I live in Australia and I am going to Fiji for A holiday in two weeks and am taking my drone wondering if it will be safe to fly it over there with gps signals and so on? Also wondering how I would go getting from country to country with my drone I have heard it should be no worries anyone know these questions ??
Flying my drone in a different country
- Thread starter Jordanjj
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Meta4
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Your biggest issue will be getting the batteries there. Read what the airline has in regards to the Li batteries, and follow that to a T, or they won't allow them on. Also, getting the drone there I would HIGHLY suggest a hard case backpack if you can.
You need to get a permit to fly your drone in Fiji, even for recreational purposes. I'm headed over there later this year and already have my permit submitted and accepted. It requires that you nominate the dates you will be there, the areas(s) where you will be flyng and the type of drone. The CAAF recommends that you carry your paperwork with you in order to avoid customs issues. The actual flight rules are very similar to those in Australia and can be easily found on the CAAF web pages. There can be severe penalties for not having a permit when flyng drones in Fiji. The form can be found here - Application - Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (Form OP137).
It says to mail the application in but you can also email it to the person in charge to save time (I won't publish his email address in this forum but you can give them a ring and they'll tell you).
I'm sure that others would also appreciate hearing about your experience with carrying the drone on the flight. I believe the batteries should be ok because they are smaller than 100wh
As far as the actual flying is concerned, you will obviously need to do a compass recalibration once you get there (and again if you are relocating more than 100km or so within Fiji).
Unless you pre-cache your maps before the trip, you'll also need a data sim in your DJI-GO device (or access to a wifi modem) so that DJI-GO can download maps and satellite images of your flght area. You can get prepaid sims at very reasonable prices from either Digicel or Vodafone in the arrivals hall at the airport. I can strongly recommend that you DO NOT allow your phone or other DJI-GO device to use data roaming from your Australian carrier for his purpose. The roaming costs would be prohibitive.
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Thankyou I will get onto that tomorrow and get a permit organised for my phantom 3 professional are they pretty quick onto it? I called virgin airlines today which is the company I am flying with and they said it should will be fine with the battery's and taking the drone on as carry on. Just really hoping when flying over there it is safe and I do not lose signal or anything like that.
The CAAF acknowledged receipt of my permit request and responded to my email within minutes. He was very responsive.
I'm not sure where you're flyng (I'll be on the Coral Coast in three weeks) but there are far less radio towers and other sources of interference in Fiji so you should have no signal issues. I have also never seen a hawk or any other predatory bird so you won't need to worry about being attacked.
Any chance you are able to give me a way to get in contact with the CAAF as the contact details on the website I am having no luck with?
It's not for me to post other people's email addresses in this forum however the Fiji CAAF does have a public document which includes a paragraph on who to contact for information regarding RPAS Operations in Fiji. http://www.caaf.org.fj/attachments/article/234/Aviation Safety Bulletin Q4'2014.pdf
