I am fairly new to UAVs but not to aviation or R/C. I picked up a Phantom 4.
One of the places I wanted to use it was at our model engineers club property which is within the 9 KM no-fly zone so I made an enquiry with the relevant airport and was referred to Nav Canada. After a discussion with Nav Canada (in which they assured themselves that I knew what I was doing) they referred me to the airport manager. The airport manager then referred me to the Tower manager and my flight was approved as long as I phone the tower before flying, after flying, and in the event of a fly-away. It all went smoothly and I got some lovely low-level video.
Being inspired by the success of my first venture, I completed the UAV ground school course. (I already have my ROC-A for air radio.)
According to Transport Canada you can only fly within 9 KM of an airport with a SFOC. According to their (current) rules, you need $100,000 liability insurance to get an SFOC. The best premium I have been able to find is $500 per year. They also told me that ATC did not have the authority to authorize UAV flight within their airspace.
Well isn't this wonderful! If I want to be legal and follow all the rules, it is going to cost me over $500 a year to do aerial video on our club property!
To complicate matters, most UAV liability insurance is for commercial operators and does not cover "recreational use". (Still waiting to hear from the insurance company that covers my home.)
Has anyone found an economical solution to the liability insurance problem?
One of the places I wanted to use it was at our model engineers club property which is within the 9 KM no-fly zone so I made an enquiry with the relevant airport and was referred to Nav Canada. After a discussion with Nav Canada (in which they assured themselves that I knew what I was doing) they referred me to the airport manager. The airport manager then referred me to the Tower manager and my flight was approved as long as I phone the tower before flying, after flying, and in the event of a fly-away. It all went smoothly and I got some lovely low-level video.
Being inspired by the success of my first venture, I completed the UAV ground school course. (I already have my ROC-A for air radio.)
According to Transport Canada you can only fly within 9 KM of an airport with a SFOC. According to their (current) rules, you need $100,000 liability insurance to get an SFOC. The best premium I have been able to find is $500 per year. They also told me that ATC did not have the authority to authorize UAV flight within their airspace.
Well isn't this wonderful! If I want to be legal and follow all the rules, it is going to cost me over $500 a year to do aerial video on our club property!
To complicate matters, most UAV liability insurance is for commercial operators and does not cover "recreational use". (Still waiting to hear from the insurance company that covers my home.)
Has anyone found an economical solution to the liability insurance problem?