Basic Drone Law Simplified

Introduction

The UK drone regulations are quite complicated, there is lots of information spread across many documents and it’s hard to know where to start.

I am Mike Green from Commercial Drone Training, I am a former pilot and one of the longest serving certified CAA drone examiners and I am here to explain the basics of the UK drone rules in under 10 minutes in as clear and basic a way as possible.

So give me the next ten minutes of your life to make you a well informed drone pilot.

Registration

Once you have bought your drone, before you fly it you must get yourself a flyer ID and operator id from the UK CAA website.

An operator owns or is responsible for the drone, a flyer just fly’s the drone. So for example I own and fly this drone so I need a flyer and operator id. If a friend comes to fly my drone then all they would need is a flyer id – as I am the owner of the drone my friend fly’s under my operator id.

The minimum age for an operator is 18 so kids would need to get an adult to hold the operator id and they would need a flyer id.

The operator id must be written on the drone in letters more than 3mm in height.

Your flyer id must be on your person to show a police officer on demand.

So with your flyer and operator id complete you can then read your drone’s operating handbook and then set out into a safe flying area described in the text below.

The 3 Drone Categories

A new drone flyer would have to abide by the rules of the Open Category.

The Open Category is one of 3 category’s of drone flight in the UK.

The 3 category’s are the Open, Specific and Certified Category.

The CAA have produced the simple table shown in a document called CAP2012. This states the basic rules of the open category you must follow. Google search CAP 2012 and download the table in PDF format from the CAA website.

The top of the table defines some basic rules all open category drone flyers must follow:

The table is a simplification of the main open category rules held in the drone law document which we look at later, but we might as well learn the basic Open Category rules now so we remain legal

A). The unmanned aircraft has a maximum take-off mass of less than 25 kg;

B). The remote pilot ensures that the unmanned aircraft is kept at a safe distance from

people and that it is not flown over assemblies/crowds of people.

in follow-me mode or when using an unmanned aircraft observer.

(D) during flight, the unmanned aircraft is maintained within 120 metres from the closest

point of the surface of the earth, except when overflying an obstacle.

(E) during flight, the unmanned aircraft does not carry dangerous goods and does not

drop any material.

We will expand on the text in italics later but for the moment let’s keep it simple.

But that’s not it for rules in the open category, we have further rules specified in the table depending on the weight of the drone.

So lets work our way through the CAP 2012 table.

1. If you own a drone less than 250g in weight then you fit into the A1 Table Category and therefore have a lot of freedoms – you may fly over uninvolved people but not over crowds.

Uninvolved people are people nothing to do with your drone flight and not aware of the risks a drone presents to them, people like shoppers, kids playing in the park, dog walkers etc.

So technically you could fly over the shoppers in the high street with an under 250g drone, but with great freedom comes responsibility so always remember there is a CAA rule that states!!!!

“A person must not recklessly or negligently cause or permit an aircraft to endanger any person or property”

So the under 250g drone weight range rules are easy as we just saw in the table. Over 250g it gets a bit more complicated.

If your drone weighs between 250g and 500g you are still in the A1 category but you can see in the table there is a competency requirement to hold an A2CofC certificate.

If you do not have the A2CofC certificate you must abide by the A3 seperation rules and stay 50m away from uninvolved people and 150m away from residential, commercial, industrial or recreational areas (congested areas).If you hold an A2CofC you may then fly within congested areas though you must not fly over uninvolved people. So technically you could fly in the town centre as long as you do not fly above uninvolved people and not recklessly or negligently cause or permit your drone to endanger any person or property

If your drone weighs between 050g and 2kg then you are in the A2 category of the table but you can see in the table there is a competency requirement to hold an A2CofC certificate.

If you do not have the A2CofC certificate you must abide by the A3 seperation rules and stay 150m away from congested areas. With the A2CofC you may fly within congested areas though you must not fly closer than 50m horizontally from uninvolved people.

