Going to Australia with P4 - any suggestions

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So I live in the US and I'll be traveling to Australia in November and I'm thinking of taking my P4 with me. I've been looking around to see if I can fly it in Sydney and other surrounding areas that I'll be visiting and there doesn't seem to be a ton of information (and I'm afraid of getting the wrong information).

Anyone from Australia have some reliable places to look for information?

Thanks in advance.

Gary
 
Sydney Australia video
Search this post it may help
I see the video and then the discussion about the fact that the entire video was in a no fly zone! :) And then the debate of whether it's a no fly zone or not! :) I had to laugh because it's the same on the internet. It seems Australia is "if you get caught, it's illegal, but most of the time nobody will bother you" law.

I've been doing google searches and now the suggested youtube videos I see on the home page are quite interesting with officers in the US even confronting people and their drones in places people can fly.

I may skip flying it in Sydney as I'm still nervous flying it around people, but we'll be going to the outback as well so I may just fly it out there.

Thanks for the post suggestion though. It did help.
 
If you're in Sydney, the best place to launch from would be in the eastern suburbs. You can find some top spots around the harbour, Watsons Bay, Parsley Bay and even Rushcutters Bay are great because they have a few trees around that you can sit under for shade and still be able to see your bird over the harbour which is spectacular !
Bondi beach isn't that great, better footage can be had a couple of beaches down at Coogee, there is a car park above the north end of Bondi past the RSL club where you could launch from but you would have to be discreet , thinking about it. Further north of Sydney , about an hours drive you have Palm Beach which is also very photogenic.
If you want to fly under 'the bridge ' head over to Luna Park early in the am, you'll be fine.
 
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If you're in Sydney, the best place to launch from would be in the eastern suburbs. You can find some top spots around the harbour, Watsons Bay, Parsley Bay and even Rushcutters Bay are great because they have a few trees around that you can sit under for shade and still be able to see your bird over the harbour which is spectacular !
Bondi beach isn't that great, better footage can be had a couple of beaches down at Coogee, there is a car park above the north end of Bondi past the RSL club where you could launch from but you would have to be discreet , thinking about it. Further north of Sydney , about an hours drive you have Palm Beach which is also very photogenic.
If you want to fly under 'the bridge ' head over to Luna Park early in the am, you'll be fine.

If there was a LOVE button instead of LIKE on this, I would have hit it! Fantastic info so thank you Loomster. Any idea if I'll have a problem if we go to Ayers Rock? We still haven't put together a full itinerary, but hiking is on the list of things to do.
 
If there was a LOVE button instead of LIKE on this, I would have hit it! Fantastic info so thank you Loomster. Any idea if I'll have a problem if we go to Ayers Rock? We still haven't put together a full itinerary, but hiking is on the list of things to do.
Ayers Rock is a strange one because it's regarded as tribal land, you'll need a bit of in-depth research on that one.
I lived in Sydney for 7 years, now back in UK and very envious of your trip!
 
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First-ever drone footage of Uluru
I suppose you can run naked on the White House lawn if you want ,fine if you don't get caught ....Look up CASA and AAUS sites there is a lot there on do s and don't s The no flying in National Parks annoys me since most of the parks are massive and you can easily pick a place where you won't see a sole .
We have a farm 5 hours out of Sydney and even here I am carefull as there are low flying Ag Aircraft showing up very low from time to time .If you are here in summer the fire danger in country areas can be extreme .Its just a matter of being informed.
Unlike the US the drone laws here are laws not suggestions .My main reason for caution apart from the risk of injuring someone is the liability factor .Ive worked hard for what I have and I don't want to give it to someone suffering post drone strike issues .
 
First-ever drone footage of Uluru
I suppose you can run naked on the White House lawn if you want ,fine if you don't get caught ....Look up CASA and AAUS sites there is a lot there on do s and don't s The no flying in National Parks annoys me since most of the parks are massive and you can easily pick a place where you won't see a sole .
We have a farm 5 hours out of Sydney and even here I am carefull as there are low flying Ag Aircraft showing up very low from time to time .If you are here in summer the fire danger in country areas can be extreme .Its just a matter of being informed.
Unlike the US the drone laws here are laws not suggestions .My main reason for caution apart from the risk of injuring someone is the liability factor .Ive worked hard for what I have and I don't want to give it to someone suffering post drone strike issues .

