The Tello Thing Or Two - Part Two

Packed in the rather small package that contains the Ryze Tello drone are two interesting cards - folded advice slips from model aircraft associations in Australia and New Zealand - the Australian one is yellow and the Kiwi one is orange. They're succinct little warning notices about some of the more pertinent regulations regarding radio-controlled flight here in the antipodes. They're not comprehensive, but they will serve to let the purchasers of the drone know that there is actually a real framework of rules that governs the interest. They are also not precisely identical in what they say, but a wise flyer will obey both of them at the same time. Note: there seems to be a bit of discrepancy about the distance that one needs to be away from an airfield or aerodrome - the Australian one says 5.5km and the NZ one specifies 4 km. I would also add that going over Commonwealth land - particularly military or naval installations - will attract magisterial, departmental, and other sanctions. One of the best lines on the NZ sheet is the one that says to have fun , but remember that the drone is an aircraft. And you need to operate it like an aircraft, subject to all the safety and legal requirements. Deciding that it's just a toy or just a gift from a doting grandparent and that this allows you to flout the rules is not on. You need to keep it way from other planes, people, and property. You need to keep it under 120 metres - or 400 feet in height. People carrying aircraft are required to stay above 500 feet - even when they are strafing panzer concentrations or troop trains. The 100 foot spacing should keep your drone out of the propellers of the Typhoons or Thunderbolts. This is also the gist of the lines in the NZ sheet that tell you to give way to all other aircraft. lOgical, really, but there is no intelligence test specified for drone purchase at present - at least not at this basic level. There is a note on the Australian sheet that you can't be flying the Tello for money. If you try to profit from your flying you need to have an unmanned operator's certificate issued by CASA. The cynical amongst the readers may think that this is just an exercise to make another bit of fun subject to governmental let and hindrance, but it does tie back to the business of intelligence - if CASA can see that someone is untrained or frankly dangerous, they can pronounce anathema upon them. That won't prevent ( nothing will prevent...) the idiot from doing whatever idiotic thing takes over their mind, but it will provide a legal fulcrum point to lever the drone out of their hands and to at least make them answerable for whatever they do. The business of flying only in daylight on the NZ sheet is echoed in the Australian one, but I've seen this contravened on several occasions. The provision of red/green navigation lights on the devices plus the inclusion of automatic programs that return the thing to base if you cannot pilot it, mean that people are out at dusk and later whirring in the dark. The would-be Cat's Eye Cunninghams of the toy world are bound to come a cropper at some stage of the game, and the only saving grace of doing it after dark is that you can douse the lights on the drone and the car and make a run for it. Not wise, as the drone likely has means of identification built into its own circuits. Better to play by the rules. I am impressed by the fact that these sheets are put out with the imprimatur of the model aircraft associations - they have so much to lose by unregulated use of drones that they are red-hot on pressing the CASA rules.