Everyone it’s, Matt Williams, mr. mpw, welcome to the channel and in today’s. Drone expert secrets: video. We’re, going to talk about whether you can fly over houses and buildings and cars and people not under your control.

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If you are coming back, then welcome back it’s great to see you today. We’re, going to answer something that’s, been coming up on the forums, loads and loads. Recently it’s always been an issue. If I’m honest, but it’s, something that because there weren’t, so many people in the industry, I think pretty much.

Everybody knew where the regulation stood and they knew where the CAA stood in relation to those regulations and what they could and couldn’t do. But I think, particularly since the CAA removed a certain sentence from the PFC, Oh wording last year, where they said that you couldn’t fly over congested areas since that’s gone, I think it’s muddied the waters.

A little bit, if I’m, honest and I think getting out there, the truth and the advice, the actual proper interpretation of the regulations is really important more important than that, though, is knowing what your roles and responsibilities are as a remote pilot that Rp the person in charge of the drone so that you don’t, get yourself into trouble.

So, first things: first, if you are a hobbyist, so if you are operating your drone recreationally for pleasure for the purposes of going out and enjoying flying, then you cannot fly within a hundred and fifty meters of a congested area.

So what does that mean to us? If we break that down, we can’t go within 150 metres of roads, buildings structures that are around us, so we ‘ Ve got to maintain that separation distance. So the first thing people do is: go okay, cool! Well, I’ll, go up to 400 feet.

Then I can go up to 400 feet right. So then I can get as close to a congested area. No, you still cannot over fly a congested area or cars buildings, people as a hobbyist drone operator, because 400 feet, doesn’t.

Allow you it’s about 120 122 meters, so you call get a hundred and fifty meters away, even if it’s vertically from those things from those people that you can’t over fly, so that’S the first thing as a hobbyist, you’ve, got to stay 150 meters away from a congested area.

Full stop nothing! You can do. It gets more interesting when you look at PFC, Oh holders, because PFC OH holders, it used to say that we couldn’t over fly congested areas and that now has gone from the PFC, oh wording.

At the time of creating this video. It may change in the future. Who knows so now that’s gone people have interpreted that as the CAA saying that’s, fine, you can crack on and over fly congested areas.

Okay, so we can, within the bounds of article 94 and article 95, fly over persons, vessels, vehicles and structures, not in our control, provided we maintain a separation distance of 50 meters or more so we could, if we can find 30 meters clear area to take off.

We can take off, then we get a 50 meter bubble around the aircraft and again I think this is one of the things that has muddied the waters. A little bit was the CIA’s, change to it being a bubble from it being a column around the aircraft.

We as long as we then keep that 50 meter bubble. We can fly over anything that we want. The only thing we can’t go over is cry out or gatherings of a thousand people or more. We still have to stay 150 meters away from those even with a PFC.

Oh, the only way you can amend that is to have an operating safety case. At the moment, an OSC which may, if you’ve, been granted the permissions to do so. Allow you to get closer than that, so we ‘

Ve got this 50 meter bubble. So all these videos that were seen on the news and documentaries now, where there’s, a drone flying over a housing estate and it’s, quite high up, potentially, is being done legally.

Within the bounds of articles 94 and 95. We’re, maintaining our 50 meter separation. We’re. We’re, all good okay. Now this is where, for us, it gets into quite an interest in space because it’s all well and good.

Drone operators being aware of articles 94 and 95, but what we need to think about is the wider context of the air navigation order. The wider context of the rules and regulations that govern us operating an unmanned aircraft in the UK flight information region, the FI R and one of the interesting parts of that, I think, is one of the articles.

Article 241, which is effectively you’re. Not allowed to endanger human life through the operation of an aircraft, and this is where, for us, we wouldn’t over fly, anything that isn’t under our control.

We wouldn’t over fly buildings. We wouldn’t over fly roads. We wouldn’t over five railway lines that aren’t under our control, because if heaven forbid something goes wrong and yes, you might be 80 metres up, so you ‘

Ve got your separation distances that’s great, but if something goes wrong and your drone was to fall on someone and hurt them or heaven forbid worse, then you would likely find yourself prosecuted under article 241, because you’ve endangered someone By operating your aircraft, yes, you’ve maintained your 50 metre separation to the best of your ability, whilst the aircraft was flying properly, but when something went wrong, you were unable to maintain that separation and you therefore injured or worse, killed.

Somebody, potentially, that is what you would be prosecuted under in terms of breach in the air navigation order. You’ll, be prosecuted more than likely under article 2, 4 1 than you would under Articles 94 and 95.

If we liken it to being on the road okay, we take an analogy of us driving our car on the road. We drive a car, we’re fully insured, we have an appropriate license. The car is taxed and MOT dits all good.

Everything’s, legal about it. We’re driving at 30 miles an hour in a 30 mile, an hour zone, paying attention the weather’s good, and we have an accident where heaven forbid, we kill someone who stepped out into the road.

We were doing everything legally within the Highway Code and you know, to all intents and purposes we were paying due care and a 10. We would pay in respect to where the road users – you know accidents do happen, but you would likely find yourself under suspicion of whatever it might be.

In a coroner’s, court and you would potentially be you know, prosecuted for maybe driving without due care and attention. But you were doing everything within the regulations. You were doing everything within the rules and the laws of the land which you have to and it’s.

Exactly the same, when we’re. Looking at this drone operation, it’s, the same, if you say yeah, I was flying 80 meters up. You know what’s at 240 250 feet. I find 250 feet over the housing estates. I was operating within articles 94 and 95, but unfortunately it’s when something goes wrong that you will find yourself liable.

The only way we have ever justified flying over people, not under our control or infrastructure, so roads and buildings or structures not under our control, is if we’re using a very light aircraft like the EB, the fixed-wing drones that we use, we’re, actually an impact with someone or something is very, very unlikely to cause any damage or if we’ve got a parachute system on the aircraft which will the the fall of the aircraft.

It will limit the energy on an impact and that you know is the only way that we feel within our company in particular that we can justify over fine things, not under our control, so I suppose wrapping it up legally.

Yes, if you have a PF Co, you can over fly buildings, people roads, not under your control. It’s when something goes wrong. Heaven forbid, if it has an effect or an impact on someone that you could find yourself in hot water.

You could find yourself being prosecuted as a recreational pilot without a PF Co or if you have a PF CO and you’re, not operating commercially. So you haven’t done your risk assessment. You haven’t done the flight planning.

Then no, you cannot over fly things not under your control. I hope that makes sense. I hope that answers a lot of people’s, questions and queries. If you’ve got any comments about that or you disagree with anything that we say or if you agree with anything we say.

Hopefully, do please drop those down below in the comments it’d, be really interesting to see what other people’s. Thoughts are like say: if you’ve got a PFC. Oh yes, technically now you can over fly, but I suppose legally you can over fly it.

So if something goes wrong, you’d, be in trouble. If you recreationally comm, leave us your thoughts below but really interested to know. If you found the video useful, please don’t forget to subscribe to the channel.

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