Welcome to the forum Joolz,
I hope you find the following information useful.
To protect yourself in the case of an accident, insurance is a good idea. e.g. (BMFA) British Model Flying Association (UK). It costs £35 at the time of writing. Click on the link to view their web site :-
Members Insurance
This might help if you want to find UK drone fliers near you, see :-
Find Local Drone & Model Aircraft Clubs - FPV UK
You can also insure your UAV against damage : -
Drone Insurance - Phantom Flight School
The next thing to do is join a flying club to learn the ropes. Its more than likely there will be members only too glad to help out with advice or find someone near you who has a Phantom.
After some time, something to aim for is :-
Multi-Rotor –
You might like to try the following apps. The first one shows UK airspace and includes NOTAMS.
UK AirspaceAVOID for Pilots – Android Apps on Google Play and
No Fly Drones
One item that I have found to be of great help is a clear coloured strobe light. I affixed mine to the rear of my P3 and it is easily seen in daylight for some distance. It helps greatly to determine orientation.
STROBON Cree® Standalone - Flytron
If you are going to carry out any flights you can register the area you will be operating at with dates, times and the grid reference to the RAF who will issue a NOTAM to relevant agencies. Their number is Low Flying Ops 0800 515 544.
This might sound OTT, but helicopters have a nasty habit of sneaking up on you sometimes at below 100 feet. Such examples are the electricity, RAF, air ambulances, police and private owners to mention a few. Helicopters can do whatever they want to - where ever at altitudes from 0 - 3000 feet.
Even though I do advise the LFO of my flights above 150 feet you still have to keep your ears in radar mode. I don't advise LFO of flights below 100 feet because it does not take long to descend in an emergency.
With my P3A I practised an emergency descent at 200 feet by cutting the motors with the left stick hard back, and then at 100 feet, three quarters throttle. It worked well and recovered normal flight. Nice to know it works though. Real brown trouser job the first time. You might think I am paranoiac but I do have
lots of helicopters flying around here.
It does make me shudder when I think of what might happen if one of the helicopters airmisses my P3. Probably nothing - but then again ....... Anyway, the grid reference can be found on :-
Grid Reference Finder
If you haven't already done so, please add your country to your forum profile to help us know where you are when you post suggestions or ask for assistance. It helps a lot more than you might think, especially because this is an international forum with members are from all parts of the world.
If you have any questions try doing a search first by clicking the magnifying glass top right. You might find your question has already been asked and it will save you a lot of time. If you can’t find an answer, then just post the question. If you want to check your spelling, put your cursor over the word with a red line under it, click once right and choose the correct spelling.
The golden rules :-
Always get permission from the landowner to take off and land, and keep in VLOS
The last thing to have a look at is the UK CAA drone code.
http://dronesafe.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Dronecode.pdf
and not many people know, it is
illegal to over fly buildings. See the section under Drone Aware - right hand illustration.
Enjoy the forum.
