?

If they're business tools then having to have permission would not be an issue as you'd be working for the landowner, if they're toys then there's no need to suspend the need for permission either.

iMO they just seem to ignore most of the rules re low flying and proximity to public that all other aircraft have to abide by

you are right that you can fly where you like (with some exceptions) but key is that has to be within certain parameters and min altitude / proximity to crowd, settlement, property and vessel are the most important of those parameters that drones appear to not have to abide by ...................and they should as they exit to protect people and propery

 

[JP1]

I think they might have a problem in that Amazon when they bought Fresh Foods in America already deliver groceries by drone and that's the way it's going

Home Office lost the plot with Birmingham and other prisons some while back

Stopping amateurs using drones for legitimate purposes won't stop any of that

I don't own a lot of land and may probably ask the landowner to film his new buildings or friends herds of cattle but I don't think it should be made illegal for ordinary folks

 

[Goweresque]

Apart from flying in some danger areas, we really don't need more laws or regulations than we currently have. We just don't. The growth in sales and private use of drones is already flattening out if not falling. Its something people fairly quickly tire of.
Peeing behind a hedge has always been a 'risky' business, especially at events. I'm sure there were portaloos on the field somewhere. There had to be and they were there for use to avoid public defecation, not as ornaments.

It reminds me of people demanding laws to reduce diesel car sales and use. Diesel car sales have fallen to probably half what they were five or six years ago without any extra regulations, so why bother having any more regulations. Nobody in cities is buying a diesel car nowadays.

Fine - then just give householders and landowners some legal means of redress when these things are used in illegal ways. Its no good just saying to drone users 'Don't do x,y and z' if there's zero way of enforcing it, and not allowing the person being affected to do anything themselves, legally at least. As things stand, if someone is using one of these to spy on you there is nothing you can do to prevent it. You can't identify the user, you can't seize any footage taken, you can't destroy the drone.

An alternative would be to force drones to have a dead man switch that can be activated by anyone using a cheaply available remote control unit. And say its illegal to use it other than to enforce the current rules on drones. That would even up the playing field a bit. If drone users are on their honour to use them legally, then they'd have to accept everyone else is on their honour not to down their drone illegally.