Legalities of flying over other peoples property in Australia

[dronecrypt]

Hi, this is my first post on this forum so please let me know if there is anything that is missing or that I could do to improve upon it.

I live in NSW, Australia. I recently went on a road trip out to the country and am staying at our holiday house. I have a P4 which I bought about a month ago and have been flying it up here, within line of sight, quite far away. Today, I was flying my drone over our paddock and then over someone else's paddock (about 30m high). Suddenly, a woman walked out and picked up a big rock (I know this from looking at the footage after recovering my drone as the live footage is not good enough to tell) and threw it at my drone (luckily missing by a small distance). I didn't initially see this from the live stream and kept hovering but then I noticed her trying again and I could year her swearing at it, so I flew back in order to protect my drone.

I am wondering whether I am within my rights to have flown my drone over her property as from what I have read from all other sources on the interweb, I couldn't find any sources that conveyed that what I did would have been illegal. I was purely flying for the fun of flying as I still haven't got over how amazing it is to be able to fly something so far away and with such accuracy!

So: Is it illegal to fly over other peoples property in AUS? What details should I know? Thanks!

 

[MapMaker53]

I would say if you are flying low enough over a property where a woman can toss a rock and narrowly miss it, you are flying way too low. And if she has enough time to try again, you are hovering -- which you shouldn't do over someone's property. My opinion is based on common courtesy and not AUS regulations -- though privacy laws could possibly apply.

 

[tevek]

If you are flying in accordance with the guidelines of CASA, generally there are no restrictions for flying over other people’s property (NFZ etc not withstanding). Having said that, I would be loathe to hover over a strangers property purely from the nuisance perspective. An area where I fly involves flying over other peoples property but I fly fairly high and am long gone before they realize I’m passing through and try not to be noticed by anyone.

 

[BigAl07]

@dronecrypt first off welcome to the forum

I am an old school flyer and fully support "Drone Rights" etc but I also tell my students/clients this one thing:

" If you're over someone's home or private residence and if that someone can throw something and strike your aircraft then you might be too close for comfort. If they can repeatedly throw something at your aircraft you're now loitering and you are probably in the wrong."

I can't speak on the LEGALITIES of your country but sometimes we have to think about more than just what is legal and take into account what is right and neighborly. Imagine how that person feels with an unknown aircraft, hovering low over their residence, and who knows if recording, spying, gathering intel for later criminal actions etc. Think about how she felt and then decide what you would do in her situation.

We recently had an incident where a kid was flying down low over a privacy fence a few weeks ago and the homeowner knocked the sUAS down with a rolled up t-shirt. The home owner would not allow the guy access through his locked fence to retrieve the sUAS .The kid was irate that his new toy (Mavic Pro) was knocked down and now in "enemy territory". He got his father involved and his father agreed with the home owner and told the guy to keep the sUAS in order to teach him a lesson LOL! They ultimately worked it out but I'd say it was a good teaching moment for the young man. I hope he understands his actions can have consequences.