Thread: Flying drones, the rules

A friend of mine sells, trains operators and flies drones for certain customers whom shall not be mentioned.

His equipment is not small , they carry payloads of up to 25kg.... mostly camera equipment.... but will accurately deliver parcels.

There is no legislation to control who can buy and operate drones of this size. There is also no registration on the drones themselves.

These drones can be downloaded with a flight schedule , an allotted task , a time group to operate and can be left completely to their own device to take off and return to any preset grid reference , anywhere there is satellite transmission available , at any time of day.

He is flat out travelling all over Australia to clients , doesn't know who most of them are or what their real intentions are.

Kind of scary when you consider the payload potential.

BTW , they have collision avoidance systems and fly at altitudes and flight routes that wont bother general aviation anyway.

Originally Posted by ramblingboy42

A friend of mine sells, trains operators and flies drones for certain customers whom shall not be mentioned.

His equipment is not small , they carry payloads of up to 25kg.... mostly camera equipment.... but will accurately deliver parcels.

There is no legislation to control who can buy and operate drones of this size. There is also no registration on the drones themselves.

These drones can be downloaded with a flight schedule , an allotted task , a time group to operate and can be left completely to their own device to take off and return to any preset grid reference , anywhere there is satellite transmission available , at any time of day.

He is flat out travelling all over Australia to clients , doesn't know who most of them are or what their real intentions are.

Kind of scary when you consider the payload potential.

BTW , they have collision avoidance systems and fly at altitudes and flight routes that wont bother general aviation anyway.

Not really collision avoidance but when the return to home function is used, mine climbs to a programmable height (to avoid trees and such) before it returns.

Originally Posted by Homestar

..... There are plenty of dumb arses around though who don't know or don't care about the rules (probably both)

The problem that those dumb arses have zero respect for others, and hence rules need to be made to restrict the level of disrespectfulness they believe to be their right.

Originally Posted by Homestar

..... I don't have to worry about what someone would do I feel I flew it over their property as I would never do that myself without the owners permission (like at the inlaws farm)

That's it .. respect. If everyone had ingrained into their psychology (best done at an early age) .. there be less need for authorities to create rules to meet modern demands .. and then the laws wouldn't necessarily be 'behind the times' every other day!

Thing is even with the route "smarts", you by law must retain Line of Sight to your drone.. and it's not allowed over people either...

Commercial drones also tend to have 1:5 flight ratio. 1 in every 5 end up in parts replacement.

The biggest risk is BOP strikes taking them down.

25kg Payload is small. Not a particularly large drone or price tag...

I was involved with rotary and fixed wing drones here a while ago - stuff that needs commercial licences and big $$$.

They're pretty impressive! We couldn't fly them on our northern leases without a tonne of paperwork either (WPA) but I can tell you they make light work of Aerial Survey

Originally Posted by fitzy

Shoot them down.
Just curious as to what height above ground level does a property owner have right/ control over.
Anyone?

Don't know the answer to that, but the rules state that you can't fly them within 30 metres of any persons not involved in the flying of the drone. So I guess if one comes low over your house and it then you hose it down, throw a ball at it, etc, you could claim self defence, or something .