Can You Fly Your Drone From Your Garden? UK Drone Rules – Geeksvana
Can You Fly Your Drone From Your Garden? UK Drone Rules – Geeksvana
Hey everyone! Welcome to Geeksvana! In today’s video Sean looks at a question raised by many viewers. Can you fly your drone from your back garden under the new UK drone rules? We look beyond a simple yes and no to provide some key advice on regulation as well as sharing Sean’s personal experience of flying from gardens in 2021. Please keep in mind that as mentioned in the video, this focuses on flying drones which are sub 250g as it will be quite a while until we get the new CE class drones to play with! Let us know in the comments if you have already flown from your garden or if you intend to, we really enjoy hearing your experiences!
Useful links:
CAA Skywise: http://skywise.caa.co.uk/
Drone Assist App: https://dronesafe.uk/safety-apps/
Swindon Advertiser Article: https://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/18989930.conditional-discharge-dad-kicked-drone-confronting-pilot/
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its fairly clear on the CAA website but to actually hear it from someone makes it crystal clear thanks.
Are there no drone laws against flying over roads and traffic if you take off (-250g) from your garden?
I fly from my garden, luckily the back fence joins a cowfield and lots of open space. I just wanted to pass some info . I crashed my mini in to a pond, totally submerged for a few seconds, pulled it out, walked home 40 mins , used hair dryer then sat on top of rice for 3 days, the thing still works, it’s almost idiot proof lol
Great video.. I do Fly y from my garden sometimes, always keep to the drone rules, always check notams, always keep in line of sight. Im lucky as the closest nfz is about a mile away so I fly in the other direction.. I always stay over 50m high too.. Mini 2…
Im new to the world of drones. I have flown several times from my garden during the day with a mini 2 without issue. Always straight upto 200 feet before moving off, following current UK rules. Returning directly above at 200 feet and descending into the garden.
My second only night flight from the garden, to test a newly fitted strobe, at 12-10am, straight to 200 feet, moved 35 meters away, no moon, no street lights and no camera recording, then up to 399 feet to return home descending directly above. Total flight time 7 mins. Within minutes a neighbour posted on the village Facebook page that some "expletive" was invading his privacy. Then of course every other small minded ignorant moron jumped on the bandwagon. Suffice to say I left the group. I now don’t fly from the garden as the wife doesn’t like the hassle!! It’s disappointing to find that it seems the majority of people find drone flying as an antisocial hobby.
Hi, I live within a FRZ and have got to go 15 miles in either direction to clear this area, but, could I fly in my back garden to test my small Tello or should I be phoning the air traffic guys up to ask permission first? Thanks. I have taken the online CAA theory test and passed but I’m unsure whether I could fly in my garden?🤔🤷♂️
Do it all the time but i love in the middle of nowhere and so don’t have anyone to annoy 😅
i have flown my mini 2 in my garden and no prob i leave my cam of till i am over the roof tops and turn it of when landing john nottingham
Does the USA have the privacy rules like you do? I havent heard anything of it yet here. I dd hear the FAA controls ALL airspace and there is no "private property" in the air in your yard.
I fly from my garden, and have had no issues. At 50 metres up, there is no obvious noise, and I don’t think anyone really notices when it reaches this height. We have neighbours on all sides, and I’m sure they have seen it go up, again, no complaints so far.
Hey can I fly low level in my back garden even though my garden is within the Gatwick Airport exclusion area the runway is 2km away. I only want to practice the controls. (Dji mini 3 pro)
There is a difference between FROM my garden and IN my garden. Flying outside your garden boundary, which includes above the highest chimney or tree is a neighbourhood issue that should be sorted as suggested in this video and not by calling a swat team to a 5 year old’s playground scrap. If you confine yourself to the limits of your property, I cannot see any member of the judiciary wrecking his/her reputation by finding against you for operating a drone available on the market that has not been configured to conform to the CAA legislation ( privacy issues are not about flying). It is like you are asking for trouble if you drive an unroad worthy vehicle on the road but not on your own land. DVLA will fine you if you leave your car in it’s garage without declaring SORN and again if you cease third party insurance while it is there. However, I have not heard of any attempt to confiscate a vehicle from such a location; DVLA know how thin the ice is that they are walking on. ICAO and the CAA have previously regulated air traffic for the same reasons that motor vehicles are regulated on the roads. Airspace categorized as having limits from ground level has always been used by aircraft that would make national news if they came anywhere near tree tops. This is no longer so with regulation of "toys", but the CAA is, not surprisingly, showing that it is still a serious traffic regulator by not addressing the peculiarities of "toys" that can easily be used in airspace that the CAA has no right to control but was previously considered irrelevant for obvious reasons.
