dronedup
Frequently Asked Questions
Drone Roof Surveys & Inspection Services
1. Are there any legal restrictions on where you can fly drones?
2. Are you licensed by the Civil Aviation Authority to undertake commercial aerial photography work with drones?
3. Can you fly the drone over people?
Following on from the answer to question 1, this is determined by a number of factors, specifically the weight of the drone being flown and also whether the people are ‘involved’ with the drone operations.
Members of the public who have no knowledge / awareness of the drone operations would be considered ‘uninvolved’, and so in this case, only drones under 250 grams in weight are permitted to fly over them.
If the people are aware of the drone operations (eg. they have been informed about where the drone will be flying) and are within earshot of the pilot so they can be told to move out of the way of the drone in an emergency, then they are considered ‘involved’ which means heavier drones up to 7kg in weight can fly over them.
But as a rule we always avoid flying over people if at all possible, even if technically we are allowed to do so.
4. Can you fly the drone in built-up areas?
As per the answers to questions 1 and 3, this also depends on the weight of the drone being flown as there will almost always be members of the public walking around built-up areas.
So, if the area is full of ‘uninvolved’ people, then only sub-250 gram drones can fly over the area.
If, however, a certain segment of the built-up area can been cordoned off so the operator can be sure that no uninvolved people will enter this area, then it’s possible to overfly the area with heavier drones.
Similarly, referring again to the answer to question 3, if a heavier drone needs to overfly people who can be considered ‘involved’ with the work, then provided they are within earshot of the operator in case of an emergency, heavier drones can overfly them.
5. Can you fly drones close to airports?
6. How high can the drone fly?
We are limited by the CAA regulations to fly no higher than 400 feet (120 metres) above the ground.
This might sound restrictive, but often only a small increase in altitude will yield a dramatically different viewpoint, and photographs taken from 400 feet can capture a surprisingly large area of land.
7. How far away can the drone fly?
We are limited by the CAA regulations to fly no further than 500 metres horizontally from the drone operator, but with the caveat that the operator must be able to maintain orientation of the drone at all times (they have to be able to see which way the drone is pointing).
Due to the difficulty of judging a drone’s orientation at a distance, for smaller drones this means flying the drone no further than approximately 150-200 metres from the operator.
The drone has to remain within line-of-sight of the pilot at all times, regardless of how far away it is flown, eg. it cannot be flown behind walls or too low over a roof if a suitable vantage point cannot be found for the pilot so they can maintain visibility of the drone.
8. How long can the drone fly before it has to land?
9. How do you compose the aerial photographs with the drone if you cannot get access to the camera?
All the drones we fly transmit a live video feed to a screen on the ground which allows the operator and client to compose the imagery in real-time before the camera is triggered.
10. Can you fly the drone if it is very windy or raining?
11. What is the resolution of the imagery the drone can capture?
This depends on the drone we are using. Referring to the answer to question 1, our smallest sub-250g drone produces 12 megapixel images (4ooo pixels across), and the camera on our larger drone (that we use for inspecting larger building) produces 24 megapixel images (6000 pixels across).
If you haven’t used a drone roof inspection company before, you’re in safe hands with Dronedup Imaging. We have a track record of exceeding our clients’ expectations and providing excellent customer service from start to finish.