May I fly my drone over Town

[Roger]

The mods have cleaned up this thread some. Would request that you take a read here before posting any more aggressive responses: https://www.avcom.co.za/phpBB3/viewtopi ... 1&t=227742

[heisan]

I am considering buying a drone to take site progress photographs (with the Employer's permission always) after seeing how these are used for planning from an ex SA engineer now in NZ. Some are in urban areas. I probably need to check SA regulations in detail but the small extract giving the 7kg machine weight, if I read it correctly, would seem to allow what I was looking at (Mavic Pro weighing about 1kg) to be flown?

Does your intended use if the drone meet the following definition:

“private operation” means the use of an RPA for an individual’s personal and private purposes where there is no commercial outcome, interest or gain;

If not, you probably need a RPL and ROC (but probably not an ASL) to operate it.

[Mouser]

I am considering buying a drone to take site progress photographs (with the Employer's permission always) after seeing how these are used for planning from an ex SA engineer now in NZ. Some are in urban areas. I probably need to check SA regulations in detail but the small extract giving the 7kg machine weight, if I read it correctly, would seem to allow what I was looking at (Mavic Pro weighing about 1kg) to be flown?

Does your intended use if the drone meet the following definition:

“private operation” means the use of an RPA for an individual’s personal and private purposes where there is no commercial outcome, interest or gain;

If not, you probably need a RPL and ROC (but probably not an ASL) to operate it.

Thank you for condensing the test. Maybe childish but it is not clear. I would not charge for drone use or the photographs directly but they would be annotated, "printed" (electronically anyway), circulated, used in discussion and to monitor progress. I would absorb the drone costs in my company's fees. Just a tool.

[heisan]

Thank you for condensing the test. Maybe childish but it is not clear. I would not charge for drone use or the photographs directly but they would be annotated, "printed" (electronically anyway), circulated, used in discussion and to monitor progress. I would absorb the drone costs in my company's fees. Just a tool.

Eish - you would have to ask a lawyer that - but to me it seems that it is being used to further the aims of your company (therefore not private use).

[Shepherd]

I am considering buying a drone to take site progress photographs (with the Employer's permission always) after seeing how these are used for planning from an ex SA engineer now in NZ. Some are in urban areas. I probably need to check SA regulations in detail but the small extract giving the 7kg machine weight, if I read it correctly, would seem to allow what I was looking at (Mavic Pro weighing about 1kg) to be flown?

Does your intended use if the drone meet the following definition:

“private operation” means the use of an RPA for an individual’s personal and private purposes where there is no commercial outcome, interest or gain;

If not, you probably need a RPL and ROC (but probably not an ASL) to operate it.

Thank you for condensing the test. Maybe childish but it is not clear. I would not charge for drone use or the photographs directly but they would be annotated, "printed" (electronically anyway), circulated, used in discussion and to monitor progress. I would absorb the drone costs in my company's fees. Just a tool.

You would be definition of the law need an ROC, which is made up from a number of certs and licenses of which one is an ASL.

[heisan]

You would be definition of the law need an ROC, which is made up from a number of certs and licenses of which one is an ASL.

Actually, the other way around - the ROC is a requirement for an ASL. But in this case, it will likely be classified as a 'corporate operation' (unclear - whoever amended the Part 93 regs also amended the definition of 'corporate operation', so it is now out of sync with Part 101). For a corporate operation, a ROC is still required, but not an ASL.

[Shepherd]

You would be definition of the law need an ROC, which is made up from a number of certs and licenses of which one is an ASL.

Actually, the other way around - the ROC is a requirement for an ASL. But in this case, it will likely be classified as a 'corporate operation' (unclear - whoever amended the Part 93 regs also amended the definition of 'corporate operation', so it is now out of sync with Part 101). For a corporate operation, a ROC is still required, but not an ASL.

Thanks Heisan,

I am not familiar with the details of Part 93 and will check it out thank you.

Was not so much trying to define the phases of the process but rather that both of those are essentially needed at the end to operate.

Like all laws, it's the interpretation of the law that matters when arguing a case.

If I read the SACAA materials about the commercial operation versus private (again I am not familiar with Part 93 so I will go and read up about Corporate Operation side of things), the example brought up here would for me appear that it would have a commercial outcome, interest or gain.

Basing that on the below:

For private use –

(a) The RPAS may only be used for an individual's personal and private purposes where there is no commercial outcome, interest or gain;

RPAS Operators Certificate

​To initiate the process, the potential operator shall submit a "Letter of intent". Click Forms tab on the right for more to access a form.

Pre-requisites

Commercial Operations:

Air Service License (ASL) issued by the Air Service License Council (which resides at the Department of Transport). Even though ASL is a pre-requisite before issuance of an ROC, both application processes (ASL and ROC) may run concurrently.

Corporate and Non-profit Operations:

Nil


Application process

The Applicant will have to follow the 5 Phase process.

[heisan]

Part 93 is for manned corporate ops. Part 101 has the details for RPAS corporate ops. The problem is that all definitions are in Part 1, and are shared. So when the definition of 'corporate operations' was updated with a Part 93 amendment, it also affects Part 101 (to the point where technically, corporate ops may not be legal at all in Part 101).

[Shepherd]

Part 93 is for manned corporate ops. Part 101 has the details for RPAS corporate ops. The problem is that all definitions are in Part 1, and are shared. So when the definition of 'corporate operations' was updated with a Part 93 amendment, it also affects Part 101 (to the point where technically, corporate ops may not be legal at all in Part 101).

I understand what you mean, thanks for that

[Mouser]

Thanks, pretty clearly laid out. I have, on behalf of the Employer, engaged drone surveyors (for myself I was just talking pictures; not surveying) on a number of occasions, only one definitely a fully licenced professional who obtained all the permissions needed. There is a significant commercial market out there, a good number of operators and, for dump or stockpile operations, very economical rather than ground survey. For detail, ground survey every time, maybe in conjunction with a drone.

[Ikkd]

Does my height of 100m count as 50m away from people?

And what if your 10kg drone crash down vertically from "your" 100m height onto a house/car/people directly below, where is your 50m clear statement now ?

Also are you not supposed to stay below 40 ft as per the CAA guidlines for using a drone as a "toy" ?

Are you dumb, drones these days barely even cross the kg mark

[Shepherd]

Does my height of 100m count as 50m away from people?

And what if your 10kg drone crash down vertically from "your" 100m height onto a house/car/people directly below, where is your 50m clear statement now ?

Also are you not supposed to stay below 40 ft as per the CAA guidlines for using a drone as a "toy" ?

Are you dumb, drones these days barely even cross the kg mark

Let me put this as clear as I can…

You are not going to come right here by calling anyone dumb, period!

If you can’t constructively contribute then by all means leave this forum alone.

[snoopy]

Its a very old thread - but the short answer to the original post was - no.

Do not fly RPA 50m or closer from:

a. Any person or group of persons (like sport fields, road races, stadiums, schools, social events, etc.)
b. Public road
c. Any property without permission from property owner

In a residential area the launch of the drone (even from your own property) would already be within 50m of a public road, unless the owner lives on a small holding.

http://www.caa.co.za/Pages/RPAS/Private ... tions.aspx