Will drones be prohibited in UK?

[ghog]

I've had a DJI Phantom for a couple of years, in fact I'm still using my FC40 with GoPro Hero 4 Black as it does everything I need for amateur aerial photography. I've always tried to be sensible keeping away from heavily populated areas and buildings, always having the quadcopter in view as I don't have FPV and I always use prop guards. My concern is the bad publicity that is gathering pace and the expected increase in drone related incidents after Christmas. The sad thing is that the negative reports have been valid relating to serious injuries and drones flying in areas that put the public at risk. I'm now a bit reluctant to fly my quadcopter as I'm going to be associated with these idiots and if I attempt to fly it in early in the new year, the reaction will be 'we can see what he had for Christmas'! So with all this in mind are we on borrowed time?

 

[ukglyn]

I've had a DJI Phantom for a couple of years, in fact I'm still using my FC40 with GoPro Hero 4 Black as it does everything I need for amateur aerial photography. I've always tried to be sensible keeping away from heavily populated areas and buildings, always having the quadcopter in view as I don't have FPV and I always use prop guards. My concern is the bad publicity that is gathering pace and the expected increase in drone related incidents after Christmas. The sad thing is that the negative reports have been valid relating to serious injuries and drones flying in areas that put the public at risk. I'm now a bit reluctant to fly my quadcopter as I'm going to be associated with these idiots and if I attempt to fly it in early in the new year, the reaction will be 'we can see what he had for Christmas'! So with all this in mind are we on borrowed time?

I think that it will be fine after xmas, yes there will be a few numpties doing stupid things with their new presents, but as usual the media do blow everything up out of proportion, & there will soon enough be a new subject matter for them to turn their attention to.

I don't think they will ever be banned here in the U.K, there may be however some form of more control at some point, whether this be registration as the states are trying, or something different I have no idea.

On another note, who in reality is going to police this, the police here are stretched to the limit now & have even stopped visiting the scene of house burglaries as they are so stretched?

 

[Meta4]

My concern is the bad publicity that is gathering pace
The sad thing is that the negative reports have been valid relating to serious injuries and drones flying in areas that put the public at risk.

It's easy to get things out of proportion by concentrating on media releases.
They concentrate on what they think is a good story - but don't necessarily give you a true picture of the situation.
Drones are the new thing and it's as if journalists get bonus points for coming up with a drone story.
You mention negative reports of serious injuries.
How many would that be? I'm aware of one.
Were there more? How many more? How many deaths?

To put things in perspective here are some annual death figures for recent years in England and Wales.
Traffic injury 1775
Steps 655
Falls 3699
poisoning 1523
Drug use 1284
Drowning 170
Choking on food 100
Bees/wasps 3
Cold 68
Assault 211

So where do drones rate against the kind of un-newsworthy things that are happening every day?
Just because it makes headlines, doesn't mean much at all.

 

[Joesrevolution]

+1 to meta4 they will move on, I can envisage the new hoverboard craze being the new media scape goat especially after a kid died on one recently.

London 'hoverboard' bus crash teenager dies - BBC News

Horrible for those involved but it highlights how bad things have got for us. A death on a hover board and you get a sad news story, a death from a UAV and the media would go crazy!

Just keep flying responsibly yourself and you wont have problems.

 

[ghog]

Thanks all for your reassuring replies, but I think the very least will be some sort of registration.

 

[Clampit]

I couldn't agree more with @Meta4 post. My drone was a xmas present from last year, all I did before & after I got it was read & done sooo much research before I took it to the sky. Because it's fairly new & getting more popular with people it's hitting the headlines.

I think the general philosophy is some people don't like them because they have cameras on them, spying comes to mind.. Why? Again this has been blown out of context with the public/media.

I've not had any bad encounter with anyone while I fly, people do come over to me because they are interested & they have heard positive things about them. I put myself out to show them what it can do plus show them the photo/video side, I'm like a prostitute trying to sell the good side of these things