I've only run naked at the White House 1 time. :) NICE! :)

And yeah - when I fly, I'm not nervous about losing the drone - I'm much more nervous about injuring someone or causing something catastrophic to happen. That's why I try not to fly in a city or over any roads - you just never know.

Thanks for the CASA and AAUS sites. The National Parks here have no fly because some doosh flew his drone into the Old Faithful geyser at Yellowstone and the battery polluted the water since they couldn't get it out.

And even though your height restrictions are higher than here in the US, I'm still staying at below 400 feet since I get nervous about it being that high up and I like to keep it within site range.
 
There is some misinformation in this thread that needs to be cleared up.

Sydney harbour is a no fly zone.It is within 5 kilometers of major airports and heliports pretty much over the whole area.
DO NOT attempt to fly near,around,over or under Sydney Harbour Bridge,it's the worst thing you could attempt in Sydney.A particularly touchy subject right now as some numpty crashed a drone into a car on the bridge a week or two ago.Something that is happening all too often.

It is illegal to fly over any populated beach.

The maximum altitude you can fly is 400 feet or 121 meters.

It is NOT illegal to fly in national parks.Subject to the regular rules of course.
I have flown in national parks across four states in the presence of rangers and none have said not to.I fly in the middle of a local national park every week.

Uluru/Ayers Rock is within 5 kilometers of an active airport.If you're going to fly there contact the airport first to make sure.Check to find out if there are sight seeing flights scheduled and what times they are at the very least.You might be given the OK or might be told to stay grounded.

From personal experience I can warn you that sight seeing planes in the outback often fly very low,100 feet or lower is not uncommon from what I have witnessed.Be careful.

There are many places you can fly freely and capture beautiful pictures and video without breaking the rules or ticking anyone off,especially in the outback.It can get very windy out there though so get out early to avoid it.

Here are some links to the laws for you to read.
Flying model aircraft recreationally | Civil Aviation Safety Authority
flying_with_control_model.pdf | Civil Aviation Safety Authority
https://www.casa.gov.au/sites/g/files/net351/f/_assets/main/lib100071/rpa_brochure_fire_fighting.pdf
 
There is some misinformation in this thread that needs to be cleared up.

Sydney harbour is a no fly zone.It is within 5 kilometers of major airports and heliports pretty much over the whole area.
DO NOT attempt to fly near,around,over or under Sydney Harbour Bridge,it's the worst thing you could attempt in Sydney.A particularly touchy subject right now as some numpty crashed a drone into a car on the bridge a week or two ago.Something that is happening all too often.

It is illegal to fly over any populated beach.

The maximum altitude you can fly is 400 feet or 121 meters.

It is NOT illegal to fly in national parks.Subject to the regular rules of course.
I have flown in national parks across four states in the presence of rangers and none have said not to.I fly in the middle of a local national park every week.

Uluru/Ayers Rock is within 5 kilometers of an active airport.If you're going to fly there contact the airport first to make sure.Check to find out if there are sight seeing flights scheduled and what times they are at the very least.You might be given the OK or might be told to stay grounded.

From personal experience I can warn you that sight seeing planes in the outback often fly very low,100 feet or lower is not uncommon from what I have witnessed.Be careful.

There are many places you can fly freely and capture beautiful pictures and video without breaking the rules or ticking anyone off,especially in the outback.It can get very windy out there though so get out early to avoid it.

Here are some links to the laws for you to read.
Flying model aircraft recreationally | Civil Aviation Safety Authority
flying_with_control_model.pdf | Civil Aviation Safety Authority
https://www.casa.gov.au/sites/g/files/net351/f/_assets/main/lib100071/rpa_brochure_fire_fighting.pdf
It seems even some of the claimed missinformation is misinforming. For example, forget the airport being cool with it, you cant fly around Ullaru without prior permission from the traditional owners. They are a bit touchy on the name also, it was of important cultural aignificance to them for 10's of thousands of years before Mr Ayers assignied his name to it.

As for the Harbour, if you want to be really confused, look at the "Flying with control" youtube video (official CASA production). They show drone footage from Sydney Harbour. Most of the good areas are outside the Airport exclusion zone Btw.

My point here is that its as clear as mud re what you can and cant do.

Early morning and late afternoon on the beaches you wont have dramas so long as you exersize some common sense.

As to the outback, eagles are my greatest fear.

@Gary Vaughan if you like PM me when your coming over and I will give you my number, hopefully I can give you a few clues.
 
There is some misinformation in this thread that needs to be cleared up.

