I'm not clear on what is and is not allowed for a mapping flight that might pass over people. I've been asked to use my P4 RTK to photograph and topo a 10 acre site that includes a hiking trailhead and parking lot. There may or not be people using the trailhead at any give time. Can I fly over people if the drone is passing back and forth over them? There have been a lot of Operations Over People rule updates in recent years and, based on what I've been reading, it seems that the answer to my question is "No". Guidance would be appreciated. Thanks.
Mapping flight might pass over people
- Thread starter SteveBCH
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adm_geomatics
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If it is just foot traffic "sparsely populated" then no worries if you are just following traditional flight lines, but if there is a large group of people and your transects are tightly spaced and will cross them several times then I would wait until they dissipate. In the same manner if you are doing something like a facade capture or need to orbit a structure several times I would make arrangements with the operators of the facility and/or wait until there isn't a lot of foot traffic. The key words are "sustained flight".
If you want the pedantic answer, then you cannot fly directly over people unless you have a drone meeting Category 1 -4 or a waiver. The P4RTK will never meet the OOP Categories. To be fully compliant with the rules you would have use viewing a combination of the screen and your drone which you keep Line of Sight to pause any mission where you think you might fly directly over people until they pass your flight line.
In the real world it is almost impossible to say if a drone operating at 200 feet AGL and 300 feet away is directly over a person unless you had the camera in nadir and the grid overlay on and the person whas in the center point.
Use common sense as stated above and if there are only a few people you will be good.
In the real world it is almost impossible to say if a drone operating at 200 feet AGL and 300 feet away is directly over a person unless you had the camera in nadir and the grid overlay on and the person whas in the center point.
Use common sense as stated above and if there are only a few people you will be good.
