Menu Sign In Contact FAQ
Banner
Welcome to our forums

Private drones - rules and dangers

In the Netherlands a discussion started because someone took some footage of a building on fire with a drone carrying a GoPro camera. From the video it seems that the drone was flying higher than 1000 ft and overhead buildings, which is not allowed for private drones.

The current official rules, in the Netherlands, are these:

  • If you are operating a drone professionally you need to have prior permission to fly with it and a NOTAM will be published.
    In this case you are restricted to fly no higher than 400 ft.
  • If you are operating a drone private you have permission to fly it everywhere up to 1000 ft and are partially subject to airlaw and airrules.

In both cases a altimeter is not mandatory.

The latter rule means that in class G airspace a private drone and a airplane are flying in the same airspace (pilots are allowed to descent to 500 ft). This got the discussion started if it is needed to change these rules, because as a pilot flying in class G you are never aware of where a private drone could be flying. It could be anywhere, although a private drone is not allowed to fly overhead buildings and crowds. But that leaves plenty of space, even in the Netherlands. The drones are to small to be seen (in time) in the air to avoid a collision and they can be as heavy as 25 kg. So, running into a 25 kg drone with say 90 kts will get you in a nasty situation.

Note: the drone operator did put the video on YouTube, but rapidly removed it when the discussion started if the situation at hand was legal or not.

What are the rules in other countries regarding private drones and what is your opion on this matter?

Last Edited by CCO709 at 06 Feb 12:35
EHLE (Lelystad - NL), Netherlands

Have to say I am stunned that drones are allowed up to 1000ft in NL! Would have thought that someone had the sense to separate the things from the rest of aviation, i. e. 500ft.

That said, many countries are currently drafting laws re drones. As so often, the technology has outrun the lawmakers. I’m pretty sure we’ll see a raft of regulations in the very near future. Hopefully a bit more sensible than the NL ones.

The UK has a 7kg weight limit on radio controlled planes. There doesn’t appear to be a height limit in Class G.

There are loads of youtube videos taken from FPV or proper-movie-camera-equipped aircraft obviously in controlled airspace, say FL100-200. It’s quite a well discussed topic on the RC forums (my son used to be into that) and obviously pretty controversial.

Fortunately most of the pilots are not that stupid, to get that far needs specialised radio gear (modified for high power, sometimes with a tracking parabolic antenna) and the sky is big…

Nevertheless I think the first model plane going through an airliner window is going to change the rules drastically, and probably the same with drones.

It is hard to make a case for restricting drones in Class G more than model planes, given that we can fly in Class G non-radio, and given that visual lookout is pretty inadequate at the best of times. Over 7kg they need permission so the drone operators will need to deal with that if over 7kg.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Especially so when you’re not allowd to fly above 1200ft in the Netherlands if you only have a mode C transponder!

EIWT Weston, Ireland

It is hard to make a case for restricting drones in Class G more than model planes

Some thoughts, though:

-) down here, model planes are restricted to their fields and associated “ATZ”, and these fields are licensed and registered and published. That’s a long way from anybody flying any drone anywhere. On top, I also seem to remember they are limited to 500’ AGL
-) my biggest concern about drones and R/C models is their weight/size ratio. One encounters birds, including the occasional strike, but birds are very light for their size, so either they are small thus light thus mostly harmless, or they are of some weight but then they can be seen, most of the time. OTOH the marvels of today’s technology are quite diminutive for their weight.
-) a 1000’ AGL altitude limit as reported for the Netherlands seems to make sense (rare as it is to see some new Dutch regulation that is not utterly ridiculous…) ; few VFR pilots round here would fly lower, most are at 1500-2000.

EBZH Kiewit, Belgium

I have an impression that while dedicated model flying guys are reasonably aware of the rules of the air, there is also an ever-growing multicopter aerial photo community buying their kit from Chinese web shops, and these guys are blissfully negligent in their operations.

LKBU (near Prague), Czech Republic

Any help here? I’m trying to fly a small 1kg DJI phantom drone over Amsterdam, but as I am not an expert, I would like to know if this is legal for commercial and/or private use? I’ve read that the laws are very grey concerning drone use.

In Greece the rules are generally as follows:

There are recreational models and scientific/military ones, which they call UAVs.

For recreational models the following apply:

Always line of sight, so no “Ardupilot” stuff…

There are two categories, 350gr-7 kg and 7-25 kg. They must all fly below 400 ft and outside (only) 3 km from controlled airports.

Everything else needs special permission for NOTAM etc.

Apart from the above, which is documented in a decree, the AIP says that they must have appropriate permission from the CAA (local or central), but this is of course vague.

Technology is far ahead from legislation…

Last Edited by atmilatos at 27 Aug 12:47
LGMT (Mytilene, Lesvos, Greece), Greece

I think it’s only a matter of time before the **** hits the fan and there is some serious legislation in this area. There are too many people making FPV movies from FL100-200 overhead Heathrow airport, etc. and putting them online.

My son used to be into model flying / FPV and while he didn’t do anything totally crazy (probably because I kept telling him that if he kills some pilot and his passengers he will have to live with it for the rest of his life) there are plenty of others in that crowd who thought nothing of flying at say 2000ft around Shoreham airport, which is simply stupid because a 1-2kg model plane will go straight through the window of a GA plane and easily kill the pilot. But under 7kg and in Class G you can do what you like – currently.

FPV is dodgy technically (signal reception is a tricky thing to get reliable over distance, even with steered parabolic antennae and way-illegal power levels) so many/most of the models get lost / smashed up, but it is possible to get one which you can program and it will fly by itself to the target area, take photos, and fly back to you. I don’t see how anybody is going to stop people doing that sort of thing – so long as the models are easily obtained.

Last Edited by Peter at 27 Aug 14:26
Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Another example of what I took to be bad practice (though not 100% sure this footage came from it):



I happened to walk by this tower just after it was blown up, and there was a drone hovering directly above some packed crowds. Not sure whether this footage was from the drone, and it was clearly a professional outfit. But not sensible in my opinion.

70 Posts
Sign in to add your message

Back to Top