UK drone users to sit safety tests under new lawhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42126150
New Drone tests introduced next year in the uk
- Thread starter Gary Cooper
- Start date
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2016
- Messages
- 1,050
- Reaction score
- 435
I don't know, Gary Cooper, IMHO, it'll take a while yet but it'll only need a bit of enforcement and a few fairly stiff fines to be dished out and aircraft confiscated as a 'reminder' - and I think that the idea of flying unqualified will soon lose its appeal.
Droning is a pretty high profile hobby when you're out there in the field and for those breaking the laws, skulking around and continually looking over your shoulder will take the gloss off the activity, I feel. Time will tell anyway....
Luckily, I won't have to do either because, as yet, there are absolutely no rules or laws in the country in which I live.
Droning is a pretty high profile hobby when you're out there in the field and for those breaking the laws, skulking around and continually looking over your shoulder will take the gloss off the activity, I feel. Time will tell anyway....
Luckily, I won't have to do either because, as yet, there are absolutely no rules or laws in the country in which I live.
..... yetI don't know, Gary Cooper, IMHO, it'll take a while yet but it'll only need a bit of enforcement and a few fairly stiff fines to be dished out and aircraft confiscated as a 'reminder' - and I think that the idea of flying unqualified will soon lose its appeal.
Droning is a pretty high profile hobby when you're out there in the field and for those breaking the laws, skulking around and continually looking over your shoulder will take the gloss off the activity, I feel. Time will tell anyway....
Luckily, I won't have to do either because, as yet, there are absolutely no rules or laws in the country in which I live.
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2016
- Messages
- 1,050
- Reaction score
- 435
Yep - as you saw, I included the word 'yet' in my post...
But luckily my now home country has a far more realistic attitude to the law and enforcement thereof..
Take a random example... The UK, which blindly follows EU directives (but for how much longer?), took action and sometimes quite ridiculous actions in enforcing the no-smoking laws in pubs universally, thus leading to the even faster decline in numbers of pubs extant. Wasn't one landlord even prosecuted for having a solitary quick drag in his own bar 2 minutes after official opening time? But I don't need to describe it all because I'm sure you know all about it already.
My country? Well, they also tried to show willing to the EU and introduced similar laws about smoking in bars - but on seeing that it was decimating the trade of bars across the country, they quickly backtracked and apart from some bars in larger cities, things now go on just as before.
I think that the same but with opposite reasoning will be true for any possible drone laws here in the future. Even though they may exist in the future,nobody will worry about them because so few are likely to be affected by them and they will remain unenforced.
There's also a large culture and mindset difference here too. I live way out in the country and near my house there are only about 10 other houses. It's a hamlet, by UK definition. Unlike the UK mindset of 'Let's spoil everyone's fun just because I can', my neighbours, who all know it's my drone, will, in contrast, rush out and wave to the camera and then next day will ask me if I saw them waving...
(I'm not opening up a debate on smoking or non-smoking above, that was just a case-in-point).
But luckily my now home country has a far more realistic attitude to the law and enforcement thereof..
Take a random example... The UK, which blindly follows EU directives (but for how much longer?
), took action and sometimes quite ridiculous actions in enforcing the no-smoking laws in pubs universally, thus leading to the even faster decline in numbers of pubs extant. Wasn't one landlord even prosecuted for having a solitary quick drag in his own bar 2 minutes after official opening time? But I don't need to describe it all because I'm sure you know all about it already.My country? Well, they also tried to show willing to the EU and introduced similar laws about smoking in bars - but on seeing that it was decimating the trade of bars across the country, they quickly backtracked and apart from some bars in larger cities, things now go on just as before.
I think that the same but with opposite reasoning will be true for any possible drone laws here in the future. Even though they may exist in the future,nobody will worry about them because so few are likely to be affected by them and they will remain unenforced.
There's also a large culture and mindset difference here too. I live way out in the country and near my house there are only about 10 other houses. It's a hamlet, by UK definition. Unlike the UK mindset of 'Let's spoil everyone's fun just because I can', my neighbours, who all know it's my drone, will, in contrast, rush out and wave to the camera and then next day will ask me if I saw them waving...
(I'm not opening up a debate on smoking or non-smoking above, that was just a case-in-point).
They have to do something.
My problem with the current UK rules is they are universal regardless of weight, so eg 50M is sensible distance for a ~1.5Kg Phantom4, but not a kids toy quad - which currently can't be legally flown in a garden. Similarly 150M congested limit is sensible in a genuinely congested location with crowds/dense housing, but CAA seem to have twisted this to mean anywhere people live, work or leisure, ie anywhere there is a house within 150M which is most of the interesting parts you'd want to fly anyway.
My view is they should have specific distance limits for over/under 1.5Kg providing you register/have insurance/put name/number on quad, and the minimum weight for regs should be something like 600g (providing range is under 250M) then you are controlling the Mavic/Phantom/above which are big enough to worry about, and kids toys are all excluded (their range is generally so short they should be harmless to GA).
My problem with the current UK rules is they are universal regardless of weight, so eg 50M is sensible distance for a ~1.5Kg Phantom4, but not a kids toy quad - which currently can't be legally flown in a garden. Similarly 150M congested limit is sensible in a genuinely congested location with crowds/dense housing, but CAA seem to have twisted this to mean anywhere people live, work or leisure, ie anywhere there is a house within 150M which is most of the interesting parts you'd want to fly anyway.
My view is they should have specific distance limits for over/under 1.5Kg providing you register/have insurance/put name/number on quad, and the minimum weight for regs should be something like 600g (providing range is under 250M) then you are controlling the Mavic/Phantom/above which are big enough to worry about, and kids toys are all excluded (their range is generally so short they should be harmless to GA).
Personally i class my self as a completely different pilot to the 81 supposed incidents quoted in that article. Most of which were probably too stupid to adhere to not flying near airports etc. Are the likely to pay any attention to new rules?
I agree the rules need amended as they are vague in some areas, i.e:
Does the current or new legislation define a congested area accurately?
Maybe they just want to squeeze the pockets of safe, sensible drone users, with a charge for a test?
Knowing how the UK has legislated on things historically I'm sure they've have someone who doesn't have a clue in charge of this.
Did dji tell the BBC they'd already disabled many people's p4s from flying?
Anyway, look forward to more views on this.
I agree the rules need amended as they are vague in some areas, i.e:
Does the current or new legislation define a congested area accurately?
Maybe they just want to squeeze the pockets of safe, sensible drone users, with a charge for a test?
Knowing how the UK has legislated on things historically I'm sure they've have someone who doesn't have a clue in charge of this.
Did dji tell the BBC they'd already disabled many people's p4s from flying?
Anyway, look forward to more views on this.
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2016
- Messages
- 3,591
- Reaction score
- 1,540
- Age
- 44
Beat me to it Gary lol won’t make a difference as there are firmware cracks already available to remove height restrictions as it is. It just means now anyone seen with a drone before it’s even launched will get the angry mob having a go at them such as “you better not take pics of my wife and kids”, etc..... looks like this hobby is now screwed [emoji17]
Similar threads
