Flying legally?

[Mart61]

Hi Guys

For fear of being shot down as a “fun policeman”, I thought I’d put together a quick guide on how you might go about finding out if you’re flying on land that’s legal so to do. Below is a list of the steps I went through to try to find the byelaws on this thread, as requested by the OP:

• Find out the name of the park or what the land is called. In this case I used Google Maps to check on the roads leading into the park, buildings on it etc and, following a few minutes on Google, I found out the name (in this case, it’s called Cotswold Recreation Ground, AKA Westwood Farm)
• Having ascertained the name of the park, I again used Google to find the council responsible for the land
• Having found the name of the council, I Googled for the council’s web site
• I then did a Google site search (you do this by entering the word site followed by a colon "site:" and then enter the website address for the council concerned, for example “site:www.tilehurstpc.co.uk”. You then leave a space and add the search term you are after. I used terms such as “byelaws”, “open spaces”, “model aircraft” etc
• This doesn’t always give you what you want. Again I used Google to search for terms like “XXX park in YYY town”, “model aircraft” etc, pretty much as above

OK, it takes a little while but in truth not that long (perhaps 30 minutes).

Forgive me if you guys already knew all of the above, and forgive me if you think I’ preaching. I’m not saying you should do this or follow the above steps. I’m not saying this is the only way of achieving the same result – it’s just the way I do it if I’m asked.

So, if you’re interested in knowing if you’re breaking the law or not flying where you do, then give the above steps a go.

If you don’t give a monkey’s then that’s your right too.

I’ll close with one oft used comment and then leave myself open to a roasting:

“Ignorance of the law is no excuse!”



EDIT: I should add that, in this instance, I couldn't find the actual byelaws for this particular field but I did find that the matter had been discussed at several of the local Parish Council meetings. If you hit such a dead end but are still wanting to know the law, I would advise that you contact the council concerned and request sight of the applicable byelaws. DO NOT tell them why you want to see them as this may well give them ammunition to use against you. Just ask them for a copy, or where you can view them, and read them yourself, looking out for clauses similar to those stated in the bullet points above.

I should mention that I did find that the byelaws for Prospect Park, possibly controlled by the same council, does not ban all model flying, only nitros.

[Jamin_00]

Well done Martin.

Many people leave themselves wide open when flying in a public place so this will help.

[Kwickkwack]

Good post Martin
Having done a quick search as per your guidelines I have found confirmation of what I had suspected, all powered models are prohibited from taking off and landing on council land in my area.

[Mart61]

That's unfortunate, Rob. Of course, what you do with such knowledge is up to you (if you fly on such land that is). However, if you do and are questioned, at least you'll know which step to take - fight or flight.

[trillian]

'Just to add, very often a council will have one set of bylaws for all the properties they manage. So you will have a list of rules, what is prohibited and allowed etc. then a list of parks and grounds and very often not all the bylaws apply to all the properties, so you have to look to make sure the part of the bylaws specifically dealing with model aircraft pertains to the particular park.

Also, the ones I have read will use the term 'powered' model but they often define that as electric motors
as well, so the word 'powered' is whatever they define it as meaning.

It can be a bit confusing sometimes even when you have the byelaws to look at.

[Delta7]

Not preaching at all, all very useful if you know how to properly search or not on the old www. Cheers.

[coptermanic]

Could be flight, or flight Martin

[Kwickkwack]

Not a problem for me Martin, as I fly at both a club and a private site, still I was interested to see the situation regarding our local recreation ground which is 11 acres in size.

[stuartflys]

Thanks for this, always wondered how to find out!

[D1zzy]

Great post Martin, very valuable indeed!

[p4ddy]

I tried searching but found nothing, i suppose i could phone the council but then if they say no then i've just done myself out of a MASSIVE & empty field that i've been using for a couple of years. If there is a law then it must be outdated & was put in place to stop nitro & petrol models because of the nearby residents. The only thing they hear from my heli's are blade farts

[Lynx.1677]

It's a toughie. I fly my nitro on a grazing meadow, which probably means it's not allowed. Annoying thing is very few people ever use the place (dogwalkers) and never had many issues there at all. Always fly with a spotter but I guess that makes it no more legal, just safer. Not sure what to do now, I have a 450 which I can fly there if models are allowed.

Looks like a club maybe the only way forward.

Daft thing is that a 700 electric might be allowed (depending on weight allowances) and that's as lethal/dangerous.

[Mark_T]

If you can find who owns the meadow and get permission then it isn't a problem.

Sometimes landowners are happy to have trustworthy people on the land regularly so they can be told of any problems or misuse.

[p4ddy]

Daft thing is that a 700 electric might be allowed (depending on weight allowances) and that's as lethal/dangerous.

Probably more so as it don't make as much noise so you may not hear it coming

No "wwhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaa!!!!" like a nitro

[Mart61]

I tried searching but found nothing, i suppose i could phone the council but then if they say no then i've just done myself out of a MASSIVE & empty field that i've been using for a couple of years.

A call to the council might help. I draw your attention to my advice below tho:

If you hit such a dead end but are still wanting to know the law, I would advise that you contact the council concerned and request sight of the applicable byelaws. DO NOT tell them why you want to see them as this may well give them ammunition to use against you. Just ask them for a copy, or where you can view them, and read them yourself, looking out for clauses similar to those stated in the bullet points above.

If you call them and say "Can I fly a heli on this field?" and they say no, then you've another hurdle to jump. Whereas, by reading the byelaws, you can find out yourself and then you have the ammunition to use against anyone that challenges you.

It's a toughie. I fly my nitro on a grazing meadow, which probably means it's not allowed.

In truth, of the byelaws I've uncovered for others in the past, I've yet to see a single one that allows the flying of nitros on "public" land.

I recall you saying you had RCHA insurance? Whilst I don't know for sure, there's a probability that if you're flying on land that you have no permission to fly on, your insurance will not be valid either. Perhaps Stuart might know this?