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flying inspire 2 in Vancouver

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Hello there, do we need any permission or pilot license to fly inspire 2 in Vancouver (or other canada area)

for hobbyist and personal recreation aerial photography only, will keep the I2 in line of sight and no higher than 120m, never fly in NFZ

Thank you.
 
Also there is tons of airports, helipads and water based aerodromes in and near Vancouver. You have to be super careful to stay the right distance away from the many places that are restricted.

Also check out this site. UAV Site Selection Tool - National Research Council Canada

The distances may be wrong but this is the official site that shows all the airports. Apply the link provided early for rules against this list of sites. And you should be fine.
 
Thank you dude!

the map looks scary, there are no way to fly the drone unless you drive to up north......

2w7liro.jpg
 
Last edited:
I'm afraid its apparently not as simple as that... Its my understanding (as I don't fly in that area, live too far away!) but there is places to fly. We Canadians have had like 3 rule changes this year alone. The rules that existed pre march 16, 2017 were largely guidelines and easier to deal with. The rules from March 16 - June 2017, were horrific, and now there is a better set of rules, that allow 5.5km from an airport/control space which is good news, and 1.8km from a helipad and other smaller type airports.

The map you see is riddled with distance errors as they don't bother to update it. SO, use only the locations for now to see where you plane to fly has any airports near it, and then use google to see if it fits the 5.5km rule (this should only apply, but I stand to be corrected as I have not looked into detail) to the Vancouver international airport. The other airports should be 1.8km away (but again, confirm this with other members, I have not been able to fly that area so have not looked too deep at every airport).

It is my absolute understanding that you have places to fly, check out this guys channel from Vancouver: Alan Yu
He is flying in the vancouver area with his drone, and he wants to be safe/legal, hit him up with a message, he reads them all (tell him I sent you his way!) and maybe he can give you some advice too...

basically, I don't know if the apps like that are used in the USA are updated with the Canadian rules that CURRENTLY exist, we expected to yet change them again (Alan's channel notes above discusses this if you want to watch a few of the recent 5 videos' on it... but those revisions are not expected for another year maybe...

Bottom line, you should be able to fly, just have to be careful...

Important note that any national park is a no fly zone, period. Some provincial parks are also no fly zone, but I don't know about British Columbia... But again, there is tons of places you can fly.. depends on where you are going. as a side not, its against the law to fly your drone over the Canada/USA border (at least from the Canadian side, I assume from the US side also), so keep that in mind.....
 
No issues, hopefully someone from the area can give you some better tips for that area. don't let me scare you off either... We are in an odd state of change for Canadian Drone rules, but currently have some decent room in the rules to actually get in the air! Enjoy Canada, and let us know here you post your videos' so we can check them out... despite only being a 12 hour drive (1 hour flight) from Vancouver, I don't get to see too much of it!
 
Read this: Flying your drone safely and legally - Transport Canada

Notable:
90m maximum above ground
500m distance from you
75m away from buildings animals and people

The map posted above Flying your drone safely and legally - Transport Canada is a handy reference for all the airports but the distances are wrong. Airmap.io has the correct distances but is missing several airports and almost all heliports. so i find it easiest to cross reference the two.

No flying in any controlled airspace which includes all of Vancouver proper and Delta. Since the recent changes to the regs which reduced airport distance to 5.5 kms and heliports to 1.8 it has opened up quite a few areas.
 
Read this: Flying your drone safely and legally - Transport Canada

Notable:
75m away from buildings animals and people
.

I don't see this animals clause in the latest Updates; The revised it with two important distinctions - Weight, so under 1kg the distance is 30 meters now, but he said he will fly an inspire so the 75m is still valid for him and the only inclusions are "vehicles, vessels, and the public"

Here is the text from the site; and the link to the official (current) rules...
Flying your drone safely and legally - Transport Canada

Fly your drone:
  • below 90 m above the ground
  • at least 30 m away from vehicles, vessels, and the public (if your drone weighs more than 250 g up to 1 kg)
  • at least 75 m away from vehicles, vessels, and the public (if your drone weighs more than 1 kg up to 35 kg)
  • at least 5.5 km away from aerodromes (any airport, seaplane base, or areas where aircraft take-off and land)
  • at least 1.8 km away from heliports or aerodromes used by helicopters only
  • outside of controlled or restricted airspace
  • at least 9 km away from a natural hazard or disaster area
  • away from areas where operation could interfere with police or first responders
  • during the day and not in clouds
  • within your sight at all times
  • within 500 m of yourself or closer
  • only if clearly marked with your name, address, and telephone number
 
I found this tool to be quite useful for checking controlled airspace and appears to be regularly updated. If you set the filters to at or below 700' or SFC then it gives a pretty good idea on where the controlled airspace is (there is an advisory zone that I've unchecked, but to be fully aware of any risks, you should have that turned on as well - gliding areas near the mountains etc). Also note that the forest fire restrictions might not show up, currently I believe there is one in effect near Harrison which is a 9km limit. Also not shown on the map is the 5.5km from aerodromes (1.8km from helipads) that don't have controlled airspace. To check for those, I use the UAV forecast app and google maps to double check.

Canadian Airspace Viewer


upload_2017-7-25_10-57-26.png
 
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This is the map we use to reference. Only have CZ clicked as that is the control zones. Other than that, if you are flying as a hobbyist, just be smart and don't be flying over streets, buildings, people and so on. There are ways to fly in control zone but requires a lot of planning and permission from the controlling tower.

The park at riverway in burnaby is out of the control zones and a great place to practice and test fly. It's not a sanctioned field but I have been flying there for years and many others do now as well with no problems from the city and its workers.

I'm actually shooting the lions gate at noon today for work. Anybody wanna join? :(
I found this tool to be quite useful for checking controlled airspace and appears to be regularly updated. If you set the filters to at or below 700' or SFC then it gives a pretty good idea on where the controlled airspace is (there is an advisory zone that I've unchecked, but to be fully aware of any risks, you should have that turned on as well - gliding areas near the mountains etc). Also note that the forest fire restrictions might not show up, currently I believe there is one in effect near Harrison which is a 9km limit. Also not shown on the map is the 5.5km from aerodromes (1.8km from helipads) that don't have controlled airspace. To check for those, I use the UAV forecast app and google maps to double check.

Canadian Airspace Viewer


View attachment 14966
This is the map to
 

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