New Drones / Toy Helicopter law coming in 1st August

Forums › Gadgets, robotics, home automation, electronics (including wearables) › New Drones / Toy Helicopter law coming in 1st August

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#1360777 7-Aug-2015 17:10

freitasm: I think it hilarious that one needs to file a flight plan with Airshare because Wellington is mostly controlled air space.

I'm not so amused. CAA has a bad reputation of overstepping its authority.

Note that there is a transit lane across Porirua where manned aircraft can fly from 500ft AGL (Above Ground Level) up to 1500ft through the Wellington CTR *without* a flight plan or clearance or even talking to Airways at all.

Incidentally, if you're north of an arc through Petone-Porirua (I can get more specific if you need), you are outside the CTR, and controlled airspace doesn't start until 2500ft AMSL.

Also incidentally, there are *many* Low Flying Zones around NZ which are outside controlled airspace where manned aircraft can legally fly as low as 200ft AGL, and where I assume drones can legally fly up to 400ft AGL.

lurker

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#1366411 14-Aug-2015 14:44

Christchurch City Council now have an online form
The permit is only for a specified day/time period.
Maybe good if you plan/schedule your drone usage, not so good if you just want to head down to the local park once in a while when you have free time.

frankv

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#1366488 14-Aug-2015 16:47

lurker: Christchurch City Council now have an online form
The permit is only for a specified day/time period.
Maybe good if you plan/schedule your drone usage, not so good if you just want to head down to the local park once in a while when you have free time.

Someone clever could probably set up a bot to apply for every day next week, every week.

lurker

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#1366493 14-Aug-2015 16:53

frankv:

Someone clever could probably set up a bot to apply for every day next week, every week.

Yes, maybe for all Geekzoners.

I was hoping that the permit would be like a fishing license, giving permission to fly in local parks for a decent amount of time.

freitasm

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#1366564 14-Aug-2015 20:19

Obviously Crhsitchurch council has too much time in their hands and nothing else of importance to do in that city... Oh, wait, there's. They could be working harder to reconstruct it.

lurker

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#1370262 19-Aug-2015 14:01

Some positive news - on the Neighbourly website, a representative from Christchurch City Council has confirmed that "Don't need a consent to operate an unmanned aircraft below 1 kg".
Not sure if that's a CAA thing that would apply nationwide.
The council is still working through the various issues but one other interesting comment was that they are looking at possible public places where a consent won't be required at all.

I think my Parrot AR Drone qualifies, the AR2 drone specs say that's 420g including the hull.

qyiet

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#1370373 19-Aug-2015 16:32

lurker: representative from Christchurch City Council has confirmed that "Don't need a consent to operate an unmanned aircraft below 1 kg"

My urge to test the edge case just kicked in: Can I fly a really large drone zeppelin in Christchurch then?

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Rickles

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#1400925 6-Oct-2015 12:02

The Hamilton CC seem to have taken an intelligent approach -

Drones

MikeAqua

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#1401861 7-Oct-2015 16:16

It's the same old story. 90% of drone users are probably sensible, and considerate.

It's the 10% of idiots/pervs that ruin it for everyone. And in this country we regulate for the 10%.

Speaking of idiots ... attaching a loaded firearm to a drone as in that video is a very stupid thing to do.

For starters it contravenes at least two of the seven basic rules in the arms code: -

- Load only when ready to fire (safety on until ready to fire for semi-automatics),
- Always point in a safe direction.

Mike

MikeAqua

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#1401868 7-Oct-2015 16:29

Key words "so as to endanger, annoy or frighten any person"

If annoyance or frightening isn't the intent and/or result, that section of the Arm's Act simply doesn't apply.

Could argue shooting someone's drone out of the sky would annoy them ...

jurgensp99:

5d) Offences with firearms

It is an offence to:

Discharging a firearm, airgun, pistol or restricted weapon
in or near a dwelling house or public place so as to
endanger property or to endanger, annoy or frighten any
person.

Make of that what you will cowboy

Mike

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#1401869 7-Oct-2015 16:31

MikeAqua: Key words "so as to endanger, annoy or frighten any person"

If annoyance or frightening isn't the intent and/or result, that section of the Arm's Act simply doesn't apply.

Could argue shooting someone's drone out of the sky would annoy them ...

jurgensp99:

5d) Offences with firearms

It is an offence to:

Discharging a firearm, airgun, pistol or restricted weapon
in or near a dwelling house or public place so as to
endanger property or to endanger, annoy or frighten any
person.

Make of that what you will cowboy

How close is 'near'. Also is that to intentionally annoy? These laws are so open to interpretation.

hashbrown

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#1401961 7-Oct-2015 19:08

Key words "endanger property". Drone = someone's property.

frankv

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#1402146 8-Oct-2015 08:58

qyiet:
lurker: representative from Christchurch City Council has confirmed that "Don't need a consent to operate an unmanned aircraft below 1 kg"

My urge to test the edge case just kicked in: Can I fly a really large drone zeppelin in Christchurch then?

My guess/hope: The law is talking about mass, not weight. A really large Zeppelin (or other airship) would have a mass of several tons, even though it would be lighter than the air it displaces.

networkn

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#1402204 8-Oct-2015 09:48

frankv:
freitasm: I think it hilarious that one needs to file a flight plan with Airshare because Wellington is mostly controlled air space.

I'm not so amused. CAA has a bad reputation of overstepping its authority.

You might not feel so outraged if someone you know was in an aircraft who had one of these little devices sucked through an engine or interfering with passenger plane flights. If you don't think this is a real risk, not sure what to tell you.

Rickles

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#1402226 8-Oct-2015 10:15

Hi Andrew,

>I've had to get clearance to fly at Karori park which is a little silly IMO.<

How did you do that? This summer my daughter and I have a couple of small R/C aircraft to play with, usually outside sports-playing hours. There a few great isolated parks for this around Wellington, many not even used during the week or evenings.

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