NZ:- Permission policy on the way for drones

HANNAH LEE

The latest rules on drones and model airplanes have been dubbed “a pain in the a***” by flyers, and has council playing policy catch-up.

On August 1, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) introduced new rules which requires the remote pilots to request permission from property owners, or the person, namely council, in charge of any area they wish to fly over.

Trent Lochhead, committee member with the New Plymouth Model Aero Club, said he has been flying drones for around three years, but was yet to take his own out under the new rules and regulations.

However speaking with other pilots, Lochhead said the general sentiment was the rules were “overkill”.

“Beforehand you would go down to a park or whatever but it’s harder to do now.”

Lochhead said to be able to fly a drone or model aeroplane at a local park now required permission from council, but the process was less than straightforward.

“The councils haven’t known how to deal with it.”

One man had approached the New Plymouth Model Aero Club a couple of weeks back after going to the council who “didn’t know how to give him permission”, Lochhead said.

The new rules have been implemented around privacy issues, not safety issues, however most people really overestimate the quality of the cameras being used, he said.

When it comes to public parks or other areas, as long as it was done safely, drones should be able to be used without express permission, Lochhead suggested.

“On private property it’s probably fair enough [to have to ask for permission to fly over], but people have been doing this for ages.”

New Plymouth District Council (NPDC) manager customer and regulatory Mary-Anne Priest said council’s district plan has a bylaw which covers flying objects and they looked at permission to fly, largely from a health and safety perspective.

Priest admitted the council having to police these new CAA rules came “out of left field” and there were still some things that needed to be ironed out.

A review of the district plan was being carried out this year, where hopefully a blanket consent or ruling on drone use would be decided upon, Priest said.

“Obviously what this [the rules] does is bring it more into the public eye.”

Prior to these new regulations, anyone flying drones in a public area would have generally gone through council anyway, so this would be about extending that a bit further, she said.

With the increased use of this technology it was inevitable new laws would need to be created, but the current bylaw would be the baseline for any further legislation, Preist noted.

New Plymouth Model Aero Club committee member Allen Lawrence said having to ask permission to fly over private property was a reasonable request.

Interest in drones was increasing rapidly, however in Taranaki there was still not a huge base of remote pilots.

Lawrence said he predicted the issues would arise predominantly from those not affiliated with aero clubs, who do not understand what was required of them.

“We already have an area, with permission to fly, so it’s not really an issue for us.”

NPDC manager airport Kevin Hill said there had been no incidents regarding drones out at New Plymouth’s airport and hoped that would continue.

Flying closer than 4km from an airport was not permitted, Hill said.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/gadgets/70957009/permission-policy-on-the-way-for-drones.html