Dronecode

Thursday, 20 August, 2015

With the press reporting on UAV near misses in the UK there is increasing pressure on how to effectively deal with drones encroaching on airspace and a rational approach to safety. Clearly you DON’T want drones anywhere near commercial aircraft or over sensitive areas (e.g. nuclear power plants). That said - what exactly is a drone and at the very small end of the spectrum do you want to be criminalising children. Hoisting cameras on to drones (for example the very popular DJI Phantom series) adds an extra layer of complexity to negotiating the ramifications of low altitude, high resolution, cameras within personal spaces. From the perspective of an Earth scientist, these are wonderful ways of obtaining high resolution data of of the Earth’s surface. And for professional use you clearly do want some kind of licensing (see EuroUSC) and code of conduct that includes liability insurance for when things go wrong. And that’s before you even think about using that part of the airspace for automated deliveries.

With all this mind what’s the way forward? There’s no easy answer to that one and education seems to be a starting point. So the Civil Aviation Authority, the pilots union BALPA and air traffic control company NATS have launched a campaign call Dronecode to make people aware of the main issues which can be summarised as:

-Make sure you can see your drone at all times and don’t fly higher than 400 feet
-Always keep your drone away from aircraft, helicopters, airports and airfields
-Use your common sense and fly safely; you could be prosecuted if you don’t.

Drones fitted with cameras must not be flown:
-within 50 metres of people, vehicles, buildings or structures
-over congested areas or large gatherings such as concerts and sports events

These are eminently sensible - and remember that if you are taking photos, like any kind of photography you need a signed release form to use photos of people and buildings commercially. It will be interesting to see how UAV regulations develop in different countries.

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