New drone laws mean children could be fined £2,500 for using toys at home

The government has amended the laws on drone use near airports but there’s an unexpected casualty. Children who have toy drones and live within 3 miles of an airport could be fined for flying them.

As The Register points out the change to the drone laws originally has a weight exemption for drones that weighed less than 250g, but it was later corrected removing it entirely.

Currently drones over 250g will need to be registered with the Civil Aviation Authority and the pilot will need to take an online safety test.

That means that any drone, from the smallest to the largest , would now fall under the restrictions, which means that toy little timmy and tanya got for Christmas could now be a massive financial risk.

The restrictions are, naturally a response to the Gatwick and Heathrow incidents over the Christmas period which caused havoc for travellers.

However it’s worth remembering that the drone activity at those airports was already illegal and subject to penalties for people who broke the rules.

The Gatwick drone incident was clearly a malicious act designed to cause problems for the airport and passengers – it’s highly unlikely any amount of legislation would prevent that.

Flying indoors with a toy drone is fine, of course, but stray outside to your garden or a park in the three mile zone and you’re risking trouble from the police.

Before the new rules were introduced the ban on drones was less than a mile around any airport. This has now been increased to nearly three miles.

It also includes a rule that bans the dropping of "articles or animals" from a drone.

For anyone who deliberately endangers lives with a drone, by flying too close to a passenger craft, could face five years in jail and/or an unlimited fine.

In the US there are some more liberal laws. Hobbyist drone operators are banned from flying within five miles of an airfield, but they have the option to call the air traffic control tower and notify them.

Operators doing this are then able to fly in the exclusion zone as long as they do not fly near manned aircraft. 

Read More

Drones

• 

• 

• 

• 

Source: Read Full Article