New drone laws

Chris Wilson

Chris Wilson

Chris Wilson

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Joined
28 Nov 2003
Posts
10,697
Location
Shropshire
Seeing that Dublin Airport has just been closed due to a drone being allegedly seen hovering about it reminded me of a question I wanted to ask. I have an acquaintance happy to use his "up market" drone to lift a cord over a huge oak tree branch for an aerial wire to be pulled up. The new law states no drones can be flown within, I think from memory, three miles from an AIRPORT. Now I need to check but I think the nearest tiny airfield is perhaps just within 3 miles of me. Is there a difference between an air field and an air port in this regard? It's at Tilstock and used mainly as a parachuting centre:

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en-GB&as_q=airfield+whitchurch+shropshire&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&as_nlo=&as_nhi=&lr=&cr=&as_qdr=all&as_sitesearch=&as_occt=any&safe=images&as_filetype=&as_rights=&q=airfield whitchurch shropshire&npsic=0&rflfq=1&rlha=0&rllag=52926943,-2649129,46&tbm=lcl&rldimm=14425959461972538737&ved=2ahUKEwjt_Ovc5czgAhVQYVAKHZU9AZoQvS4wAXoECAAQHw&rldoc=1&tbs=lrf:!2m1!1e2!3sIAE,lf:1,lf_ui:2#rlfi=hd:;si:14425959461972538737;mv:!1m2!1d52.9670652!2d-2.6463188!2m2!1d52.924284699999994!2d-2.6924799999999998;tbs:lrf:!2m1!1e2!3sIAE,lf:1,lf_ui:2

Thanks.
 
I think it is currently 1km soon to be revised to 5km. As long as they do not have regular carriers flying, I would think that you would be OK anyway.
 
If you think your within the radius contact the air traffic control at the airfield, ask them if it's ok to fly the drone and state you'll be well within the height restrictions of 400 ft.

In fact if it's a tree or something state that.
 
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OK, some good advice I'll contact the nearest airfields, in fact come to think of it a friend flies out of Sleap so he'll have some contacts. Thanks!
 
SimonCHere said:
https://dronesafe.uk/restrictions/
has a handy link to a map of all the airports with restrictions and the area they cover.
You've got 3 around you.
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Just looked at this I am luckily outside all three! :) And the nearest neighbour with horses has them stabled at this time of year, so I believe I can legally and responsibly have him fly his machine :)
 
I used to commute that way regularly about 15 years ago. Went past a couple of months ago and was surprised to see it had turned into a solar farm!
 
Yes a landowner got a very nice tickle from the company, it's a big `un, luckily it appears to emit no discernible RF noise as one of my hobbies is amateur radio. There was a lot of opposition to it locally but it passed planning eventually. I don't think any parachutists have landed amidst the arrays yet :)
 
No harm in contacting ATC and asking for permission. We get a number of calls every day and very rarely say no to anybody. Best course of action for the future too seeing as how must airports are installing anti-drone measures.
 
Chris Wilson said:
Yes a landowner got a very nice tickle from the company, it's a big `un, luckily it appears to emit no discernible RF noise as one of my hobbies is amateur radio. There was a lot of opposition to it locally but it passed planning eventually. I don't think any parachutists have landed amidst the arrays yet :)
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I have always wondered whether there might be a micro-climate issue with solar farms.

After all, you are absorbing anything up to 15-20% (Dont know off hand what the current efficiency is these days) of the incident solar energy, converting it to electricity, and transporting it away down wires.

The ground underneath solar arrays is likley to be a good bit chillier than it might otherwise have been I would have thought.

Is this actually an issue?
 
neodude said:
No harm in contacting ATC and asking for permission. We get a number of calls every day and very rarely say no to anybody. Best course of action for the future too seeing as how must airports are installing anti-drone measures.
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I will do that as a cover arse and courtesy, thanks.
 
Orionaut said:
I have always wondered whether there might be a micro-climate issue with solar farms.

After all, you are absorbing anything up to 15-20% (Dont know off hand what the current efficiency is these days) of the incident solar energy, converting it to electricity, and transporting it away down wires.

The ground underneath solar arrays is likley to be a good bit chillier than it might otherwise have been I would have thought.

Is this actually an issue?
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No idea, the land OWNER is a bit of a chilly bar steward though ;)

I think they kill the vegetation under and around the panels to stop weed growth, they are so densely packed the ground is no use for arable. There are hundreds of sheep grazing nearby but I don't believe they can access the actual site of the panels, probably too much risk of damage.
 
I actually welcomed that solar farm at Tilstock --The jump plane came over the top of my house all day Sat and Sun climbing in circles -drone drone drone - why do they never put silencers on airplane exhausts ??

All the panels are fenced in.
 
Chris Wilson said:
No idea, the land OWNER is a bit of a chilly bar steward though ;)

I think they kill the vegetation under and around the panels to stop weed growth, they are so densely packed the ground is no use for arable. There are hundreds of sheep grazing nearby but I don't believe they can access the actual site of the panels, probably too much risk of damage.
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Its a bit nuts really. We live in a country that cannot grow enough food to feed its population and yet we are squandering agricultural land on political vanity projects (And dont even get started on Immigration :confused: )

why do they never put silencers on airplane exhausts ??
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Probably a combination of maximizing performance and maximizing reliability.

A loose baffle or a blocked exhaust is a nuisance on a car but potentially lethal on an aircraft.
 
DXP55 said:
I actually welcomed that solar farm at Tilstock --The jump plane came over the top of my house all day Sat and Sun climbing in circles -drone drone drone - why do they never put silencers on airplane exhausts ??

All the panels are fenced in.
Click to expand...

As someone who used to live directly under the low level flight paths to Manchester Airport they are small fry and I never even notice them. As Orionaut has partly said, an exhaust restriction can cause the earlier onset of detonation at altitude in a petrol fuelled internal combustion piston engine, plus the fact they can fall off or fail blocked. I think some now do have silencing, but an effective silencer is bulky and heavy, both anathema to plane designers. Most of the noise is propeller noise though, not exhaust derived. Turbo charged engines, especially the newer turbo diesels are a bit quieter, as the turbo uses exhaust gas energy in the turbine section to drive the compressor section of the turbo, but still the main source of noise on the ground is aerodynamically sourced from the prop'.
 
Chris Wilson said:
Turbo charged engines, especially the newer turbo diesels are a bit quieter, as the turbo uses exhaust gas energy in the turbine section to drive the compressor section of the turbo, but still the main source of noise on the ground is aerodynamically sourced from the prop'.
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Mention of Diesel Aircraft engines made me think of this....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napier_Nomad (Massive Cool! :cool: :cool: )

I am sure I remember reading somewhere that this was basically the most powerful piston aircraft engine ever devolved. Though sadly it didn't really come to anything.

But saying that, it is really more of a Gas turbine engine with a high pressure/high temperature piston combustion stage.

Achieving a SFC of 220g/KWHr with a specific performance of nearly 80HP/L (Arrgh Metrinch! :cool:) and nearly 1HP/Lb (Metrinch again! :D) using late 40's tech is actually very impressive indeed!

Funnily enough, I recall somebody at Soton Uni in the late 70's working on a combined Piston/Gas turbine concept similar to this.

In a sense all modern turbo engines work this way but the project I recall had, like the Napier, a less significant piston combustion component and a rather more significant gas turbine power stage.

What became of it, I do not recall.
 
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