Drone Notice at campsite

[Two-Six]

I thought that this might be interesting.

This notice was on a noticeboard at a camp site in Scotland.  I asked the owner, a distinguished old chappy, if I could fly my models and quad.  He said the electric Bixler was OK but not the quad.  He said he had " a drone" himself and I think he was probably into RC and planes in general. 

Fair enough, then I saw this notice he had put up.  At least he was coming from an informed stand point about the 50 meter rules, not sure about the 30 meter thing and  the last bit about filming people was a bit misguided. 

Its a shame this idea that you can';t film people "cos its illegal" is so prevalent.  As far as I am aware you can film anybody you like a public place and there is nothing they can do about it.

Its also a shame that people only get miffed if its a "drone" that';s potentially "filming" them but they don';t give two hoots about the multitude of surveillance cameras that definitely film them all the time everywhere they go. 




Dunno why its in landscape...

[Gav]

good on the campsite owner - I love RC flying but there is a time and place for it and that is away from people including people on hols. Peeps who don';t care for model flying and want peace  n quiet, just don';t want the infringement of such a thing nearby.  I have taken a quad camping with me before - but I made sure I went into an empty field away from the site to get my LOS flying fix.  I hate flying near folks anyways.

perhaps we will start to see campsite reviews / websites now with ICONS depicting if its Quad friendly with special remote flying field (now wouldn';t that be good), just like you get the icons for Dog friendly, has a swimming pool, on site shop, electric hook up etc

[LuMan]

Yep. Sensible approach. Caravan parks can get busy enough without having to keep an eye out for errant flying machines. Plus, it only takes one out-of-control drone to hit someone and the whole hobby gets outlawed.

Like Gav says, there';s a time and a place for it, so we should lead by example 

[Two-Six]

A drone friendly rating for campsites.  That would be great...Probably.

However it might make campsite owners actually think about whether they would allow Drone/RC flying and the conclusion most of them might well have is NO.  Call me cynical if you like ;-)

That said, that camp site was the only one that had an official policy, which I did find interesting in its own right.  I was also impressed that it was an informed ban and not just an ill-informed knee-jerk drone fear-based ban..If you know what I mean.

Perhaps I have just been lucky.....Pretty much every camp site owner I have asked about flying RC things so far this year has said,  fine no problem.

The general attitude is if it makes you happy and you have a good stay in my field, do what you want.  Which is nice.  In fact the reactions have been really positive, one camp-site lady asked if she could bring her kids over to have a look at my quad flying.

Here is a panoramic piccy, taken from the van';s back door of the camp site.  It really was one of the best camp sites for views and location that we have ever stayed at.



Shame the weather was on the whole totally terrible, still that';s Scotland :-)

[Digit]

You can take photos and video of whatever you want in a public place. Also as far as I';m the aware the 50m/30m rule is only applicable if you have a camera on the aircraft (feel free to tell me I';m wrong if I am).
But good that the decision is informed.

[nub]

the question is why would you want to fly a drone about a Camp site anyways?

would think most are not drone friendly if your talking about flying about/above the actual campsite, though they might think differently about something small like the blade inductrix

[Bajadre]

only time ive flown at a campsite was a few years ago down devon cliffs park but its a massive park located near a huge cliff,i went down to the beach early in the morning when only the dog walkers were about and had a lil fly on the beach down there,didnt go too high  as I noticed 100ft on other side is a army shooting range   

can understand if its a small park though,as theres always places usually local to fly by camp sites instead of flying over people.. or crashing into a caravanette   

[Two-Six]

That camp site in Scotland wasn';t suitable at all for flying anything, neither was the beach.  The fields/moorland behind would have been brilliant to fly over.  However the weather went pants when we were there.  My RC things aren';t waterproof :-)

I don';t mean literally fly IN the camp sites, dodging between peoples vans 

Most of the sites I stay at are small sites or caravan club "certified locations", they have a maximum of 5 outfits on the site, have water, a chem-bog dump point, and often electricity.  They are usually deep in the country, on farms or in the grounds of estates, that kind of thing.  They often have large areas where flying is fine away from people nearby.

I am going to make a positive effort to ask the site owners if its OK to fly, better than than having an irate one on my hands. 

Also before I do fly, I have been making positive efforts to talk to fellow campers to make sure they don';t mind me flying my quad or what ever.  I have found its a great in-road into having a chat with people actually.  So well worth doing.  I haven';t met an objector yet.

[LuMan]

Good approach, Two-Six. Also helps remove a lot of the stigma associated with new ';fads'; and hobbies.

Is there any mileage in creating a thread for drone-friendly sites? Something like:

Site Name: [e.g. My Farm, My Town, My County]
Location: [Grid ref, GPS, Lat-Long]
Type: [Field, farm, beach, copse, cliff, etc..]
Info: [How to get there. What to expect. What it';s like to fly in. Anything else]
Owner: [If relevant]
Considerations: [Such as, folk fly there, but there';s no official agreement. Or, look out for dog-walkers. That sort of thing]
Media: [Pictures / Maps / Video...]

That sort of thing?

[Hands0n]

Is there any mileage in creating a thread for drone-friendly sites? Something like:

Go on then. Whats the worst that could happen?   

[Area21]

You can take photos and video of whatever you want in a public place. Also as far as I';m the aware the 50m/30m rule is only applicable if you have a camera on the aircraft (feel free to tell me I';m wrong if I am).
But good that the decision is informed.

This should help if the link works.   http://www.multi-rotor.co.uk/index.php?topic=18848.0

[LuMan]

Go on then. Whats the worst that could happen?   

Done: http://www.multi-rotor.co.uk/index.php?topic=19331.0

::)