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Don't Bring Your Drone To New Zealand
NewtonsLaw writes: Personal drones are changing the way some people experience vacations. Instead of toting along a camcorder or a 35mm DSLR, people are starting pack a GoPro and, increasingly, a drone on which to mount it. This is fine if you're going to a drone-friendly country, but be warned that your drone will get you into big trouble in Thailand (where all use of drones by the public is banned outright) and now in New Zealand, where strict new laws regarding the operation of drones (and even tiny toys like the 20g Cheerson CX10) come into effect on August 1.
Under these new rules, nobody can operate a drone or model aircraft without getting the prior consent of the owner over which property it is intended to fly — and (this is the kicker) also the permission of the occupiers of that property. So you can effectively forget about flying down at the local park, at scenic locations or just about any public place. Even if you could manage to get the prior permission of the land-owner, because we're talking "public place," you'd also have to get the permission of anyone and everyone who was also in the area where you intended to fly.
Other countries have produced far more sane regulations — such as limiting drone and RC model operators to flying no closer than 30m from people or buildings — but New Zealand's CAA have gone right over the top and imposed what amounts to a virtual death-sentence on a hobby that has provided endless, safe fun for people of all ages for more than 50 years. Of course if you are prepared to pay a $600 fee to become "Certified" by CAA then the restrictions on where you can fly are lifted and you don't need those permissions.
Under these new rules, nobody can operate a drone or model aircraft without getting the prior consent of the owner over which property it is intended to fly — and (this is the kicker) also the permission of the occupiers of that property. So you can effectively forget about flying down at the local park, at scenic locations or just about any public place. Even if you could manage to get the prior permission of the land-owner, because we're talking "public place," you'd also have to get the permission of anyone and everyone who was also in the area where you intended to fly.
Other countries have produced far more sane regulations — such as limiting drone and RC model operators to flying no closer than 30m from people or buildings — but New Zealand's CAA have gone right over the top and imposed what amounts to a virtual death-sentence on a hobby that has provided endless, safe fun for people of all ages for more than 50 years. Of course if you are prepared to pay a $600 fee to become "Certified" by CAA then the restrictions on where you can fly are lifted and you don't need those permissions.
NewtonsLaw makes no secret of being a drone enthusiast, but pretending that nobody was ever injured or property damaged by a drone is just ludicrous.
How is it not sane to think that the people who could be potentially hit by your craft would have something to say about it flying over them?
I find this a perfectly reasonable law. Don't forget it means that could could fly on private property NEXT to the public property and film from there, as long as you are not directly over the public area...
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In California recently, firefighting aircraft were grounded due to a bunch of "Dorks with Drones" that were flying haphazardly over the fire. Just check Google News with "California fire drone".
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
I'm by now means an expert, but I was of the understanding NZ already had some pretty draconian legislation with regards to model aircraft flying, to the extent that it's effectively restricted to LoS, by licensed amateurs (or those under the supervision of) at designated airfields.
It's not draconian, and the new drone rules are just existing model-aircraft rules modified a bit for drones. Basically, you can fly from/over private property without any problems (e.g. your own house, your farm, etc). If you want to launch your model aircraft, and now drone, from somewhere like a public park you need to check that it's OK (so you don't fly your whatsit into the middle of a bunch of kids playing, but in any case many places have blanket OK's for flying, not just parks but school playing fields on weekends or with a teacher present to supervise, that sort of thing). You can't fly into controlled airspace (around airports), outside LoS (formulated for model aircraft, before you had onboard live video feeds), or above a certain height.
The Slashdot submission is a nice piece of sensationalism, but really all the rule is doing is formally extending the generally sensible rules for model aircraft to cover drones as well.