Authorities Collide Over No-Fly Zone

THE Upper Hunter Shire Council issued a media release recently stating that “Scone is a no-fly drone zone”, however the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) has confirmed this is not strictly the case.

The Scone airport is a “non-controlled” airport, which means drones can be flown in Scone, just not directly under the flight path; a restricted area which is shown on a CASA approved phone app.

However, at a “controlled” airport, such as Tamworth, there is a 5.5 kilometer exclusion zone for drone use.

Mac Dawson, was recently contacted by local police who said they were investigating if he had illegally used a drone in Kookaburra Avenue, Scone.

“The police officer said I wasn’t allowed to be flying there because there was a 5.5 kilometre exclusion zone around the airport,” said Mr Dawson.

Mac Dawson, flying the drone which is the subject of a police investigation in Scone.

“But they seemed confused when I asked them if it was a controlled or non-controlled airport and they said they weren’t sure,” he said.

“I asked what prompted their investigation and they said it was ‘an official complaint from the airport’,” he said.

“I spoke to various people at the airport and they all confirmed it was a non-controlled aerodrome and I was allowed to fly in Kookaburra Street, so they were at a loss as to why there was a police investigation as well,” he said.

“In the past I’ve had Council employees tag each other on posts of my drone footage and Council operate the airport, but I don’t know in this instance who made the report to local police, only that it was ‘an official complaint from the airport’,” Mac Dawson said.

CASA explained that while state police may sometimes gather evidence and information on illegal drone use, it is CASA’s role to investigate and issue infringement notices for breaches of federal aviation law and they confirmed they were not aware of any current investigation in Scone.

The airport operator, Upper Hunter Shire Council was contacted to confirm if they had made ‘an official complaint from the airport’ to police, however they did not respond.

Ross Anderson, a pilot and managing director of Aviassist a training company for drone use, said often state government organisations are confused about drone use regulations.

“Council are not the consent authority for drones, even if they operate a local airport,” said Mr Anderson.

“Ballarat Council tried to implement their own drone rules, but the federal aviation laws overrode them and it was repealed,” he said.

“The aviation laws are federal laws not state laws and state police would only become involved in an investigation at the direction of CASA,” he said.

“There are some rare situations where police may have a role, such as during the Invictus Games there were some restrictions of drones for security at some venues and the Federal Police had a role with that,” he said.

“But the proper way to make a report if people are concerned is to CASA and there is a form on their website,” Ross Anderson said.

CASA also confirmed licenced drone operators can seek their permission to fly in restricted areas.

More information on flying drones can be found on CASA’s website: Flying Drones and Remotely Piloted Aircraft in Australia.