UK night flying?

[hiccups96]

Hi
I'm currently waiting for my pfaw to come back from the CAA. I have been asked to quote for a job where I fly within a floodlit football field (no crowds involved).
Where do I stand on this? I don't have night flying permission but the UAS will be fully visible at all times.
The CAA appear to be snowed under so I don't know where to turn for clarification.
Thanks in advance.

 

[RCJardin]

It will be private land so are you ok as long as you are within the bounderies? Interesting question.

 

[Carapau]

If this is for commercial work then it matters not about it being private land but everything to do with your permissions. I think that on your permission it will probably say during daylight hours or words to that effect when you get it. In real terms that means half an hour before sunrise until half an hour after sunset. Unless you permissions expressly permits night flying then you wont be able to do it. Another way to think about it is, if you were to have an accident, would your insurance company cover it? They would most probably not honor an accident even if the floodlights were better than the sun itself.

 

[hiccups96]

Thanks Carapau. Thats the answer I suspected, but hoped there was some other common sense solution. At the end of the day, the way I see it is that night flying is restricted due to the increased challenge of maintaining visual contact, spotting other air users and other air users spotting the rpa - and thats fair enough. Common sense would say that if you were floodlit and remained in that zone then all of the above issues have been addressed to the same level as a normal daytime flight.
I'm increasingly questioning my sanity in entering this game. It seems everywhere I turn I hit regulatory roadblocks. To really cap it all off, I know that theres a very high probability that when I turn this down, a un-licensed competitor will say thank you very much and fly at will.
Thanks bud

 

[RCJardin]

Thanks for clarification Carapau. I am putting my ops manual together now so your advice is very useful. Someone recently suggested that one might get permission for a straight up vertical flight within a coned off area? I'm thinking of a news situation.

 

[Carapau]

Depends how you write it. I have permission to fly at night that allows me to fly as per during the day.