National trust and the Lake District... confused?

[Hornet863]

Ok
I am new to flying a drone (I am a licenced private pilot for light aircraft however) and I am confused re flying drones in the Lake District. I recently enquired with the national trust and the Lake District.org about flying a drone safely and sensibly in the Lake District and got a ambiguous response from the Lake District authority and a terse response from the NT.
What I have discovered is pretty much the below...

Scenario 1
I can drive in the Lake District in a noisy but car or motorbike, park in a public car park. Strap a go pro to my chest run or walk through national trust land filming as I go, return to my vehicle open the windows and crank up the music loud and drive home.
Scenario 2
I can quietly walk to the same area find an out of the way little spot away from people, structures and animals and safely fly a drone for 20 minutes or so taking a few nice pictures of the scenery and then quietly walk home.
Or
Scenario 3
I fly a small but again noisy plane over the Lake District in allowed airspace etc... taking pictures as I go and can even circle the area over NT land for as long as fuel allows etc...even if there are a load of people below me but.....

Only one of the above is deemed a nuisance and dangerous and not allowed on or over National trust land and the others are allowed in the eyes of the national trust....hmmmm

 

[lynnmor]

In Yellowstone National Park folks can ride open pipe Harleys by the thousands each summer, but quieter snowmobiles are severely restricted in winter. Drones are completely forbidden. Politics is all that matters.

 

[IanSR]

Don't bother asking the National Trust, they think they own the airspace above their properties right up until the stratosphere, I'm not sure how they enforce this to the likes of British Airways and other airlines who fly over their properties all the time, but I guess they do somehow.

Seriously speaking, they have taken the by-law about aircraft not using NT land to take off or land and applied it to models, the Government however, are at pains to distance models from general aviation because otherwise it opens a huge can of worms as you know yourself being a PPL holder) so the NT are just being arseholes (I can't blame them though, if they continued to allow model flying on their sites I'm sure some idiot would crash an Inspire into the side of a house or something, but sadly they've applied this policy to all their land regardless).

This policy, it's not law, is about as enforceable as a wet paper bag is strong, and even if they were somehow able to issue you with a fine for breaching the by-law, it's a £12 fine and £2 for every subsequent breach (or something silly like that according to the sign at my local flying spot).

My advise would be do what you want, find a quiet spot to fly, well away from people and houses up there and beg forgiveness if you get a ranger shouting at you, I know of people who wild camp in the Lake District and that has been illegal for years yet they never get done, there's just far too much land there for them to adequately patrol.

...and even if you do get shouted at, tell them you took off from public property down the road and you walked in and the drone flew in so you didn't break any bye law by doing this, it's especially useful if there's another commercial aircraft flying over at the same time cos you can point and say just like he has, chances are the ranger will just tug and roll his eyes and tell you to land a sap and leave, they know there are so many loopholes in their bylaws a decent lawyer would drive a truck through them so it's not worth doing anything other than asking you to leave or land.

 

[Spark 317]

but quieter snowmobiles are severely restricted in winter. Drones are completely forbidden.

I used to ride in Michigan and Wisconsin and belong to snowmobile clubs.
It was Yellowstone that got the ball rolling years ago for the snowmobile manufacturers to make 4 stroke engines because the 2 strokes were too loud and very smokey at the entrances, causing a bad work environment fir the park rangers in the hut(s).
And I think there's still restrictions for them.

 

[Leskent]

Ok
I am new to flying a drone (I am a licenced private pilot for light aircraft however) and I am confused re flying drones in the Lake District. I recently enquired with the national trust and the Lake District.org about flying a drone safely and sensibly in the Lake District and got a ambiguous response from the Lake District authority and a terse response from the NT.
What I have discovered is pretty much the below...

Scenario 1
I can drive in the Lake District in a noisy but car or motorbike, park in a public car park. Strap a go pro to my chest run or walk through national trust land filming as I go, return to my vehicle open the windows and crank up the music loud and drive home.
Scenario 2
I can quietly walk to the same area find an out of the way little spot away from people, structures and animals and safely fly a drone for 20 minutes or so taking a few nice pictures of the scenery and then quietly walk home.
Or
Scenario 3
I fly a small but again noisy plane over the Lake District in allowed airspace etc... taking pictures as I go and can even circle the area over NT land for as long as fuel allows etc...even if there are a load of people below me but.....

Only one of the above is deemed a nuisance and dangerous and not allowed on or over National trust land and the others are allowed in the eyes of the national trust....hmmmm

I had the same issue in the Peak district moved on by a ranger as a Para glider full throttle came over our heads while we ere talking, but apparently they are allowed because the operator is strapped into his machine presumably and cant be asked to "move on"
look here

 

[Spark 317]

Short flight but you got a little bit of content from the area.

 

[Faan]

Nice...

 

[Leskent]

Yeh she arrived just as I took off so while informing me I couldn't fly I had a cheeky little go while asking her why not??

 

[Spark 317]

Yeh she arrived just as I took off so while informing me I couldn't fly I had a cheeky little go while asking her why not??

Atta boy.