Pitch and Putt

[FlushVision]

A couple of flights around the Pitch and Putt golf at Grains Bar, Oldham, England. A fairly windy day so the batteries didn't do too well though the H480 still held firm in the air.

Footage shot manual with shutter at 800 and 29.97 FPS. Resolution 4K

 

[AeroJ]

No no, that's far too jaunty a soundtrack for the epic-ness of the footage
Great shots though

 

[FlushVision]

No no, that's far too jaunty a soundtrack for the epic-ness of the footage
Great shots though

I was at a bit of a loss as to what music to use. The above video is just slightly longer than the ones I usually produce...I like to keep my videos at less than 2 minutes long...so I don't have much in my music library that would fit with a video of this length. A happy tune, though.

 

[Ron sinclair]

A couple of flights around the Pitch and Putt golf at Grains Bar, Oldham, England. A fairly windy day so the batteries didn't do too well though the H480 still held firm in the air.

Footage shot manual with shutter at 800 and 29.97 FPS. Resolution 4K

Nice video I am also in the UK and was wondering did you not worry about the restrictions in place being it was a public area I am constantly worried that someone is going to complain when I fly in my park or calling the police, being in the North West there are some great places I would love to fly my drone but constantly worry about the police turning up and confiscating the drone which I would be looking at about £1200 to replace, I think I should start looking at fly and be damned if you know what I mean lol, again great video

 

[AeroJ]

I think I should start looking at fly and be damned if you know what I mean lol, again great video

No, don't do that - remember your St-16 is logging every flight you make and the CAA/ police will grab that first if it comes to it, so they can find out exactly where you have been flying...
When I fly local golf course I speak to the manager first and ask (I even emailed mine to get agreement before I even rocked up) and he is usually cool if there aren't too many people playing (there rarely are on weekdays) and I offer to share the footage of course. However I can only fly on my local golf course because its location also happens not to convene any other CAA rules like being 150m away from a built up area for example, and being able to stay a consistent 50 m away from all players at all times (30m on launch / land)...

Even with all the rules and restrictions stacked up against us here in the UK, it is STILL possible to find good, safe , repeatable fly-sites, if you do your homework on Google maps first, and one of the various sites that shows NOTAMS and restricted areas. Also look up the Queens foreshore rules, which you should print out and take with you, which allow you to fly a whole load of beaches where you otherwise couldn't ! As for National Trust and English Heritage, 2 of the most biased and unfairly 'hostile-to drone-operator' organisations that exist in the world today, they will rigorously enforce, so you must be careful never to take off from their land. So find a border map, and find a take-off site right outside it, and then they can't stop you flying over into the airspace, and all those beautiful locations they so zealously guard can be yours too*...

*don't try that with nature reserves - there they really don't want you anywhere near them.

 

[Ric B]

Nicely done. Not sure if it would be allowed, but if there are no people around, a shot taking off from a tee and flying like a ball would be cool.

 

[Ron sinclair]

No, don't do that - remember your St-16 is logging every flight you make and the CAA/ police will grab that first if it comes to it, so they can find out exactly where you have been flying...
When I fly local golf course I speak to the manager first and ask (I even emailed mine to get agreement before I even rocked up) and he is usually cool if there aren't too many people playing (there rarely are on weekdays) and I offer to share the footage of course. However I can only fly on my local golf course because its location also happens not to convene any other CAA rules like being 150m away from a built up area for example, and being able to stay a consistent 50 m away from all players at all times (30m on launch / land)...

Even with all the rules and restrictions stacked up against us here in the UK, it is STILL possible to find good, safe , repeatable fly-sites, if you do your homework on Google maps first, and one of the various sites that shows NOTAMS and restricted areas. Also look up the Queens foreshore rules, which you should print out and take with you, which allow you to fly a whole load of beaches where you otherwise couldn't ! As for National Trust and English Heritage, 2 of the most biased and unfairly 'hostile-to drone-operator' organisations that exist in the world today, they will rigorously enforce, so you must be careful never to take off from their land. So find a border map, and find a take-off site right outside it, and then they can't stop you flying over into the airspace, and all those beautiful locations they guard can be yours too*...

