Did you wake up on Christmas morning to find a shiny new drone under the Christmas tree? Lots of people did, with this must have gadget topping many a Christmas list. Before you start the engines and take to the skies there are a few simple rules that you should be aware of to avoid landing yourself a hefty fine.
In Australia the rules governing the safe use of drones are responsibility of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (“CASA”), which also manages the use of airspace for commercial planes.
CASA has two separate categories of rules when it comes to drone use; commercial and civil/hobbyist. We’ll look at the rules that apply to an ordinary person operating their drone as a hobby.
So what are the rules that apply to the civil/hobbyist use of drones?
CASA currently has a few simple rules to obey in order to avoid breaking any laws and finding yourself fined. Private operators do not need approval from CASA before taking to the skies for a particular flight, as long as the following rules are obeyed:
- The drone must be operated at least 30 metres away from other people;
- The drone must only be operated at a height of less than 120 metres, or 400 feet;
- The drone must not be flown at night, or through fog or cloud;
- The drone must remain in your field of vision at all times with the naked eye, not through a screen or point-of-view camera/glasses;
- The drone must not be operated above crowds, for example; at sporting events, parades, or protests; and
- The drone must not be flown within 5.5km of an airport, or any place where planes take-off and land.
As well as these rules CASA also states that:
- At all times the privacy of others is to be respected and a drone should not be flown near people’s homes and backyards;
- Drones are never to be flown near an active bushfire, as this creates a risk of collision with firefighting aircraft, which must be grounded if a drone is in the area, which puts peoples’ lives and property at risk; and
- Drones are never to be flown around any police operations, or accident scenes.
- CASA takes these rules seriously in order to prevent any accidents as one drone operator in Queensland recently found out after landing himself an $850.00 fine after CASA found a YouTube video of his inappropriate drone use online.