50 metre rule

[clive long]

Hi, so here in the uk we all know the rule about flying within 50 metres of buildings and people but what happens if I was minding my own buisness following the rules and a crowd of people came to me. Do I have to stop flying and find somewhere else?

Thanks

 

[Tim Lewis]

I'm in the U.S., so I don't know bout the U.K. rulings, but I do know that if a drone is being used during the filming of a movie in any country, if a person who isn't supposed to be on the film set walks on the set, the drone must land immediately.

 

[clive long]

Really? That could be down to privacy yes. I was more thinking about when out fying without necessarily filming anything and you get a crowd of people just watching you out of interest.

 

[Tim Lewis]

I was at an event yesterday, flying with a few drone businesses. Drones were being sold at the event, and I guess we were there to spark an interest in people buying them. We just asked people when we were taking off and landing, if they could keep back a ways, until the drone was far off or landed with motors shut down. Everyone was cool with it. Kids running around without someone keeping an eye on them, and not knowing the danger of a prop strike, is what we focused on. As far as rules, I've heard we need to keep at least 25ft from people. But, I've also heard 100ft. On one landing yesterday, kids couldn't hear me warning them, so I walked off about 50ft from where they were playing, to land. Some people catch their drone in the air, then turn off the motors

 

[clive long]

Yeah I used to catch land my old phantom 3. Not sure I'll be able to do that with the new typhoon h when it finally gets released.

Thanks for the info ☺

 

[Colin]

It's simple enough... if you get inundated with people you keep the aircraft 50m away from you (and them) and when you want to land that too has to be 50m away from the nearest person. A lot easier to do with a multirotor than it is a plane. I've been about to land a plane in a deserted spot several times when people suddenly appear out of the blue and set up a picnic right where I wanted to land. Looking around for a backup landing place prior to flying is in the BMFA rule book too if I remember rightly.

 

[Ren57]

Hi, so here in the uk we all know the rule about flying within 50 metres of buildings and people but what happens if I was minding my own buisness following the rules and a crowd of people came to me. Do I have to stop flying and find somewhere else?

Thanks

These are the rules in the UK. You have to be at least 50 metres away from any person or persons that are not under your control whilst you are flying and 30 metres away from any person not under your control during take off and landing. So if a crowd of people suddenly come up to you, in the first instance, put your aircraft into a safe configuration.at least 50 metres from the people. Tell them that for safety it might be best if they stay at least 50 metres away from where you are flying. Of course they might just ignore you! After all, you can't order them to stay away. In that case you must land your aircraft at least 30 metres away from where the crowd of people are. If you go to your place of flying with a group of friends, then they will be deemed to be under your control and you can fly as close to them as you like. The thing to remember is 'UNDER YOUR CONTROL'. If a person or persons who you do not know suddenly come up to you whilst you are flying, then they are not under your control. If you go to your place of flying with a person or a group for the purpose of observing your flight, then they are under your control. That's it basically! Safe flying..

 

[clive long]

Great thanks, that's cleared that up now