Ian Moore 3 Posted July 19, 2013 Share Posted July 19, 2013 Hi there My name is Ian, I'm a complete newbie at this and intend on using the newbie section very soon but I have a dying question that I would love you all to answer for me. Ok so my plans are to learn to fly RC quadcopters and eventually buy a DJI Phantom and fly it with my GoPro camera and my question is this. I have done a bit of digging around about the use of selling my photographs (I'm a photographer) and see there is a law stating that in order to sell my aerial shots I must obtain a pilots licence? I'm not planning in photographing over built up estates, I'm only interested really in beaches and on hills at sunset/sunrise from the sky and I read a thread somewhere that maybe this law is in place for built up areas only. Is this the case? Like i said at the beginning I'm a complete newbie so I may have read this wrong but I would love a definitive answer and think this is the best place to get it. Thank you all very much Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin b Posted July 19, 2013 Share Posted July 19, 2013 Hi Ian and welcome to the (mad house) forum. This is another one of those civil freedom v personal rights issues that even the law makers can't, or won't sort out at the moment. Mostly due to the rapid advancement of technology. Posting photos of children on here is a no, no. Young ladies posed with equally attractive model aeroplanes, even with no covering (The planes not the girls !!!) are always appreciated.You are either going to get swamped with replies, or the post will be ignored. Good luck ! They're generally a nice crowd on here as long as you don't mention one of the (very few) taboo subjects. The problem is I can't tell you what they are as big brother may be mod- , er, watching (sorry Dave) and I'm not sure how many "lives" I have left. kevib Tongue firmly in cheek dept. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete B Posted July 19, 2013 Share Posted July 19, 2013 We really do our best to try not to ignore any post here, Ian, despite what Kevin the Naysayer says..... I'm not going to even try to give you a definitive answer, as I think the circumstances you describe are probably at the lower end of the 'risk assessment' which is described in CAP722, the CAA guidance on UAS downloadable here. Looking at Section 4, which deals with pilot qualifications and risk factors, it is probable that what you plan to do would be 'case 0', ie low-risk, so you may find you would not need formal qualifications. However, I emphasise that I know very little about this and that it would be worth contacting the CAA to ask their advice. I'm sure they will be realistic in their response and you'll probably find them very helpful. You might also find some answers on the FPV forums, many of whom will have a section dealing with this issue, where you may get sound factual advice. Bear in mind, though, that unfortunately there are many on those forums who clearly have nor regard for CAP722 or any other regulation concerning model-flying..... Please let us know how your enquiries go - I'm sure there'll be some here who would like to know the result Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Skilbeck Posted July 19, 2013 Share Posted July 19, 2013 I think if you followed the "rules" about where you fly and weren't offering your service on a commercial basis (i.e. somebody contracts you to take some specific photos) then you may be OK. There's some useful info here and here BTW don't think that quads are necessarily that easy to fly, my dualsky hornet 450 needs careful setting up to stop it from becoming unstable and crashing and there have been reports of DJI Phantom flyaways, orientation of a quad especially at a distance is not that easy to judge either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
001 Posted July 20, 2013 Share Posted July 20, 2013 I think that if I were to start up a photography business to sell aerial photos in a professional manner I would investigate the use of a tethered helium balloon carrying a camera rather than a radio controlled model, for several reasons. (One being that a digital SLR could be used.) Although again I do not know the legal position! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Moore 3 Posted July 20, 2013 Author Share Posted July 20, 2013 Posted by Pete B - Moderator on 19/07/2013 22:42:21: We really do our best to try not to ignore any post here, Ian, despite what Kevin the Naysayer says..... I'm not going to even try to give you a definitive answer, as I think the circumstances you describe are probably at the lower end of the 'risk assessment' which is described in CAP722, the CAA guidance on UAS downloadable here. Looking at Section 4, which deals with pilot qualifications and risk factors, it is probable that what you plan to do would be 'case 0', ie low-risk, so you may find you would not need formal qualifications. However, I emphasise that I know very little about this and that it would be worth contacting the CAA to ask their advice. I'm sure they will be realistic in their response and you'll probably find them very helpful. You might also find some answers on the FPV forums, many of whom will have a section dealing with this issue, where you may get sound factual advice. Bear in mind, though, that unfortunately there are many on those forums who clearly have nor regard for CAP722 or any other regulation concerning model-flying..... Please let us know how your enquiries go - I'm sure there'll be some here who would like to know the result Pete Thank you all for your replies it really has helped and Pete I will check out the forums you mentioned at some point over the weekend and let you know what I come up with. The thought of flying a phantom high above the coast is just so amazing and I know I have a few followers of my work that would love to see some shots from up there. Obviously like Chris has mentioned above, I know my gopro won't take quite as good a pic as my nikon but it would still be pretty decent and something I could work with. I may be wrong but then there is always the video but I would just feel a lot better knowing that if someone did say to me "hey nice pic can I have a copy" or I make a great movie of my coast near sunset then I could sell them a copy without the threat of getting in trouble. I shall go hunting on and report back with what I find and in the mean time if anybody finds anything else then please fell free to share here. Ian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Privett Posted July 20, 2013 Share Posted July 20, 2013 Ian, I guess the question is "where does the boundary lie?" At one end of the spectrum you have 'ordinary' flyers who stick a camera on their model and post pics and videos on forums and youtube - no payment involved. That is quite clearly just regular model flying. At the other end you have the businesses, like the one run by one of the members of my club. He is CAA-registered and does commercial work for pop videos, advertising shots etc. from multi-copters. That very clearly lies in the CAP722 area! What you have in mind seems to lie somewhere in the middle. Let us know how you get on! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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