It is worth comparing with the introduction of reduced vertical seperation miimums for trans atlantic air traffic a few decades ago. This required the aircraft’s barometric altimeters to be checked over a ground measuring station and simple crew training. A particular aircraft registered in country A was operated by an airline in country B. It was licenced to operate for a subsiduary airline in country C and was crewed by a captain from country D with a licence from country B and a validation for country C. The first officer was from country B with the same crew licences as the captain. Both crew and aircraft met the test requirements. The flight was from west to east and would benefit from the new smaller altitude increments. The flight plan that came from country C did not want RVSM limits to be used but stated no reasons. How lawful do you think this instruction was? The captain used RVSM limits and told country C why he did not recognise their authority in this matter which was never challenged.
I have just purchased the DJI mini 3 can I use it to examine the gutters, roof and chimneys etc on my properties if not in a restricted area?
I got moaned at today, my altitude was 75m high, passing over same area 2x or more and a neighbor 3 doors down started shouting "can you stop with the drone" abit annoying as I was practicing flying as I’ve only had the drone 4days. Not sure whether to carry on or stop flying at home.
It all comes down to common sense. This may be a bit flippant, and maybe you guys have heard this before. But if it’s in the middle of summer, and your neighbour is sunbathing in a micro bikini, then just don’t fly below 50 feet! You get my drift 😂😂😂
Cheers for a good summary of the new brilliant rules! I can’t say that I miss the ‘always having to keep an eye on dog walkers etc., when out with the Spark’. In the end I gave up on it since it killed all the joy of flying. The Mini 2 and new rules made it worth picking it up again! 🙂
You got a new sub, Sir!
If I added a piece of string to my drone would that be deemed a kite therefore rules go out the window 😜. I am gonna follow law btw
I have flown from my garden many times and never had an issue with complaints.
Saying that I have had another drone fly over the house and come down to around 30 feet, it was in the middle of the garden, rotated 360 and camera was moving, as a drone pilot I found this to be annoying.
I since found out who the operator was and explained a few hints and tips with them.
They got an Air 2s second hand, didn’t know about operators ID or anything.
They have now sold it and got the mini 2 as they wanted less restricted flights like most of us.
Got his ID and we have flown together on a few occasions.
Not a drone flyer….. yet, but in my opinion the trespass rabbit hole you referred to seems to be the only restriction or guidance that I know of for sub 249g drones. Theres a lot of vids around these days of auditors pushing their rights to the extremes but I think in particular annoying a neighbour with a drones noise, presence, and camera recording video footage is a form of harassment and intimidation, in that it can cause someone extreme psychological distress in their private homes. This is not good for a person’s well-being. There are obviously undisclosed boundaries of invasiveness that are unique to each and every case but at the end if the day it boils down to being civil and neighbourly. My advice to myself and anyone reading this is just be a good person. Think about the impact and if its worrying you, the pilot, it sure as hell will be worrying someone else too.
I have tested my DJI Mini 2 in my garden as a way to get used to flying and using the controls. I only did it for a short time – maybe 15 mins. I had no adverse reaction from neighbours. I didn’t go above fence height and I don’t think there could be any complaint about noise – as the DJI Mini 2 is much quieter than say a lawn mower. I have to say that I wasn’t sure it was allowed due to proximity to buildings, but I did it anyway.
Really useful video. Well lit and nice graphics plus presenter has a nice voice and speaks clearly and in plain English. A bit more B Roll would be wicked !
Unfortunately, my garden is right in the middle of a military ATZ, so as predicted, my Mavic Mini won’t even spin up. 😭
HI ITS JOHN FROM NOTTINGHAM 3 TIMES I HAVE FLOWN MY DRONE FROM MY GARDEN I GET UP HI AND THEN PUT THE CAM ON SAME AS WHEN I COME DOWN SWITCH CAM OF JOHN NOTTINGHAM
Do we need maintain line of sight for the sub 250g drones?
I sometimes fly from my garden: I take off and climb quickly to 2 to 300 feet then go off on my flight. Coming back I do the reverse descending quickly and landing so as not to cause a nuisance. My next door neighbour has a phobia of drones so I make sure she is out when I fly.
Hi Sean, I just wanted to say thanks for your advise tonight on flying drones from a back garden and your very nice comments on the edit. Finding your channel has been a saviour! The video is officially live again… Much love my friend and a new sub from here 🙂
I must say flying drones is new to me and so far has somehow caused more stress than good LOL
next: can you fly your drone from toilet?
I have bought the mini 2 3 weeks ago but have been unwell for most of the time since so haven’t been out with it much , I have flown it from my back garden about 4 or 5 times with no issues.
