Bartons Point MFC: July 2018

Hello,

Latest news from the executive suite in LMA Towers.

Over 400ft Permission

As you’re aware, the recent 2018 revision to the Air Navigation Order introduced among other things a blanket 400ft height limit for all unmanned aircraft, including models.

As of the 30 July, a CAA permission was issued to allow LMA, BMFA, SAA & FPVUK members to continue to fly models under 7Kg over 400ft.

Here is the joint statement we released to announce the granting of the permission last week-

The recent 2018 amendments to the Air Navigation Order will come into effect on the 30th July, making it illegal to operate any unmanned aircraft (including model aircraft) above 400ft.

The UK model flying associations (BMFA, SAA, LMA & FPVUK) have been working in close collaboration in ongoing negotiations with the Department for Transport (DfT) and Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and we are pleased to report that earlier today the CAA issued us with a joint ‘Permission’ to allow our members to continue operating ‘conventional’ model aircraft (excluding multi-rotors) weighing less than 7Kg at heights in excess of 400ft. The full text of this Permission can be viewed HERE.

The CAA has also issued an ‘Exemption’ to allow our members to operate ‘conventional’ model aircraft (excluding multi-rotors) weighing less than 3.5Kg at heights up to 1000ft using First Person View. The full text of this Exemption can be viewed HERE.

Note that any model aircraft flying within 1km of the boundary of a licensed airfield at any height will have to be with the permission of the airfield air traffic control or airfield operator.

The Permission & Exemption will come into effect on the 30th July, but please note that they apply only to ‘conventional’ model aircraft (including helicopters) and do not exempt multirotor drones or unmanned aircraft with autonomous flight capability from the 400ft height limit.

It was only possible to achieve this result due to the recognition given by the DfT and CAA to the excellent safety record established by the model flying associations and our members over many years and we are grateful for their help and support in achieving such a positive outcome.

Today’s announcement is a great result for the UK model flying community and is the culmination of very significant collaborative efforts by the UK Model Flying Associations working together on behalf of our members.

So there you have it. For models under 7Kg, as LMA members you can carry on flying over 400ft . You’ll notice that the permission specifically for members of the named associations and excludes multirotors and unmanned aircraft with autonomous flight capability.

Here’s why.

As the ANO updates were introduced specifically to deal with the ‘drone menace’, there weren’t going to be any permissions forthcoming to allow the irresponsible drone flyers to carry on doing what they are doing ‘legally’ under a model flying umbrella. Therefore, we needed to get permissions that allowed legitimate model aircraft flying to continue as before but not apply to the type of flying that was perceived to be causing a problem.

We had to justify to the CAA why we needed permission to fly unmanned aircraft over 400ft, why it was safe, and how we could ensure it would remain safe. The ‘why we need’ was easily justified by gliders, slope soaring, big sweeping aerobatic schedules / practice etc. The ‘why it’s safe’ was justified by the long and trouble-free history of model flying in the UK with no height limit for models under 7Kg by the members of the model flying associations. The ‘why it will remain safe’ is because we have a responsible membership who follow applicable rules, the capability to communicate with all our members in either email like this or the Journal, and we can ultimately remove membership from anybody who doesn’t follow the applicable rules (and thus the ability to use our permissions).

As all unmanned aircraft have to be flown ‘visual line of sight’, in that you have to be able to see the model to control it and keep it clear of other things (including FPV, the mandatory spotter still has to be able to see the aircraft at all points of the flight to tell the pilot if they are about to hit something). Multirotors are generally getting difficult to see at 400ft, so we had no real argument that we could justify to the CAA on how they could be seen and controlled over 400ft. Model aircraft are also flown by the pilot, so the specific exclusion of automatic flight capability other than stabilisation gyros also prevents ‘drones’ from being flown under the model flying banner, while not impeding any traditional model flying.

The permissions apply only to members of model flying associations, as if they applied to non-members, it would make the recent ANO update pointless with blanket permissions for anyone to fly in excess of the limits introduced. That wasn’t acceptable to the CAA or DfT, and not something we could justify, or really support. After all, if a modeller can’t support at least one of the national associations by joining, can they really expect the associations to work on their behalf? We still cater for ‘lone flyers’, as there are no geographical limitations on where our members fly, or requirement to be in a club, just a requirement to fly within the association’s rules and have the airfield operator’s permission if within 1Km of a licensed airfield.

Drone racing is carried out at generally very low level, and the exemption/permission to allow that to carry on will be upissued shortly.

Any questions, as ever, please let me know.

DfT Drone Consultation

The DfT have recently published their consultation ‘Taking Flight: The Future of Drones in the UK’. The measures in the consultation are part their wider drones programme and strategy, and will help shape the content of a draft Drones Bill which will be published later this year, as well as other future measures.

The measures under consultation include:

- Proposals for regulating and mandating the use of ‘apps’ on which pilots would file flight plans ahead of take-off

- Additional powers for the police to enforce the law

- Using new counter-drone technology to protect public events and critical national infrastructure, and stop contraband reaching prisons

- Introducing minimum age restrictions for drone owners in addition to the new tests they will need to take

- Whether the 1km restriction around aerodromes, introduced as an amendment to the Air Navigation Order in May this year, is sufficient.

You can find a link to the consultation here

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/drone-legislation-use-restrictions-and-enforcement

and it will run until 17 September 2018.

We are trying to get a coordinated response to the consultation from all the country’s 40,000 plus modellers, and I will be emailing you all again shortly to give some guidance on what you may like to consider as a response after some good hard reading of the proposals.

LMA Name

As you will recall from the last Journal, we are proposing a review of the branding & naming of the Association to make sure it is still appropriate for what we do, what the association is for. There has been some discussion on the LMA forum, but we’d like to get all your views on what the name of the Association should be.

Please take a minute to complete the survey here-

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/YLV6CLP

Thanks

Rob Buckley
Secretary - Large Model Association
secretary@largemodelassociation.com

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