National Trust & YOUR Drone - Mythbuster Edition!

[@fromabove2024]

I've just came back from flying at National Trust Powys Castle in Welshpool. It took about 30 minutes for a NT employee to find me and say that I couldn't fly, which is understandable as it is within a FRZ, however I had authorisation from the airport. I said this to the NT employee, who replied 'i'll give you the benefit of doubt' and left me be. TOAL was from a public road.

[@Geeksvana]

'Benefit of the doubt' sounds generous of them! I do wonder if the training and/or information given to NT employees gives them a false sense of authority. Great example of how to do things the perfect way, thanks for sharing.

[@maddercat]

DJE media did a whole series of national trust drone flights, should watch those before doing it imo.

[@Geeksvana]

No thanks 😀. But thank you for the recommendation.

[@maddercat]

@@Geeksvana Are you against auditors I guess from what you were saying. lol

[@Geeksvana]

Oh no, not against in principle. It just isn't my kind of thing. Takes all kinds of content to deliver messages, though, and I would defend their right to do their thing to the ends.

[@onemandrone]

@@Geeksvana Im not for anyone flying drones on NT. I used to be a commercial operator, but these idiots have ruined it! All my paid work gone, because of these sub 250 drones. The industry has had it.

[@laceandwhisky]

@@onemandrone move with the times, dinosaurs went extinct 😊

[@sjm.photos]

ive been a national trust photographer for 25 years and even i cant take off on their properties with out special permission. so best thing to do is take off out on public land ie a road and do it when they are closed. also dont go to close

[@protarget1]

I can't believe that some people can't understand why organisations like NT, wont allow drones taking off their properties. It's called "Covering Ones Back" If they allowed drones to take off on NT land, and visitor got injured by a said drone, that person would sue NT not the drone owner

[@arianeproton101]

So do NT take responsibility if someone on their land pickpockets another visitor? Absolutely not! They would rightly claim that if you've been pickpocketed your issue is with the perpetrator not the NT. Similarly for Drones they could (would?) tell you that if you've suffered injury you need to claim from the person who caused the injury not the NT.

[@Geeksvana]

But they wouldn't have given the picketpocket permission, as with any other criminal activity. However, if they openly permitted drone flight, then there would be significant insurance exposure. It could be dealt with in a way to suit all but to me one of the biggest issues, as with so many problem in life, is insurance. This is an easier sort for land without historic buildings and/or lots of visitors of course.

[@sjm.photos]

ALso there was a few years ago now but one reason why national trust banned drones is because one visitor was hit by a drone in a carpark. and also another customer and member of staff were hit. cant remember where but there was an internal newsletter

[@Geeksvana]

I remember that incident! Thank you for the reminder and for sharing your experience with everyone.

[@paulgriffiths9824]

I can’t see why national trust can’t designate an afternoon evening or two a week for photographers and drones. Make it public on their website.

[@Geeksvana]

I think something along these lines could happen one day, but it also needs the drone community to do their part and build relationship with NT.

[@paulgriffiths9824]

@ hopefully we will, think alit of it might be from an insurance point of view, broken windows, visitor/staff hit by a drone that’s lost a single

[@sjm.photos]

years ago was much easier and would have been possible, then the management changed about 10 years ago or so and now they are a bunch of pen pushing muppets and yep i have been a nt photographer for 25 years.

[@Secdagmo25]

Yeh but if theres a few drones flying about the same area you all have to fly at different heights . avoiding crashing into each other.

[@keithsphone5712]

What about open countryside nt sites

[@Geeksvana]

Very difficult in terms of being 100%. There is always the options of flying until someone asks you stop, (it is a civil issue rather than criminal), but that is a personal choice. If you check the map in the description, you can often find locations in many areas where a road, or some other land is outside of NT control and could be a suitable take off position. There is also the Crown foreshore map that can provide some spectacular take off locations around coastal Nationa Trust sites.

[@arianeproton101]

Clearly for posting videos on KZbin (whether monetised or not) the situation is that nobody has commissioned the work so if there was an incident and the insurance policy called upon no-one can prove you were not flying for recreational purposes.

[@Geeksvana]

The ONLY definition that counts in terms of legality is the legislation. Nothing else. In terms of an insurance company paying out, that is down to their terms.

[@arianeproton101]

@@Geeksvana True - but I cannot see anyone being prosecuted for being in contravention to the legislation for filming a video for KZbin which nobody had commissioned in which there were no incidents.

[@Geeksvana]

@arianeproton101 100% agree. As per our discussion at start of this video, this advice only count IF someone wants to enforce it and IF something actually happens. We try to keep people calm that this will not happen the moment you fly with one foot on NT land 😂

[@maddercat]

The argument in chat between dje and dja was really interesting. Obviously they fly over private land all the time. If Britain stops that your country is lost. lol Try to stop manned aviation over private land too. LUL GL with that.

[@TheTillyTwo]

What about flying coast lines please? We are an island, therefore have stunning coastlines. Obviously taking care at certain breeding times as far as birds & wildlife go.

[@Geeksvana]

The best option here is to fly from Crown land on the foreshore. If you Google for the crown foreshore map, it will show some amazing places owned by the Crown where you can take off from. Many NT locations can be photographed this way.

[@lifestapestry2968]

Given the recent drone sightings across the UK and the US, the drone rules, regulations and beuroracy are getting the middle finger right now.

[@Geeksvana]

Different types of drones and flying much higher. We have also yet to see any sightings confirmed with evidence.

[@lifestapestry2968]

@Geeksvana I'd check out the recent pilot recordings that just came out.

[@mpol701]

Yes the tape of atc and aircraft stating hypersonic, upto 50 thousand feet red cylinder etc these are not usual drones, these are UFOs, none showed on at radar not even primary, but showed on tcas on one aircraft

[@edwardroscoe6875]

In this video you say about permission flying, so basically you are saying damned of you do, damned if you don't. because if you don't ask you get confronted with "we didn't give you permission" if you ask, they say no and you are there to provoke a reaction.

[@Geeksvana]

That isn't it at all. I raised the practice of permission flying because it is something I have great success with in terms of gaining footage. I also explained that it is something I always do when flying at places of worship or sensitive sites. To me, it is essential to be careful at that kind of location. But that is just me. It has led to gaining fantastic footage of some amazing locations, including US military cemeteries, unique and spectacular mosques and monasteries and more. It is a personal choice and as people ask for my advice, I offer it.

[@jeremymurfitt1512]

I wonder in the fullness of time that the question of whether you can fly from "public land" will be brought into question. Probably after there has been an accident. There seems to be consensus that you don't need permission to fly from public land and in particular here I am referring to roads. Roads are "owned" by an entity eg a local authority or National Highways. Technically (in my opinion) if it came down to a legal case it could be argued that you still need permission to take off and land. Maybe I am completely wrong. Someone asked what roads are adopted. Pretty much all roads are adopted, I would say 99%+.

[@Geeksvana]

I agree it will be one of the top topics in coming years. The CAA consultation discussed the 'need' for it to be resolved. There is a wider discussion around how much any authoriy is allowed to restrict legal activity in an open public setting, whoever own the land. This focus will be something we will be working on as a channel and activist in 2025. As it is one of the areas that cause the most friction with the wider public, I would like to see it dealt with.

[@grimmertwin2148]

Nothing about the global drone invasion lol?

[@Geeksvana]

As far as I am aware, there isn't a global drone invasion, particularly around National Trust locations. There are lots of other videos on this channel for the drone sighting topic though.