Recent content by Dave Smith

Interesting. Wonder how that compares with other countries?

My plan B was to pick six winning numbers.

Goes without saying. Always handy to get other people's experiences of how things panned out for them after they took the plunge.

I'm wondering how many Uk certified pilots have managed to quit their job and generate a full time income from uav work? Are the jobs you're getting what you expected? Are there more pilots than jobs causing a race to the bottom on charges or are you finding people who are willing to pay for...

Good way to remember anabatic and katabatic... you put the kat out at night. BR for mist... British rail (mist the train) Worked for me :) ... I'll get me coat!

Really impressive.

A license for life, I wish. :) The license is good for 5 years but any ratings which are included within the licence (single engine, multi or instrument) need to be revalidated every 12 or 24 months depending on what you have. As for the OM, I agree, unless there is any reason for amendment I...

How so? PPL's revalidate every 24 months. However, not sure you should be feeling hard done by because their requirements are different from yours, as there is a huge difference in training and what a PPL has to do to maintain experience and the subsequent costs involved :) I do agree with...

Love to see the finished film. Sounds like one of those really fun 'can't believe I get paid to do this' kind of jobs :)

50m horizontally and 20m vertically will give you a slant range of 54m. So you're fine with the spectator side of things, but what about the drivers? Will you need individual permissions from them? Any environmental issues which may need risk assessing? Metal fencing, radio interference...

Other than the money the caa get is there any reason why authorised NQE's couldn't be given the authority to do the yearly re-validation? Obviously, anything entailing major revisions would need to go via the caa but for everything else the NQE's would be more than capable of signing off on...

The footage has come from a range of professional pilots across the world, each having declared a professional certification to fly. Be interested to hear what checks are in place to ensure footage is from suitably certificated professionals. I recently declared I invented cheese:)

Hi Nick, If a TTA is not active it can still be used for low flying training (ie, down to 250' for fixed wing and Heli's to ground level). Haven't used it but the MOD have a number you can call for LFA info (or, I guess, to give them a heads up if you intend operating in one of their areas?)...

Following will give you date and times of when LFA's are active. Military low flying: RAF operational low flying training timetable - GOV.UK As with a MATZ there is no PPR but common sense would dictate giving them a call to let them know you're intentions.

Vicarious liability for those who use the services of unqualified operators. First few to get caught get to be made an example of, word will soon spread and the illegal flights will diminish. Simples. Maybe chuck in a healthy dose of registration at point of sale too. If that doesn't work then...