Great video keep up the good work, how long you been flying ?
Thanks for the informative video. I read that the DJI mini does not class as being covered by the sub 250g Weight regulations as it does not have the c0 stamp on it. While the drone weight falls under 250g,it was saying that it’s actual flight weight including any accessories (I’m guessing the battery) put it above the 250g Weight. Wondering your thoughts on this? Thanks
Hi Shaun, I’m British and live in the Canaries, I have a DJI Spark, which fulfills my needs, however I was thinking because of the law changes in the UK to buy mini 3 so I could us when on holiday in the UK how does the law work for people who don’t reside in the uk .
hey Sean, as a complete novice I got the DJi Air fly more combo last January from a friend who didn’t use it, two of the batteries were stuck in hibernation/deep standby mode through lack of use/poor battery management so that left me with one good battery, having obtained both the required flyer & operator ID’s it was time to go fly however with the restrictions on the drones weight I have only been able to fly it after a 25min drive to moorland with about 17 minutes flight time before needing to return home to recharge, I have only flown the drone 3 times so it hasn’t been a great experience so far, this hasn’t put me off though as I have just managed to bag myself a Mini 2 fly more combo & hope to get some decent practice in over the coming months.
ive now flown from my garden on numerous occasions i live right at a golf course and often go over there always keeping vlos ive had some amazing pictures and just recently took off in garden at night and the pictures i got were incredible love my mini
Flew my Mavic Air last Summer in my garden (not in lockdown ) half hour later phones rings NorthWales Police asking if I had been flying a drone somebody had phoned them to report me told them I had but all the said was OK fine.They did say the person reporting had nothing better to do
So are you allowed to fly from your garden if it’s in a conservation area?
Why can’t you give a direct answer to the question
Hi Sean, I have a Mavic Air 2, I am very limited as I live in Streatham, London. Usually when I want to fly I take one of the few options around. Morden Park or Richmond Park! I live nearby othe parks but they are covered by Bylaws wich don’t permit flying there!
Great Video. Got A Mavic 2 Pro, 2 years ago, which even with the A2 C&C is restricted, so got a DJI Mini 2 so that I can take off from my Garden. Simply fly straight up 30m before moving lateral.
If I wanted to film the front of a commercial property with a Mavic Mini 2 which has a non-busy pavement next too it and aslo a non-busy road next to it, do you think this would be against the regs? Line of sight for pedestrians and traffic would be available if anything/one was to approach the area.
I first used my drone over my garden then I got my naibours going mad but now there is adults on moter cross bikes they want me to use my dji mavic minni 2 now to frighten the moterbikers away I have eaven got the ok from a policeman who is a naibour.
I’m flying my Mavic Pro from my garden. If the government are going to break their own laws then so will I. Chances of being caught are extremely low anyway, imo.
Imagine wanting to fly 10 feet above your own garden for less than 2 minutes. Clearly highly criminal behaviour. Might as well just cut to the chase and attach high explosive to detonate in peoples face.
Sounds like we have to keep our drones in its case and collect dust. Just kidding! Make your wisest decisions always.
I often fly my mini 2 from my garden, although I do have fields on 2 sides. Also, great for checking if your gutters need cleaning out 😃
been flying my dji 2 from my garden about 9 times and ok john nottingham
Can I fly / hover my hs 720e to discharge the batteries down to a storage level rather than leaving them fully charged for a period of time
DO WE REALLY WANT MORE SPIES IN THE SKY. .? FULL STOP:? PEOPLE ARE GETTING REALLY PISSED OFF WITH THESE THINGS SPYING ON THEM, ITS BAD ENOUGH HAVING CCTV ON EVERY STREET CORNER, THERE OK IF CONFINED TO THE COUNTRY OF FOR SEA FISHING.
I currently have the mavic 2 pro and am considering doing my A2CofC but someone said to me there is no point, just join one of the flying clubs like FPVUK and fly under artical 16 authorisation and this gives you alot more area to fly than what the A2CofC doe’s and it’s alot cheaper, but can not fly for commercial flights and can not fly autonomous so now am very confused which is best to have 🤷♂️
Repressed regulated britain -glad I left
Another great video Shaun. As always very informative and helpful.
I’m still flying my old trusty Legend The Mavic Pro, although I am keen to get my hands on the new Mavic mini 3. For obvious reasons.
Problem we have now is that not many people want to invest their hard earned cash on old drones. Making them difficult to sell.
Would be a shame to have loads of legend drones gathering dust on home shelves but that will likely be the case. A recycling drone centre would be a benefit 🤔 or does such a place exist already 🤔
Thanks for all your input on the subject. 👍