CAA Regulations Confuseing me.

[CyclingSalmon14]

Iv been flying a while now...and am looking at doing non profit non commercial aerial videograpy.

 

But the CAA state dont fly withing 50m of people or buildings...however everyone dose that pretty much every youtube video ever even the licenced section 33 pros.

 

Weather its at events through out the UK or just recreationally or people who are well known and dont hide there identitys people are not fined or done for flying in a way that contradicts these rules...they upload videos to there channels ect.

 

I want to fly legal and safe but at the same time what seems to be fine and whateveryone is doing is in direct contrast to the rules?

 

How do I explain this to a "client" whos read up on the drone reqs?  I cant be expected to actually stay 50m away from every building if my subject is a that building, or the people below (actors, sports people who are part of the shoot)

 

Obvously the rules are not optional as people have been arrested for reckless flying...but people who regularly breach the rules and are traceable are not.

 

Its confusing and how do I stand with this.

 

[turok007]

34 minutes ago, CyclingSalmon14 said:

Iv been flying a while now...and am looking at doing non profit non commercial aerial videograpy.

 

But the CAA state dont fly withing 50m of people or buildings...however everyone dose that pretty much every youtube video ever even the licenced section 33 pros.

 

Weather its at events through out the UK or just recreationally or people who are well known and dont hide there identitys people are not fined or done for flying in a way that contradicts these rules...they upload videos to there channels ect.

 

I want to fly legal and safe but at the same time what seems to be fine and whateveryone is doing is in direct contrast to the rules?

 

How do I explain this to a "client" whos read up on the drone reqs?  I cant be expected to actually stay 50m away from every building if my subject is a that building, or the people below (actors, sports people who are part of the shoot)

 

Obvously the rules are not optional as people have been arrested for reckless flying...but people who regularly breach the rules and are traceable are not.

 

Its confusing and how do I stand with this.

 

if you have control of the building or people then that is fine.  Also you cannot take off near people but you can fly over people at a certain height. But that is if your just at a park doing normal flying.     also you cannot do work for anyone even if your not getting paid. Unless you can sort of prove you did it for free  as even loading the video up to youtube counts as making money from it.    But if you take a proper test you can do what you want like the BBC does lol

[CyclingSalmon14]

Right that makes sense and was along the lines I was thinking of, Obviously I would not be flying near or over random people or videos it would be planned scenes ect for my own videos, I like to consider myself a responsible operator as always make sure to be courteous when flying and keep my craft in a suitable condition, calibrated, tightend up ect.

 

99% of the time I only get positive comments or questions, and Im happy to explain or stop for a while if a person has a problem with me.

 

I understand the commercial side of it as have had those conversations in depth with people who do it for a living.

 

Thanks for the quick reply.

[turok007]

 

Right that makes sense and was along the lines I was thinking of, Obviously I would not be flying near or over random people or videos it would be planned scenes ect for my own videos, I like to consider myself a responsible operator as always make sure to be courteous when flying and keep my craft in a suitable condition, calibrated, tightend up ect.

 

99% of the time I only get positive comments or questions, and Im happy to explain or stop for a while if a person has a problem with me.

 

I understand the commercial side of it as have had those conversations in depth with people who do it for a living.

 

Thanks for the quick reply.

This might help you out. 

 

[CyclingSalmon14]

Cheers, seen this one already, dont think its ready yet IMO lol, gonna stick with a spotter and my googles for now.

[Tamiyacowboy]

ok your flying a fast jet and the dude behind you says " can we fly under the bridge "  what do you do ? 

now most will say you do what the customer asks, but lets just take senario the plane becomes unstable and you ditch it, thats a half million quid down the drain.
your insurnace company asking questions and two familys laying to rest loved ones. 

here is how i stand and my stance , "YOU ARE THE CONTROLLER - PILOT " this means everything is upon your shoulders , the blame etc , everything.
Now yes as drone pilots we will be asked to do things we would not normaly do, aka vertical drop a building, low pass humans/animals and fly in a unsafe manner.
BUT as the pilot and owner of machine YOU and only YOU have the knowledge and skills to decided if those moves are correct and will not cause a danger to oneself/others and/or surroundings. 

law on aerial photo and video. it costs around 5-6 grand to become licenced and your craft will need a cert to aka a CAA craft check, it will be checked and double checked for air worthness , then you can fly and record things for a personal/company gain. lets just say your not as most of us are not anyways. this is the gray area.

i fly drone and you want footage, so in return you offer me a hamburger meal after we have flown around, is it a payment or not ? well that hamburger costs money ok only 99p but its a cost and its kinda a payment. that sticks for all. so in my eyes its payment. for personal use i see no problem with flight videos/images so long as they are done at a safe distance and within drone regulations, ie 50m or more from humans and 150m or more from buildings with a max flight ceiling of no more than 400m , and free from any comerical/military airspace designations. 

you could turn up and hand joe blogs the handset and havehim capture his own footage BUT you cannot take any payment for that data captured, if he stuffs your drone then gives you 300 quid to fix it, thats getting paid your now breaking CAA regulations and the photography/video capturing laws, my advice would be if your unsure its safe or legal do not fly it, explain to the friend or customer YOU AND ONLY YOU can decide what is a safe flight and what is not (covering your back) and if they are not happy find someone else thats willing to break those hard set laws and controls on drones but at their own risk ( well mr x said fly here and do this and that he forced/cohersed me into that flight plan path).
the bottom line is you as opperator have the final say, yes i will fly there , or NO it is deemed unsafe for me to fly there as i am not in a safe zone and i have to consider not only you the customer , but the public and property around us at all times.if you abide by the rules governed you should still get some awesome footage and at the same time be safe in that manner and legally safe to.

NEVER EVER as a pilot be forced or talked into something you would not normaly do when flying