Irresponsible drone flying.

tuxtopia · Nov 23, 2015

Last week in the UK, our consumer protection programme Watchdog had a piece about growing drone usage in the UK and how legislation isn't quite keeping up with the growing trend. They discussed proposed changes to the law and how soon some kind of registration programme may be implemented - which I think is essential.

I was then trawling YouTube this evening and came across a person who doesn't live too far from me who has been doing some of the most irresponsible i1 flying. Flying close to wind turbines, over one of the busiest motorways in the country (the M1) and also flying his i1 on a marathon 3.5 miles tour over villages in Northamptonshire. This kind of behaviour really annoys me because it only gives us irresponsible drone flyers a bad name.

I'm about to start my PFAW certification and I wouldn't in million years do anything like this.

The Editor · Nov 23, 2015

tuxtopia said:
Last week in the UK, our consumer protection programme Watchdog had a piece about growing drone usage in the UK and how legislation isn't quite keeping up with the growing trend. They discussed proposed changes to the law and how soon some kind of registration programme may be implemented - which I think is essential.

I was then trawling YouTube this evening and came across a person who doesn't live too far from me who has been doing some of the most irresponsible i1 flying. Flying close to wind turbines, over one of the busiest motorways in the country (the M1) and also flying his i1 on a marathon 3.5 miles tour over villages in Northamptonshire. This kind of behaviour really annoys me because it only gives us irresponsible drone flyers a bad name.

I'm about to start my PFAW certification and I wouldn't in million years do anything like this.

Send the details to the CAA together with the links to the offending videos.
Flying over the M1 is rediculous as well as flying those sort of distances BVLOS.
The fastest (most direct) route is [email protected]

tuxtopia · Nov 23, 2015

It does my head in. He's even added the URL to his car leasing business in the video. He even points out a near miss with a church spire - 10m into the second video.

The Editor · Nov 23, 2015

tuxtopia said:
It does my head in. He's even added the URL to his car leasing business in the video. He even points out a near miss with a church spire - 10m into the second video.

He shouldn't be that difficult for the authorities to find then!

apsussex · Nov 23, 2015

Unfortunately a lack of education using drones is why people do it a lot of the time, yes you`ll get a few that are totally ignorant of the laws, but those are the people that will struggle to get any work from it. I do think the registration program is a good idea and might be a deterrent for many.

Hercules_One · Nov 23, 2015

Also, deceiving thumbnail of the first video, I was expecting a wind turbine on fire gosh darn it!!

Joola · Nov 23, 2015

I'm not up to speed on the laws in the UK. Is this sort of flying outlawed over there?

tuxtopia · Nov 23, 2015

Joola said:
I'm not up to speed on the laws in the UK. Is this sort of flying outlawed over there?

The most basic rules as defined by the CAA are simple to understand.
Small Unmanned Aircraft (20kg or less) | Aircraft | Operations and Safety

Hercules_One · Nov 23, 2015

tuxtopia said:
The most basic rules as defined by the CAA are simple to understand.
Small Unmanned Aircraft (20kg or less) | Aircraft | Operations and Safety

Sorry the little offtopic, it caught my attention why CAA use meters (international measure) along with feet in the same law, do you know why is that? (I live in a country who uses international units)

tuxtopia · Nov 23, 2015

Hercules_One said:
Sorry the little offtopic, it caught my attention why CAA use meters (international measure) along with feet in the same law, do you know why is that? (I live in a country who uses international units)

You're right. Article 166 uses metric meters where as article 167 uses imperial feet! Odd.

Joola · Nov 23, 2015

tuxtopia said:
The most basic rules as defined by the CAA are simple to understand.
Small Unmanned Aircraft (20kg or less) | Aircraft | Operations and Safety

Thanks for sharing that link. It's pretty obvious he's operating in violation of those regulations.

The Editor · Nov 24, 2015

tuxtopia said:
You're right. Article 166 uses metric meters where as article 167 uses imperial feet! Odd.

Not odd - fairly standard in aviation....distance in meters, height/altitude in feet.
I have no idea why though.

Roger Pearson · Nov 24, 2015

Don't bother reporting this to the CAA. They are only really interested in things that pose a risk to other air users. This kind of thing is now the jurisdiction of the Police. Tell your local police station to investigate. They are now being given resources to do this (allegedly...poor guys!). Better still, find out who works in their drone department and speak to them about it.

Roger Pearson · Nov 24, 2015

The Editor said:
Not odd - fairly standard in aviation....distance in meters, height/altitude in feet.
I have no idea why though.

Actually, unless you are a drone and metric, aeronautical distance is probably in nautical miles and speed in knots. Meters are the devils work!

tuxtopia · Nov 24, 2015

Roger Pearson said:
Don't bother reporting this to the CAA. They are only really interested in things that pose a risk to other air users. This kind of thing is now the jurisdiction of the Police. Tell your local police station to investigate. They are now being given resources to do this (allegedly...poor guys!). Better still, find out who works in their drone department and speak to them about it.

My sisters husband is a high ranking police officer!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

online421 · Nov 24, 2015

not a responsible pilot! if something tragic happens then government will come down hard on us the drone users!

Hercules_One · Nov 24, 2015

After Editor kindly edited my bad language (sorry about that) I was still with the curiosity of a wind turbine on fire, just to found this, I felt bad when I read the fate of some of the operators.

https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/1q0sca/last_week_two_engineers_died_when_the_windmill/

And the video

Sorry the offtopic

AndyC · Nov 28, 2015

I guess we should be equally worried about the three here who reckon this is not irresponsible flying?.....

tuxtopia · Nov 28, 2015

BBC's Watchdog this week had a followup on their drone piece from the week before and they showed this heart breaking and life changing story about a drone which took out this infants eye.

The "pilot" if you can call him that was flying some kind of DIY racing drone. The drone clipped a tree and headed straight for the little boy and on contact, a rotor sliced one of his eyes. The little boy required extensive surgery but the eye had t be removed. So sad.

I asked myself why TF was he flying the drone near an infant in the first place and why didn't he have prop guards fitted!

AndyC · Nov 28, 2015

Part of the problem now is the ease with which these can be flown, in the dim and distant past flying this sort of gear took a lot of practice and a lot of money, it was in some respects self controlling, now anyone can fly these and they are considerd more "toy like" and of course we will always hear of idiots doing stupid things, sensible doesn't sell news!.....