*don't try that with nature reserves - there they really don't want you anywhere near them.

Member of two flying clubs and have plenty of places to fly including Southport beach it just sometimes you see a place that really would look good on camera and you cannot fly can sometimes be annoying but that's life yes I do know about the rules and regulations been flying for quite some time also all my drones are registered

 

[FlushVision]

I think I should start looking at fly and be damned if you know what I mean lol, again great video

Yes, I know what you mean.
The restrictions are a burden and...well...restrictive! But it still remains possible to have a good flight and not knowingly break any laws. The key is obtaining permissions and in my experience permissions are not generally difficult to come by. Also, remember that it is not against the law in the U.K. to fly over private land at a reasonable height even without the landowners permission...though it would be a courtesy to obtain a permission if you can. For example, I didn't have permission to fly over that Pitch & Putt course because I simply did not need permission. Where I did need to be more mindful was regarding any permissions needed for the place I took off from.

There is a great place for drone flights near to me that also happens to be a place of special scientific interest and is policed by an active environment protection group who go out of their way to make drone flights impossible. Normally, I would never be able to fly such an area but the way I've got around that is to become their 'drone pilot in residence' so to speak. Offering my professional services free of charge. But not only that, I had to present a safety case and impact statement to the local authority to obtain a permission. To my knowledge, I'm the only drone pilot that is legally entitled to fly that area (btw, I used that same permission to take off from the place I did for the above video).

It's all about permissions which are not that hard to come by. However, I gotta say that it is also my experience that if you don't or can't get a permission, it is unlikely that you will be 'collard' by the police unless you are doing something particularly stupid. The police are hard stretched and have to prioritize their resources so unless that copper is actually on scene you will most likely be long gone sitting at home having your tea by the time they arrive at your flight area...if at all (just make sure that whoever has whinged at you doesn't clock the registration number of your car!). Not advocating you break any laws of course: It is still my opinion that getting that permission is the best way.

 

[FlushVision]

Nicely done. Not sure if it would be allowed, but if there are no people around, a shot taking off from a tee and flying like a ball would be cool.

Yes, taking off from the tee would not be allowed but as I've already said above, getting a permission isn't generally that hard to come by from a golf club secretary, especially if you offered to take off at a time when there's no one around and you offered the club a bit of video.

That said, Most if not all golf clubs in the U.K. have already had professional drone fly-overs for marketing purposes, so you offering them some video probably wouldn't be that much of an incentive for them to give a permission...so offering video would be more of a courtesy IMHO.

 

[AeroJ]

Good XP there flush. That is my experience too. I even believe I am allowed reasonable exception to partially circumvent the 150m rule to a minor degree (is protected by solid block of tree cover), because I gave a safety flight demonstration to the local councillors which gained their approval and permission to fly on certain areas of the local heath and lake, cricket grounds and sports fields (not during matches obviously). They were very reasonable, and I have never caused them any problems doing many regular flights there... these have become my regular 'home grounds' serving as a decent base from which to plan more adventurous excursions into the wider hills !

 

[FlushVision]

Good XP there flush. That is my experience too. I even believe I am allowed reasonable exception to partially circumvent the 150m rule to a minor degree (is protected by solid block of tree cover), because I gave a safety flight demonstration to the local councillors which gained their approval and permission to fly on certain areas of the local heath and lake, cricket grounds and sports fields (not during matches obviously). They were very reasonable, and I have never caused them any problems doing many regular flights there... these have become my regular 'home grounds' serving as a decent base from which to plan more adventurous excursions into the wider hills !

Yes, It shows that it is quite possible to obtain a permission from a local authority where many would wrongly think that obtaining that permission would be nigh on impossible.

In all my time flying these pesky drones I have only very rarely been refused a permission, though I admit that there are some places that I know that I'd never get a permission so I don't bother to ask. Some places are 'time of year' dependent too! For example, It is not impossible to get a permission from the National Trust to fly some of their sites if applying to get a flight permission outside of times of the year that birds tend to nest.

Yeah, I've been turned down a few times but i've also obtained permissions that I was surprised to get. Some people just like to be asked...shown some courtesy.