Sydney harbour is a no fly zone.It is within 5 kilometers of major airports and heliports pretty much over the whole area.
DO NOT attempt to fly near,around,over or under Sydney Harbour Bridge,it's the worst thing you could attempt in Sydney.A particularly touchy subject right now as some numpty crashed a drone into a car on the bridge a week or two ago.Something that is happening all too often.

It is illegal to fly over any populated beach.

The maximum altitude you can fly is 400 feet or 121 meters.

It is NOT illegal to fly in national parks.Subject to the regular rules of course.
I have flown in national parks across four states in the presence of rangers and none have said not to.I fly in the middle of a local national park every week.

Uluru/Ayers Rock is within 5 kilometers of an active airport.If you're going to fly there contact the airport first to make sure.Check to find out if there are sight seeing flights scheduled and what times they are at the very least.You might be given the OK or might be told to stay grounded.

From personal experience I can warn you that sight seeing planes in the outback often fly very low,100 feet or lower is not uncommon from what I have witnessed.Be careful.

There are many places you can fly freely and capture beautiful pictures and video without breaking the rules or ticking anyone off,especially in the outback.It can get very windy out there though so get out early to avoid it.

Here are some links to the laws for you to read.
Flying model aircraft recreationally | Civil Aviation Safety Authority
flying_with_control_model.pdf | Civil Aviation Safety Authority
https://www.casa.gov.au/sites/g/files/net351/f/_assets/main/lib100071/rpa_brochure_fire_fighting.pdf

Great info so thank you!! I think we're going to try and stick to the coast from Sydney to Melborne which means I'll skip Ayers. But I'm sure during that drive there are plenty of cliffs to float the bird from! I'll read up on the laws around there too.
 
It seems even some of the claimed missinformation is misinforming. For example, forget the airport being cool with it, you cant fly around Ullaru without prior permission from the traditional owners. They are a bit touchy on the name also, it was of important cultural aignificance to them for 10's of thousands of years before Mr Ayers assignied his name to it.

As for the Harbour, if you want to be really confused, look at the "Flying with control" youtube video (official CASA production). They show drone footage from Sydney Harbour. Most of the good areas are outside the Airport exclusion zone Btw.

My point here is that its as clear as mud re what you can and cant do.

Early morning and late afternoon on the beaches you wont have dramas so long as you exersize some common sense.

As to the outback, eagles are my greatest fear.

@Gary Vaughan if you like PM me when your coming over and I will give you my number, hopefully I can give you a few clues.
I'll def PM you when I get more details of the trip. Here in the US we have an app made by the FCC called "B4UFLY" which actually determines based on GPS where you are and what restrictions you have (outside of the DJI app). It's been helpful in a few situations (mostly just telling me to be extra careful and keep it low).

And yeah - mud is what you find when you do a google search about it outside of this forum too. :)
 
Melbourne itself is not particularly scenic imho but if you're there you should make an effort to drive the Great Ocean Road and see the Twelve Apostles. The stuff drone pilot dreams are made of!
image.jpeg
 
Gary there is a free iOS app called 'safe to Fly' for Australia which also uses GPS to show where it is not permitted to fly (airports, helipads etc) - I use it regularly, and am Melbourne based newby to the forum.


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots
 
Gary there is a free iOS app called 'safe to Fly' for Australia which also uses GPS to show where it is not permitted to fly (airports, helipads etc) - I use it regularly, and am Melbourne based newby to the forum.


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots
AWESOME LAWRIE!!!! This forum is a life saver when it comes to this kind of stuff! I LOVE IT! Great information whereas a google search was really just sending me to junk websites.
 
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A little more info on Syney Harbour Bridge,CASA has applied a $9000 fine to flying near the bridge.Also if the counter terrorism squad that seems to live there pounces on you I doubt they would issue a cordial invitation to join them for tea and biscuits.

Even though most of the Sydney harbour area is outside the 5.5k no fly zone around Kingsford Smith there are lots of heli pads around the harbour and there are sea planes using it as an airfield.It's just not clever to fly there.

I didn't want to comment specifically on the subject of Uluru and the Anangu peoples position on RC flight in the area until I hear back from them.I am planing a trip for next year that will take me to Uluru and I am in the process of seeking their permission to fly there.
As for the video going around claiming to be the first drone footage of Uluru,it was captured at the end of August this year but there are at least three other videos on youtube of drones flying at Uluru from as early as 2013.Everybody wants to be the first.
 
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