Drone insurance

coverdrone is about £5/month and gives 3rd party liability.

Remember that as soon as you accept payment for images/movies then you've stepped over the "recreational" boundary and will need a flyers licence. 

I've got an operator ID and Flyer ID. Is the latter what you mean scotroutes?

It's the insurance angle which I'm not 100% clear on - you need it if you make money from the footage. But does that mean you need to have had active insurance at the time flown for which content you're selling (could be ages ago), or that if you're doing a planned commercial job you need to have sorted insurance before hand.

Someone could have recreational footage from years ago whilst without insurance - I'm assuming they can't sell that?

Probably overthinking it!

Flyer ID, yep. I've not bothered with that based on my usage 

Coverdrone is great value actually even on a monthly basis.

You need a flyer ID and an Operator ID and neither are anything to with being commercial or not. A flyer ID says you've passed a basic test to fly and and Operator ID is legal requirement for the person/organisation that owns the UAV and must be displayed on it.

Neither are licenses.

You need insurance for commercial activities. You need insurance at the time of flight.

FlyerID is free and takes about ten minutes. 40 question multichoice. You don’t need it for a sub 250g drone but it’s so easy it’s worth getting.

Yeah I'd just get the flyer ID - it's dead easy and favourable when insuring.

(I'd forgot about the sub 250g flyer ID caveat. )

Having in the past been the flyer of model RC gliders I'd have 3rd party insurance anyway incase of any unfortunate incident you have that causes damage to someone or something. I've seen plenty and it's not necessarily the damage, but the ' oh **** what's that, swerve

A drone could potentially cause all sorts of accidents frightening animals,spooking horse (riders), bike riders, car drivers etc. Nevermind if it was to hit and damage anything, even a sub 250g could potentially do that, but more so with someone's adverse reaction to it.

Take all the CAA advice/guidelines seriously.

I've crashed two terminally in a 7 year professional capacity.  One ended up in the Welsh sea flying from a boat and the other being too close to a bush and the wind blowing it sideways.

Insurer asked for flight logs and they paid out no problem.

In both cases I was able to revisit what I'd done wrong and build it into future planning

Practice and more practice with drones. And always be risk assessing - being too close to objects and taking silly risks etc.

Well 4.5 million dollars should cover accidentally taking out a T-90. 

There seems to be some confusion in the replies here about what registration is needed. If you're flying a sub 250g drone with a camera (like DJI mini 2) you need to pay for an operator licence.

https://register-drones.caa.co.uk/registration-requirements-for-drones

I did point this out and it's not a license.

It's an ownership ID to say who owns  the drone. You label your drone up.

The flyer ID is for basic competency of the actual person responsible for flying.

Just get them both. Done in 30mins.

Qualifications to gain permission to fly - GVC and A2 c of c(which are 'largely' aimed at commercial pilots with >250g UAVs and flying in congested areas)   are above and beyond these two IDs.

That said you can still fly commercially (rural) without qualifications under certain categories.

It's a minefield in terms of categories and class!

But actually none of the qualifications are hard to get actually.

The simplest way to get insurance might be to join the BMFA (British Model Flying Association). They'll probably have advice and it's sort of mutual.
https://bmfa.org/

That said you can still fly commercially (rural) without qualifications under certain categories.

What's the restriction on commercial use in a non rural setting? I'd understood all that was binned off, and it's now just get a flyer id + operator id and you can then fly the drone in whatever conditions the CAA rules say you can. For a sub 250g like the OPs that is basically anywhere (with a few caveats) and includes urban areas.

e.g. from the CAA:

If you’re flying a drone or model aircraft that’s below 250g, you
can fly closer to people than 50m and you can fly over them.
You still can’t fly over crowds.

Not saying insurance isn't a good idea, but it isn't a *requirement* for commercial use as far as I can see.

Not saying insurance isn’t a good idea, but it isn’t a *requirement* for commercial use as far as I can see.

It's a legal requirement.

Commercial drone pilots are required to comply with the regulation EC785/2004. The regulation stipulates that you must have minimum levels of third-party insurance which includes public liability and aviation specific liability.

So if you are taking photos/videos as a hobby, and then someone subsequently wants to buy them. Does that count as commercial work?

I think that was the OP’s original question?

What’s the restriction on commercial use in a non rural setting? I’d understood all that was binned off, and it’s now just get a flyer id + operator id and you can then fly the drone in whatever conditions the CAA rules say you can. For a sub 250g like the OPs that is basically anywhere (with a few caveats) and includes urban areas.

Yes basically anywhere. But not less than 50m to uninvolved people. And the usual crowd rules.

A2 C of C gets you closer to uninvolved people.

However all regular VLOS drone rules apply to drones <250gm.

(So 120m height limit, no further than 500m horizontal and no reckless flying etc.)

To be honest things are a bit of a mess as we left the EU just as domes were adopting a classification system for weight.

I need to get up to date - the rules change daily.

So if you are taking photos/videos as a hobby, and then someone subsequently wants to buy them. Does that count as commercial work?

I think that was the OP’s original question?

Absolutely . If it was a hobby job then you wouldn't actually be selling it. Your flight logs will prove it too.

Look, there's no point in looking for grey/confusing in drone laws - there are loads, and even contradictions in CAA notes. It's a nightmare.

You sell an aerial picture then it was a commercial flight. That said I doubt unless it's regular activity no one will care.

This is best definition I could find.

Earning money from any products derived from your drone operations also constitutes it as commercial drone use.

But like I say there are loads of people out there doing it who don't have the relevant qualifications and/or insurance.

It's virtually impossible to police.

I've always found doing the drone thing properly although a pain - is actually quite rewarding as you develop a good sense of when it is safe to fly and you get a feedback loop on your awareness.

*Drones not domes* lol.

I've zero intention of selling anything, I slipped on amazon just before xmas and got a mini pro 3 for ~£400 without really thinking about all the stuff around it.

Thanks Rone - was not aware of that! CAA agree with cover drone - every day is a school day 🙂

Drones and model aircraft below 20kg
If you fly a drone or model aircraft below 20kg for recreation, sport, or as a hobby, you can choose whether or not to have insurance.

If you fly it for any other reason, you must have third party insurance.