Told to move along...

[AboveAllAP]

So I went for a quick early morning sun rise flight down at my local field where I have been flying for the past couple of months. I was about 5min into my test flight (I have added some additional weight and was adjusting my gains) when a local council worker said you are not allowed to fly RC aircraft in any Council parks or land and I have to land as soon as safe to do so... also flying in a council park can get you a $500 fine. He said only place you are allowed to fly is with an RC club in their designated areas...

The laws which we are subjected to are crazy. For what it's worth it is a rather large open paddock and there was absolutely no other people around. I asked if someone had complained and he said no he just happen to be driving around checking on the park.

So do I risk it and go back and continue to fly there as I have unimpeded or look to go elsewhere which would be allot less convenient and probably still on council land.

End Rant

 

[RobertsUp]

That council worker sounds like a person you can't reason with. He probably proudly described his enforcement warning to his colleagues. Best stay away from there, imo. Next time if he remembers you he could call a cop to give you a ticket for that fine. He would think his job well done.

So I went for a quick early morning sun rise flight down at my local field where I have been flying for the past couple of months. I was about 5min into my test flight (I have added some additional weight and was adjusting my gains) when a local council worker said you are not allowed to fly RC aircraft in any Council parks or land and I have to land as soon as safe to do so... also flying in a council park can get you a $500 fine. He said only place you are allowed to fly is with an RC club in their designated areas...

The laws which we are subjected to are crazy. For what it's worth it is a rather large open paddock and there was absolutely no other people around. I asked if someone had complained and he said no he just happen to be driving around checking on the park.

So do I risk it and go back and continue to fly there as I have unimpeded or look to go elsewhere which would be allot less convenient and probably still on council land.

End Rant

 

[Dewster]

Check the rules governing use of the Council park. They may prohibit RC aircraft. Some parks prohibit RC cars etc., music, or anything that makes noise or endangers wild life or people.

It can be hard distinguishing between people that are power trippin' off of their dislike for an activity and someone that is offering legitimate advice/warning. I know there are a enough mental cases that think they are the law.

 

[dazzab]

He said only place you are allowed to fly is with an RC club in their designated areas...
End Rant

This statement is certainly not correct. There might be local council laws that prohibit flying in Council parks but it's certainly legal to fly RC craft in places other than RC clubs.

A local group of RC park flyers here in Canberra were recently asked to move on by a Ranger as well. They have been flying there every Sunday morning for years with no issues whatsoever. The ranger stated there had been a complaint from a soccer team using the other side of the sports field. He also stated that they could only use the oval if they booked it in advance. It's a pretty casual group of flyers and no one there wanted to make anyone feel unsafe so they just stopped flying for the day. As far as I know people still fly there on Sundays and I haven't heard of any problems.

I think you were just unfortunate to run in to a cranky Ranger on a power trip. By all means check if the council rules prohibit flying on Council land. I do it all the time if the park is clear and haven't had any issues. But I'm careful to make sure I pick times where I have exclusive use such as weekday on a cold morning. Often times people ride by on the bicycle path etc and I just land until they go by even though it's quite a distance away. More often they come over and we have a great chat about UAVs etc.

I would fly more at our local RC club where as a member I'm covered by insurance but it's on a major highway and usually a bit busy. Most members are there to fly planes and I'm in to Multirotors so there can be some issues sharing air space.

Let us know what you find out. I think this topic is going to come up more and more as time goes on.

 

[PeteDee]

Hi Daz,

How is your octoquad going?

Time we put in a complaint about these damned soccer players using an area that the public is quite entitled to use as well and having no regard for other users. Luckily we do have lots of choices for flying MR's.

I have been flying in that spot and have had morons pull up in their cars with small children and have walked through a line of planes and started kicking a ball around metres in front of us, thing is that there is three compete other fields they can use. There be many morons around.

Pete

 

[AboveAllAP]

I think you were just unfortunate to run in to a cranky Ranger on a power trip. By all means check if the council rules prohibit flying on Council land. I do it all the time if the park is clear and haven't had any issues. But I'm careful to make sure I pick times where I have exclusive use such as weekday on a cold morning. Often times people ride by on the bicycle path etc and I just land until they go by even though it's quite a distance away. More often they come over and we have a great chat about UAVs etc.

I would fly more at our local RC club where as a member I'm covered by insurance but it's on a major highway and usually a bit busy. Most members are there to fly planes and I'm in to Multirotors so there can be some issues sharing air space.

Let us know what you find out. I think this topic is going to come up more and more as time goes on.

To clarify it was not a Ranger just a local council worker /enforcer... it was a midweek early morning sunrise cant get any more opportune time than that. was not even a soccer or sports field just a big open grass field.

Thinking about joining a club for a while but as everyone says they are not setup or generally welcome multi rotors... and there is something about having to fly at the same location every time in circles that just does not interest me.

 

[ChrisViperM]

When I was a youngster (grown up in Austria) we all wanted to go to America or Australia one day.....the land of the free and the endless opportunities. Thank god I didn't.....

....but Europe is not any better. How come a silly council worker can make you feel afraid of anything ? A guy who most propably can't even read or write properly is entiteld to "enforce" some stupid government law just because it's written down somewhere. Common sense is going to be replaced more and more by countless rules and regulations, and to be able to enforce all this laws, they have to employ more and more low-life morons to "enforce" those laws, and as a side effect the "law-enforcers" are getting more and more the impression they can harras citizens to their liking.....it's about time to show some back-bone and develope some sort of civil disobience

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/civil-disobedience/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_disobedience


There are a lot of laws which are useful and necessary, but a lot of them are just a plain harrasments against ordinary people. Flying close to schools, airports, crowded places....NO, even if there is no law (common sense)... Flying on an empty field early morning with no people there.....hell YES, even if some law is against it, because it does not make any sense not to fly. But to relay on common sense it needs educated people, and that is something what no government wants....they want brainless idiots who follow their rules.



