Recreational drone now illegal in most of Canada...

One thing I'd like clarified is the 75 meters from a person. How does one take a friend with him if this is the restriction? Also, do these new rules apply to my own property of 100 acres, and 13 acres?

I am a handicapped individual and often require a little help with unloading things like a wheelchair and Phantom hard case from the back of my SUV.

Bud

Sadly, they had this to say: Transport Canada on Twitter
 
One thing I'd like clarified is the 75 meters from a person. How does one take a friend with him if this is the restriction? Also, do these new rules apply to my own property of 100 acres, and 13 acres?

I am a handicapped individual and often require a little help with unloading things like a wheelchair and Phantom hard case from the back of my SUV.

Bud

Excellent questions, and these are the questions that such a poorly thought out and vague restriction need to address. Even on your 100 acre property, better not venture within 75m of the property line or you will be in violation if your neighbour walks along that same line.
 
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Ib650 You have my agreement.
A few months ago I checked with my insurance company and found most do not have drone insurance or riders on home insurance for drone flying. The ones that do would be very expensive, on excess of 1000$.
The suggestion was made that if MAAC insurance covered drones then it would be a much less costly way to go. I don't have a problem with that but it would mean flying totally by MAAC safety code. That can be difficult in many areas.
Age restrictions and a registration do make sense.

Do any Canadian drone flyers have any expertise or knowledge of reasonable insurance??

Also. Putting certification and insurance regs on drones such as the phantom,mavic,and inspire rite at the point of sale( basically any drone capable of distance flights ) in the future might help to weed out some of the irresponsible flyers. Have it so You have to provide certification,insurance and be of appropriate age limit before DJI or what ever drone manufacturer can activate the drone.. And that info would have to be submitted to either government or transport Canada Sounds like a bunch of bs but it might be the on,y way to keep the hobby going. True fact is its because of the irresponsible idiots that feel they need to fly beyond their knowledge and ability without considering consequences of their actions. The sad fact is I think there's going to have to be stricter regs to try weed out the idiots that want to drop **** on people,spy or peepers just because they can,so the rest of can continue to enjoy this hobby
 
For the record, DJI has posted this:

DJI on Twitter
Glad to see DJI has acknowledged these ridiculously over-restrictive new regulations. We all knew new regulations were coming, but I don't think anyone really expected something as harsh as this. Fortunately, I live very close to a large ball diamond which is often deserted, so as best as I can tell I can still fly locally though I guess no longer in my own yard? I'm honestly very disappointed in Garneau. As a former astronaut and someone who seems to be passionate about aviation in general, I would have expected that he would be able to see all the potential and enjoyment drones have to offer, and how the vast majority of operators use them in a safe and responsible manner. As best as I figure, these new regulations will do nothing to stop the small percentage of drone operators from using there drone in a stupid or malicious fashion, and will instead just unfairly regulate the rest of us who do not use our drones in any way to pose any danger to the public.

I think a better approach would be requiring an individual to get a license to operate a drone beyond a certain class (say heavier than 250g as the regs currently use) which could involve passing a knowledge test online for example (akin to the process of getting ones boaters licence for operating a motorboat), and then trusting in the individual to use there drone in a responsible manner in accordance with a few common sense regulations (i.e. staying away a reasonable distance from airports and avoiding flying too close to buildings or too low over large crowds, private property without permission, etc... basically the guidelines which were in place before (and common sense!)) without the need for any new over restrictive regulations. They could even charge you a small fee to get the licence: with the increasing popularity of drones, I could see this as a way for the government to generate a fairly significant sum of money. I suspect the majority of actual incidents that do occur, are as a result of the operator simply being unaware of the rules, and having to pass a test in order to be able to fly would likely fix that.
 
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I like the idea of the written 'test', then a 'license' for both the flier and the quad. The government could incorporate it into the present licensing scheme that is used for motor vehicles, and as stated the drone could not be purchased by anyone who could not produce said license (similar to the Firearms Acquisition Certificate up here) - and the testing would ensure that rules for flying would at least be read by the operator.
 
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After a review of:

http://wwwapps.tc.gc.ca/Saf-Sec- ... chtype%3d1&lang=eng

Many the the incidents in Canada are not within the capabilities of the recreational drones that I am familiar with, especially the P4. Specifically: reported altitudes, size, etc.

