Can I takes aerial pics of my village?

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I live in a very pretty village in the UK, and I'd love to take some areial photographs of it with my P3A, but I 'm a bit confused about the CAA's rules on 'congested areas' and 'populated areas'. I don't have a CAA licence, BTW.

Can anyone advise me please?
 
As long as it's not more then 400 metres and at least 5 miles away from an airport you will be OK. I fly all the time around 200 metres in London. Try not to get to close and stay to long in one location. People hate that... I know from experience lol

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As long as it's not more then 400 metres and at least 5 miles away from an airport you will be OK. I fly all the time around 200 metres in London. Try not to get to close and stay to long in one location. People hate that... I know from experience lol

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Sorry, in the UK it's 400 feet, not metres... See Alex Baxter's link (above)...
 
As long as it's not more then 400 metres and at least 5 miles away from an airport you will be OK. I fly all the time around 200 metres in London. Try not to get to close and stay to long in one location. People hate that... I know from experience lol

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Somewhat ironic that you were the first to advice taking in to account your more recent escapades :)


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You have two issues, first you must be 50 meters away from any person, animal or building not in your control which means anyone who hasn't agreed to you flying or filming. It does not mean 50 metres above, think more cylinder shape rising above the person or building and stay away from the perimeter and don't fly over. You may not fly over a congested area, however there is no legal definition of a congested area, a road at rush hour may be congested but at 5am may not be. You may not fly at night and you must not fly higher than 400' and not in a restricted area. Apart from that you are good to go. What you could do is post a load of leaflets through the doors stating what you want to do and when with your number to log any objections, likelihood is you will not get any, fly at a sensible time and give everyone a link to the video of their village.

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You have so many strange laws.. I guess you will have another one soon - do not fly around refugees. Do not scare them. Poor britons
 
Thanks to all of you whjo answered, but it seems I'm still a bit in the dark here.

On the one hand, some say as long as you don't take off or land within 50 metres of people, you're OK, but then someone quotes this:

"The Air Navigation Order defines a congested area as being 'any area of a city, town or settlement which is substantially used for residential, industrial, commercial or recreational purposes'."

Basically, this seems to mean you couldn't even fly over a tiny hamlet, since that would be aplace 'substantially used for residential purposes'.

Does that mean any video you see on the Web of a village in the UK (and I'm sure there are lotson the Web) is the result of breaking the law? Seems very harsh.
 
How do you define substantially used? Is Manchester more substantial then Brighton pier? If it's a small hamlet then have a chat to the residents and let them know when and where and what you are doing. All will be fine.

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Thanks to all of you whjo answered, but it seems I'm still a bit in the dark here.

Basically, this seems to mean you couldn't even fly over a tiny hamlet, since that would be aplace 'substantially used for residential purposes'.

Does that mean any video you see on the Web of a village in the UK (and I'm sure there are lotson the Web) is the result of breaking the law? Seems very harsh.

Harsh but true.

You should not fly over buildings or people without permission.

If you do, unlikely that authorities care much but they might. Up to you if you want to take that chance.


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Harsh but true.

You should not fly over buildings or people without permission.

If you do, unlikely that authorities care much but they might. Up to you if you want to take that chance.


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I think sooner or later the police will find drone operators an easy target. It's a forgone conclusion they will secure a conviction. After all they have actual video evidence and top quality video evidence in most cases. It would certainly increase the statistics of conviction that's for sure.

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