Drones between 2kg and 25kg fit into the A3 table category and must stay 50m away from uninvolved people and 150m away from residential, commercial, industrial or recreational areas (congested areas). An A2 CofC makes no difference in the A3 table category and these rules must always be upheld for 2kg to 25kg drones.

So if you own a drone between 250g and 2kg then the A2 CofC is a must for you to get the most out of the open Category.

Specific Category

We discussed earlier that there are 3 categories of drone operation in the UK. The next category up from the Open Category is the Specific Category.

To fly in the specific category we need to complete a GVC drone course and apply for an operation authorisation which is issued by the CAA.

Why would we need to fly in the Specific Category? Well what if you wanted to:

drop articles or carry dangerous goods (this could be done in the specific category with CAA approval, it may never be undertaken in the open category)
Fly over uninvolved people (dome principle) drones in flight in the specific category

have to maintain a 50m separation from uninvolved people in any direction, so technically you could overfly an uninvolved person as long as you were more than 50m above them.

Want to go further than the VLOS limitations or higher than 400ft. With CAA approval you could fly your drone further than VLOS or higher than the 400ft/120m height limitation. You may never do this in the open category.
Want to fly in flight restriction zones around airports. There are zones around airports which you may not fly drones within without permission from the airport itself. An airport may not see the A2 CofC as suitable proof of competence and therefore an operational authorisation may be required.
Want to fly in complex areas Restricted Areas, Danger Areas etc. There are other places in the country where drones are not allowed to fly nearby without permission – military bases, power stations, prisons to name a few. A military base may not see the A2 CofC as suitable proof of competence and therefore an operational authorisation may be required.
Want to fly a heavy drone, say 10kg in built up area. An Specific Category – Operational Authorisation states a drone up to 25kg may fly in a congested area as long as it keeps the following distance from uninvolved people:

No flight within 50 metres of any uninvolved person, except that during take-off and landing this distance may be reduced to 30 metres.

b. No flight within 50 metres horizontally of any assemblies of people.

Its important to understand at this point that the Open Category distances from uninvolved people are related to drone weight and set out in the open category table. In the specific category the distances from uninvolved persons are the same irrespective of the drone weight (up to 25kgs of course).

So how do you get an Operational Authorisation from the CAA to operate in the Specific Category. You must:

1). Complete a GVC Course with CDT to get the GVC Certificate

2). Write an Operations Manual using the CDT template

3). Apply to the CAA using the drone application portal (£265 fee to process your operational authorisation)

You then wait up to 28 working days and the CAA will issue you Operational Authorisation – UKPDRA01

The overarching rules of the specific category are the similar as the open category but some may be amended with CAA approval.

(A). The unmanned aircraft has a maximum take-off mass of less than 25 kg;

(B) the remote pilot keeps the unmanned aircraft in VLOS at all times to a maximum of 500m except when using an unmanned aircraft observer.

point of the surface of the earth, though may be increased with CAA approval.

(D) during flight, the unmanned aircraft does not carry dangerous goods and does not drop any material, though may allowed with CAA approval.

So to recap. To fly in the Open Category you just need you flyer ID / Operator ID and work to the rules of the Open Category table (CAP 2012).

Your Options

The A2CofC can be completed with CDT to free up your restrictions from flying a drone of 250g to 2kg in congested areas.

In the specific category you work to the rules set in your operational authorisation issued by the CAA. The distance rules from uninvolved people are the same for any drone up to 25kg.

The A2CofC course and GVC course can be completed online or in person at a CDT Course Venue.

Our online courses use simple language tailored for non-aviation professionals through video presentations to ensure a smooth and painless journey through the syllabus.

At the end of the course the student has access to mock exams enabling them to practice for the online A2CofC or GVC theory test.

We have been an approved Civil Aviation Authority drone training and examiner centre for over 6 years. As one of the oldest UK training organisations we have helped thousands of students successfully complete their drone certification.

Please call me on 07889 767 398 or info@commercialdronetraining.co.uk for more information or book the course using the button or link below.