I know a lot of people have a completely different opinion in that regard, but never the less it's about time to start and walk upright and stop crawling....

(Sorry....had to get rid of that)

Chris

 

[AboveAllAP]

When I was a youngster (grown up in Austria) we all wanted to go to America or Australia one day.....the land of the free and the endless opportunities. Thank god I didn't.....

....but Europe is not any better. How come a silly council worker can make you feel afraid of anything ? A guy who most propably can't even read or write properly is entiteld to "enforce" some stupid government law just because it's written down somewhere. Common sense is going to be replaced more and more by countless rules and regulations, and to be able to enforce all this laws, they have to employ more and more low-life morons to "enforce" those laws, and as a side effect the "law-enforcers" are getting more and more the impression they can harras citizens to their liking.....it's about time to show some back-bone and develope some sort of civil disobience

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/civil-disobedience/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_disobedience


There are a lot of laws which are useful and necessary, but a lot of them are just a plain harrasments against ordinary people. Flying close to schools, airports, crowded places....NO, even if there is no law (common sense)... Flying on an empty field early morning with no people there.....hell YES, even if some law is against it, because it does not make any sense not to fly. But to relay on common sense it needs educated people, and that is something what no government wants....they want brainless idiots who follow their rules.



I know a lot of people have a completely different opinion in that regard, but never the less it's about time to start and walk upright and stop crawling....

(Sorry....had to get rid of that)

Chris

Chris

I'm right up there when it comes to sticking it to the "Man" and agree with everything you pointed out...i was not afraid of him i just did not want to get a $500 fine nor get a sign on me which will potentially prevent me from flying in the future they weild a much larger stick and have much deeper pockets. I am trying to educate as many people about how this hobby is safe and fun as long as those who participate use some common sense. I believe the majority of people who use them are intelligent and always attempt to do the "right thing".

The government is all about control and not about individual "freedoms" as much as they try to make you believe otherwise.

We do all need to unite and make a stand before it is all too late not just for flying in a park but all our so called freedoms are removed for our benefits

 

[ChrisViperM]

Sorry if it sounded like, but by it was by no means aginst you personally.....I just get more and more the feeling that we all transform slowly into rabbits who just wait what stupid law they throw next at us, just to obey it without any questioning. The lastest thing in America with Ed Snowden and the NSA, but especially the - almost non-existing - public reaction tells more about our mental state than anything else.....


Chris

 

[robinbw]

What area of Brisbane are you in, I'm in the Redlands and have recently got back into RC and DEFINATLY DONT want to join another RC club. They seem to bring out the worst in people. Ive been using a reclaimed dump area and it seems perfect but I can imagine some bum from the council turning up and spoiling it all.Robin

 

[Cheshirecat]

Enjoyment in public places just seems to bring out the worse in some officials, it's not just MR pilots, most out door activities seem vulnerable to busy body intervention.
As a keen photographer we used to fall foul of the Police a lot, especially in London (we even started reffering to them as "the tripod police") it wasn't until they picked on a a BBC photgrapher one day and it went into the media, through government and eventually to the police commisioner that the police on the streets were told to back off.

Perhaps in future make sure you frown very heavily when flying...Show no outward signs of enjoyment and you shoudl be OK..

 

[sixshooterstang]

I like to find places that nobody cares and they cannot fine you unless you refuse to leave. I fly next to a church that has a HUGE field they dont use. Another place is a 1sq mile field owned by KCMO that nobody uses for anything. It is just randomly there and not near any buildings or traffic. If you live anywhere outside of a large city there's always a spot somewhere

 

[AboveAllAP]

What area of Brisbane are you in, I'm in the Redlands and have recently got back into RC and DEFINATLY DONT want to join another RC club. They seem to bring out the worst in people. Ive been using a reclaimed dump area and it seems perfect but I can imagine some bum from the council turning up and spoiling it all.Robin

Hi Robinbw

I'm at Wynnum. happy to meet up if you want sometime. I don't personally know anyone else who flys MR's so I sometimes feel like am a small island in a big ocean. I know down the Redlands in Cleveland the Henry Ziegenfusz Park is where the local RC club flies so I assume you could fly there with no hassle.

 

[Teamflail]

Interesting here in the United States. We don't have too many regulations concerning multi-copters. However, it is not currently legal to utilize a multi-copter (drone, I know, bad word) from a business where you charge for the services. The Federal Aviation Administration probably won't have the rules in place until next year. So, makes it kind of a gray area right now and I am a little bit worried about what sort of regulations they might come up. Hopefully there is no huge backlash and the rules are pretty slack. Hoping to get in the game somewhat early and see where it goes.

Have not been harassed by anyone as of yet and even had one police office sitting in his car watching me.

 

[ProPilotWannaBe]

Interesting here in the United States. We don't have too many regulations concerning multi-copters. However, it is not currently legal to utilize a multi-copter (drone, I know, bad word) from a business where you charge for the services. The Federal Aviation Administration probably won't have the rules in place until next year. So, makes it kind of a gray area right now and I am a little bit worried about what sort of regulations they might come up. Hopefully there is no huge backlash and the rules are pretty slack. Hoping to get in the game somewhat early and see where it goes.
Have not been harassed by anyone as of yet and even had one police office sitting in his car watching me.

Teamfail, you are correct about the FAA side of things. However, I'm sure you have checked in your area, but there are cities in the US that have regulations against RC flying within city limits, and/or in city parks. And more recently some cities have pass regs against flying within city limits with cameras inboard. Scary and bothersome, but something we have to be aware of where we fly.