Exactly There Needs to be 2 classifications in the 250g to 35 kg size
Say,250g to 5kg. 6kg to 35kg With stiffer regs for the 6-35 kg size. It should be quite obvious which ones are flying at 2800-8000 ft. But the dumb *** that crashed his drone inside the fence of the airport should have his head slapped. He obviously don't use it
 
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That's exactly what I was thinking. If I stay on my own property, and under the 90 meter altitude restriction, I doubt they'd have much to say about that. At least I'm hoping so.

I will miss not being able to video interesting things in other locations though, such as Lift Locks (as I've done before) or other interesting landmarks such as bridges etc.

Bud


Let them try and prosecute you on your on Private property...
 
After a review of:

http://wwwapps.tc.gc.ca/Saf-Sec- ... chtype%3d1&lang=eng

Many the the incidents in Canada are not within the capabilities of the recreational drones that I am familiar with, especially the P4. Specifically: reported altitudes, size, etc.
The gov will blame consumer drones...while I agree there re many idiots out there have ruined it for the rest of us, many objects seen by pilots and or police are only guessing they are drones just like the porter incident last year, it was a classic UFO , no drone could have made it that far out and altitude...pilots finally agreed it could not have been a drone. The truth is, there are way more UAP/ or UFO in the skies being reported wth near misses by pilots than drones. I know because I film them in Vancouver, and its known fact..No one knows what they are so instead and once again, Gov will have to blame the public and the drone community are the ones suffering
 
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Hi, ok I know this site is mostly Americian and I am an Aussie flyer. But why is it necessary to fly above 100 meters? I have no issues when I fly. I live in a rural area, I rarely fly out of sight or above 50 mtrs. Always early in the morning( less wind) and I learnt how to fly because I don't trust all this new fangled stuff. I am not surprised about the restriction being applied with some of the stupid things I have seen myself, in the news and what the idiots put up on social media. People forget that everyone now carries a camera with the ability to send stuff all over the world so you can't hide. I saw a drone out of the window of a passenger jet on its approach to the major city airport. Reported it on landing and spent quite some time with the authorities when I did. It will only need 1 incident of a plane going down to really put cat among the pigeons.
 
Hi, ok I know this site is mostly Americian and I am an Aussie flyer. But why is it necessary to fly above 100 meters? I have no issues when I fly. I live in a rural area, I rarely fly out of sight or above 50 mtrs. Always early in the morning( less wind) and I learnt how to fly because I don't trust all this new fangled stuff. I am not surprised about the restriction being applied with some of the stupid things I have seen myself, in the news and what the idiots put up on social media. People forget that everyone now carries a camera with the ability to send stuff all over the world so you can't hide. I saw a drone out of the window of a passenger jet on its approach to the major city airport. Reported it on landing and spent quite some time with the authorities when I did. It will only need 1 incident of a plane going down to really put cat among the pigeons.
Is the irresponsible operators need to go higher than 90 meters.. 300 feet is plenty but I agree I have gone 1000 ft only because I was filming falls side of a mountain...and now I can't do this even though I am abiding by all the other laws...so this new law needs a revision big time.
If you saw a drone while you were flying , again another idiot and drone laws are not going to prevent these people from continuing to be stupid. There are so many ways they could have dealt with this concern but instead blanketed a law across the board that basically eliminates any operation within most cities.
 
Hi static8, look how easy is it to inform people about something out of norm. I go and let people know that a lot of my flights are flying only no photos involved. I have had a lot of requests to take photos of peoples homes especially with regards checking fire hazards. Believe me it was a drone, it saw it falling away. The authorities were very concerned.
 
Beautiful weather for flying here, but airports and helipads dot the landscape in the 9km zone.... Thanks Transport Canada, maybe they should offer reimbursements for drone owners since there's pretty much no place to fly them now. Dang, now what am I supposed to do for a hobby that's legal? Maybe crochet or something?
 
Hi static8, look how easy is it to inform people about something out of norm. I go and let people know that a lot of my flights are flying only no photos involved. I have had a lot of requests to take photos of peoples homes especially with regards checking fire hazards. Believe me it was a drone, it saw it falling away. The authorities were very concerned.
We had one like that here in Vancouver couple of years ago, he was stupid enough to place his footage on Ytube..not sure if hey caught him or not but I'm sure hey did...Yes its scary and this drone pilots should be fined and worse maybe imprisoment if hey are flying in and around major airport but again 9KM is overkill, worse when flying 9Km away from seaplanes, WTF, seaplanes follow a very strict flight plan when the land by the harbour here in Vancouver, if Im on the other side of the city but less than 9KM away, its illegal, that makes no sense, plus I fly 90 meters maximum , these planes will never get close to that alitude only when they about to land on the water...again its over reaction to the drone industry because of a few bad apples...
 

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