News Archives - Approved Drone Pilots

National Geographic Take Position

ADPADMIN — Thu, 02 Aug 2018 23:18:57 +0000

The CAA have revised the ANO, the UK government are undertaking a consultation that we seriously urge you to take part in, the details can be found here, and some customers are beginning to ask about insurance, PfCOs etc.

Now, grandaddy worldwide magazine, National Geographic have joined in on the ‘safe drone use’ campaign. They’ve issued a release today, updating the rules to their photo guidelines. Not only have they now included a section on drones but they have stated that any submitted images by drone must comply with aviation law. The guidelines only state Federal and State laws but we can only assume it’ll be rolling out worldwide and apply to the country that you are taking the photo in.

How exactly they’ll police this? We can only guess and no doubt the rule is as much for them (as advised by an expensive lawyer) as it is about safe drone use. But, they’re a big player and if they start trying to remind people to be safe and not break the law then that can only be a good thing for us all.

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CAA scrap 7kg-20kg catagory, night ops, and more.

ADP Members — Fri, 27 Jul 2018 20:31:55 +0000

Air Navigation (Amendment) Order 2018 –
Guidance for small unmanned aircraft users

In case you haven’t seen this from the CAA. It seems in many respects they are making the lives of us easier.

Requirements for UAS applications and PFCO amendments
Please be aware that UAS applications received after 30/07/18 may be rejected if they do not reflect the latest amendment to the Air Navigation Order (ANO).

Before you make an application please ensure that your Operations Manual has been updated and meets the requirements set out in latest Air Navigation Order 2018 amendment.

Please refer to CAP 1687 which provides full guidance for small aircraft users.

Key areas to consider include:

ANO changes for small UAS (20kg or less)
400ft height limit for all
Distance restriction from ‘Airports’
The following areas are included and will become ‘effective’ at a later date
Registration
Pilot competence requirements

When updating your manual please also ensure that your amendment log and version number/date have also been updated.

All existing applications submitted up until 30/07/18 will be accepted if referencing the Air Navigation Order 2016 prior to the 2018 amendment. Any NQE recommendations which have been granted by an NQE prior to 30/07/18, will not be affected by the Air Navigation Order amendments.

The standard Permission For Commercial Operations (PFCO) will be amended as follows from 30/07/18:

The classes have been reduced from 4 to 2, i.e. 0-20Kg Multirotor and 0-20Kg Fixed Wing.
The standard permission now also permits operations in congested areas down to 50m for all UAS 20Kg or less.
Flights at night will be automatically granted provided a procedure for this has been established in the OPS Manual. Procedures covering night operations must also be incorporated into your Ops Manual for renewal applications.
Current permissions will be grandfathered until an application is submitted to the CAA. However in the interim current Permission holders will need to use CAP 1687 to update their procedures accordingly to meet the new requirements.
This will simplify the application process and grant additional privileges to applicants. It will also help to reduce queries to the CAA and reduce costs to industry for variations to standard permissions. The current OSC process remains unchanged.
Finally please note that the UK government has issued a further public consultation regarding drone operations within the UK, which we encourage you to read and respond to.

Further details can be found on the CAA website.

If you have any issues or queries with the above please do not hesitate to contact us at uavenquiries@caa.co.uk

https://publicapps.caa.co.uk/docs/33/CAP1687-SUAANOAmendmentOrder-3.pdf

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Media Frustration

ADPADMIN — Tue, 15 May 2018 15:14:37 +0000

“Near Miss WIth Drone”

This headline is all too common nowdays. Now we all know that there is a small minority of drone owners that aren’t the sharpest tools in the box when it comes to keeping away from general aviation aircraft but if the media is to be reported then these few seem to be everywhere on a weekly basis.

I’m sure one or two occasions are attributable to drones but more often than not I would think the unidentified object, as it really is, is a carrier bag, a foil balloon or even a bird. Many of us have seen the meme with everything from a tree to the USS Enterprise labelled a drone.

Most drone pilots are aware of how difficult it can be to see your own drone, even an Inspire or S900, at 500m, so for a pilot to identify a Phantom at 400mph at a similar distance is a long shot.

Today, you could even see the frustration of media ‘killer drone’ hysteria in a Tweet from Brendan Schulman, DJI’s VP of Political and Legal Affairs. He retweeted a post from Tesla’s own Elon Musk with his own frustration at media hype against his autonomous cars.

As you can see, both are frustrated at media sensationalism of the negatives, whilst not mentioning much on the positives. This doesn’t’ even mention the poorly carried BALPA research using a javelin constructed from “drone parts” to fire at an aircraft screen, rather than using an actual drone. The report has been widely discredited.

Luckily, DJI have been doing their own research and have noted that DJI drones in 2017 helped to rescue more than 65 people in search and rescue operations. Not to mention the risk reduction that drone inspections can offer and all the animals also rescued by drone searches.

Part or the mission at ADP is to spread to GOOD news about drones, their uses and benefits.

To that end. If you have any stories of drones being used for good, then please let us know by emailing us here.

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