Flying near people and housed

JayTea26 said:

How high must I fly over people and houses. And if I'm high enough, how far away from people at prescribed altitude horizontally?

Click to expand...

50 metres in altitude in the uk.

According to FAA regs you are not allowed to fly over people

these are UK rules as of now but they will change from ist January 2021,you need to be 50m away from uninvolved people so if you are flying say over sparsely populated ares such as farmland then the 50m rule applies ,so imagine a bubble 50m high and 100m across from the ground basically as long as you fly higher than 50m then you will always be no closer than than the rules allow as you fly horizontally,
of course that rule does not apply to large gatherings of people of 1000 or more then you cant go closer to them than 150m and cant overfly them as you are not allowed to go higher than 120m AGL

He is in the USA

In USA...

You're not allowed to fly over people except if:

1. The people are actively participating in the drone operation.
2. The people are under a roof, like in a house.

Nothing is said of a minimum height.

Tentoes said:

In USA...

You're not allowed to fly over people except if:

1. The people are actively participating in the drone operation.
2. The people are under a roof, like in a house.

Nothing is said of a minimum height.

Click to expand...

People involved in flight/drone operations. If they are in a house/under a roof it would not be consider flying over people

Tentoes said:

In USA...

You're not allowed to fly over people except if:

1. The people are actively participating in the drone operation.
2. The people are under a roof, like in a house.

Nothing is said of a minimum height.

Click to expand...

@JayTea26 .. above is the answer don’t let all the posts and discussion cloud the above quote by @Tentoes

Recoveryone said:

According to FAA regs you are not allowed to fly over people

Click to expand...

Recoveryone said:

According to FAA regs you are not allowed to fly over people

Click to expand...

mmmm that could be sometimes impossible .obviously we dont fly intentionally over people but sometimes people may be under your flight path .

Still not permitted. The pilot is required to have a flight path that doesn’t go over people in US.

Tentoes said:

In USA...

You're not allowed to fly over people except if:

1. The people are actively participating in the drone operation.
2. The people are under a roof, like in a house.

Nothing is said of a minimum height.

Click to expand...

This is absolutely right. And to elaborate: people "participating in the drone operation" includes only your flight crew, such as visual observers. It does not include models or anyone else you are photographing.

ninja_geezer said:

mmmm that could be sometimes impossible .obviously we dont fly intentionally over people but sometimes people may be under your flight path .

Click to expand...

It is NEVER impossible. All you have to do is alter your flight path NOT to over fly them. That's like saying it is impossible not to run over people while I'm driving because someone may try and cross the road. You don't keep driving at them, you either stop or steer around them.

JayTea26 said:

I’m in USA. I guess that is also 150’ here. How far up if not directly over people? But horizontal plane? Should I think of it as a vertical cone a over people!

Click to expand...

Still not answered I've been wondering the same thing. Being an engineer, I'm very literal. If I'm told I cannot fly directly overhead, then I'm drawing a circle around a person's foot print, and then extending that in a cylinder from surface to ceiling. That is now the space I cannot invade? So I can come with a faction of an inch from being directly overhead, but not quite. I keep expecting there is a horizontal buffer distance, but not unless stated.

With that said, still need the proper altitude over anyone, anything. This is hypothetical, my intent is always to stay way away from everyone.

tourrider said:

Still not answered I've been wondering the same thing. Being an engineer, I'm very literal. If I'm told I cannot fly directly overhead, then I'm drawing a circle around a person's foot print, and then extending that in a cylinder from surface to ceiling. That is now the space I cannot invade? So I can come with a faction of an inch from being directly overhead, but not quite. I keep expecting there is a horizontal buffer distance, but not unless stated.

With that said, still need the proper altitude over anyone, anything. This is hypothetical, my intent is always to stay way away from everyone.

Click to expand...

The FAA regs will not give you an absolute height window/cylinder, it just states not to fly over people. I do construction inspections and I use a drone to get different perspectives of activities, progression and installments during different phases of the build. You can fly adjacent to work (people) without being over them. The movement of a gimbal is what make this possible. You can go to my Youtube page "Recoveryone Drone" and watch certain videos where it may appear that I am flying over workers, but I am not 1. Heavy Lift 2. Stand up 3. 10k yards poured in a week and you can see how it can be done without violating FAA regs.

FAA often don't give an exact figure on certain things, even in General Aviation, to safeguard themselves. That way if they take you to court they can argue their point to suit themselves rather than have an exact figure to work from. It works both ways, you can be careful and be the distance you feel is safe but if an accident happens, be sure that they will have better lawyers than you to press their point about the rule, and win the case against you.

Best is simply to give a wider than you think, berth around anyone on the ground that you may come close to overflying. That way you won't have a problem if something goes wrong, hopefully.

JimWest said:

This is absolutely right. And to elaborate: people "participating in the drone operation" includes only your flight crew, such as visual observers. It does not include models or anyone else you are photographing.

Click to expand...

I believe you're incorrect but I could be wrong. If someone is working on a production, involved with the shoot(actor/athlete) they would be considered "participating in the drone operation" and flight over them wouldn't be prohibited.

tourrider said:

Still not answered I've been wondering the same thing. Being an engineer, I'm very literal. If I'm told I cannot fly directly overhead, then I'm drawing a circle around a person's foot print, and then extending that in a cylinder from surface to ceiling. That is now the space I cannot invade? So I can come with a faction of an inch from being directly overhead, but not quite. I keep expecting there is a horizontal buffer distance, but not unless stated.

With that said, still need the proper altitude over anyone, anything. This is hypothetical, my intent is always to stay way away from everyone.

Click to expand...

I get the engineer goggles. And I think rules are intentionally a little vague. However like you said, it is best to avoid people. The reason they say directly over people is because a reasonable person would deduce the danger would be motor failure and result in the drone falling from the sky (among other possibilities). Although, after flying for any amount of time, it's easy to see the possibilities of drift and slow loss of altitude etc. As drones are still relatively new to the general public, it's important to drone pilots to be ambassadors of good will, if you will. By avoiding people and flying respectfully, we foster a positive outlook on the hobby. So far, in NY anyway, there are just the basic rules, except for local rules that govern where you can and can not launch and land from. There are more rules coming out shortly. I know this is more and less of an answer than you may be looking for, however, just because you CAN do something, doesn't mean you should. Many people see drones as spying devices and are leery of operator intent. This sometimes causes confrontations. It's often better to err on the side of caution.