As the use of drones for everything from racing and a backyard hobby to various commercial use grows, unfortunately so does the number of complaints and privacy issues from their use.
A recent bad news story of an individual flying a drone in the flight path of a STARS helicopter has brought to light the need for more education and training for drone operators, something that the local remote control flying club would like to help out with.
The Ponoka RC Flyers club is concerned with how many people don’t know about the Transport Canada rules and regulations needed to follow when operating an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV).
“Our objective is to get the information out there so people are not just out randomly flying their drones,” explained Rory Rust, RC Flyers president.
“With these new generation of drones, they are basically flying cameras and a lot of people are using them as the ultimate selfie-stick. Our hope is to work with people with drones, give them a place to fly and give them the information they need to operate it safely. If this keeps happening, Transport Canada carries a large hammer and we don’t want to see more regulations put in place.”
Many of the club’s membership operate drones along with also flying remote control airplanes and helicopters, so the club has a vested interest in the issue.
As an approved Model Aeronautics Association of Canada (MAAC) club, the RC Flyers club — its field is located on land beside the Ponoka Moose Lodge just east of the airport — welcomes more people to join as members, but the club also wants to invite people to come out and see what they do plus get some instruction on using drones.
“So many of the MAAC fields are located near or next to airports, so when regulations came into place Transport Canada gave these field exemptions from certain regulations and we think it works better for everyone,” added Rust.
“We don’t want to banish drone operations, we just want to embrace them and lead by teaching some drone etiquette because literally anyone can buy and fly one.”
A few of the important regulations from Transport Canada that Rust stated people with drones need to know include not flying higher than 90 metres (295 feet) off the ground and must — unless at an exempt field or with a Transport Canada permit — operate at least nine kilometres from any airport, heliport or facility where aircraft take off and land as well as 75 metres from buildings, vehicles, boats, animals or people.
Operators must also maintain a sightline with the drone and not be further than 500 metres from it, plus not operate at night or in cloudy conditions. Fines for violations can be upwards of $3,000.
“A lack of training forced Transport Canada’s intervention and the threat of more rules has the club offering up our expertise and assistance,” Rust added.
“Anyone is welcome to stop by the field on any nice Sunday with their drone if they want some help.”
For more information or to contact the Ponoka RC Flyers club, head to Facebook and search for Ponokarcflyers.