Great footage but is this legal??

[paulreilly]

I watched the Team Blacksheep film of their quad flying in London, around Big Ben, along the Embankment, in the river at low tide etc etc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghDXBIy_BSM&feature=youtu.be

Highly impressive flying around some great landmarks. But, surely breaking any number of rules? My real concern is that IF there had been an accident (crashing into Big Ben, taking out a tourist's eye, or causing a car crash), then the bad publicity would come back at the entire industry and would hurt all the commercial operators.

The only way I can see that flight as legal would be if the operator said 'we're not doing this commercially, so CAP 722 doesn't apply to us'. Whether they were breaking any Westminster bye laws is another matter (or indeed CAA rules by flying, even non-commercially, in controlled airspace).

What do people think?

Paul, Redcopters Ltd

 

[AustinFPV]

People are way too concerned about the latest and greatest BS rule that infringes on your ability to live life. I say there are too damn many to even waste one more moment of thought on. Live and fly with personal responsibility for your actions.

 

[swisser]

Paul, you should read articles 166 and 167 of the Air Navigation Order. Those articles apply regardless of if you're flying commercially or not. There is no airspace issue, if the total weight of the craft including batteries is under 7Kg (which I am sure it was). The legality of this actually hinges on whether the camera on-board was being used purely for flying the aircraft, or if it was being used to capture images. If the former, it was legal. If the latter, it wasn't (as it would be in contravention of Article 167 2 (a) , and (c) and (d) and 3.

Note, I am not commenting on the merit of the law, or breaking it, just what the law says.

Personally I am troubled by how close they fly that craft to bystanders faces. Maybe I am overly conservative on that matter, but I wouldn't be comfortable doing that, legal or not.

It would have been bad publicity certainly if someone had been hurt, though actually I am not sure it would hurt commercial operators, since they would be operating in a very different manner and certainly not in that proximity to people. In the event that there had been an accident the CAA could point to their rules (i.e the ANO) and say "we cover exactly this eventuality but we can't do much if people choose to ignore the rules".

 

[swisser]

AustinFPV, you may be right, but at least the CAA rules in the UK mean that we can operate commercially, legally, unlike the lack of the same rules in the US.

 

[Bowley]

Some great flying and good video, but when you consider the hurdles a legal operator would have to overcome to get some shots like that..... I dont support pirate flying or flying that close to bystanders whatever their skill level. Its also the copy cat stuff that ensues that is worrying for us and the public, as the numbers of these things in the air increases, the more incidents there are going to be. Wont be long before the Press and the Law responds accordingly.