Drones
Flying a drone is brilliant fun, but did you know they also have many practical and positive uses?
Here are just some of the amazing things a drone can do.
Search and Rescue
The Police use drones to search for suspects, because in certain situations, flying a drone can be quicker and cheaper than a helicopter. A drone can fly lower to the ground than a helicopter to look for people who are missing or lost and fly in places that helicopters can’t.
Deliveries
A drone can deliver your mail and medicines to all parts of the United Kingdom, even to somewhere as remote as the Orkney Islands off the coast of Scotland, which usually takes days to arrive by boat.
Filming
Conservation
Tracking Sharks!
All About Drones
What is a Drone?
A drone is a type of aircraft that can fly without a pilot on board. Drones are also known as Uncrewed, or Uncrewed Aerial vehicles, Uncrewed Aerial System, or Remotely Piloted Aircraft System.
Types of drones
The different types of drones – some are flown with an xbox controller, but some are flown in a proper cockpit. There are 4 main types of drones:
Multi-rotor
Single-rotor
Fixed wing
Fixed-wing hybrid vertical takeoff and landing
Our role in drone safety
Our job at the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is to keep people safe whether they are using UK airspace, or are on the ground.
Our job at the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is to keep people safe whether they are using UK airspace, or are on the ground.
To do that, we regulate the aviation industry in the United Kingdom. This includes airlines, pilots, cabin crew, aircraft manufacturers, engineers, air traffic controllers, airports and, of course, drones. In fact, everything and everyone who uses the sky and is connected to flying.
With more and more people using drones for fun and as a business, our airspace is busier than ever before, so it’s really important we ensure drones are used safely. It’s likely more and more drone flights will be piloted remotely and will even be pilotless in the future too.
Just like any other aircraft, it’s essential that drones are operated safely to prevent harm to the pilot, to people on the ground and to all other airspace users.
All our regulations are based on what the CAA calls risk categories and covers where and how people use their drones, in the countryside, in urban areas, and whether they use heavier, more commercial drones.
The CAA has written the safety rules for flying drones called the Drone and Model Aircraft Code for anyone who wants to fly drones, model aeroplanes, gliders, helicopters and other uncrewed aircraft systems.
To start flying a drone or model aircraft in the UK and get a Flyer ID, you must pass the basic flying test if your drone or model aircraft weighs more than 250g. It is free and can be done online. If your drone or model aircraft is a toy and weighs less than 250g, you do not need a Flyer ID, but if you took the flying test, you’ll be up to date on the rules, and you’ll be safe to fly!
Getting a drone pilot’s licence is a pretty neat thing to have, and it’s lots of fun, but you must use it responsibly.
If you’re younger than 18 you must ask your parent or guardian to register you for an Operator ID. You’ll still be able to fly as long as you have a Flyer ID.
The operator is the person responsible for managing a drone or model aircraft. This means they’re responsible for things like maintaining it and making sure that anyone who flies it has a flyer ID.
Here are the important things to remember when flying outside;
Never fly more than 120m, or 400ft, above the ground
Make sure you can always see your drone or model aircraft
Never fly in or around an airport
Always respect people’s privacy on the ground
The Future
What can you expect in the future?
The Future of Flight vehicle technology is looking very exciting indeed! There are innovative plans on the horizon for Drones and electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing Vehicles (eVTOLs), also known as ‘’flying taxis’’ which will revolutionise the way we travel, deliver goods and provide services to the people of the UK.
By 2027, a commercial drone pilot will be allowed to fly a drone Beyond their Visual Line Of Sight (BVLOS) to carry out tasks like checking powerlines for faults and making sure railway lines are safe. At the moment, drone operations like this can only be carried out in areas that are separated from other aircraft. This is known as segregated airspace, so pilots can see, be seen and can avoid other aircraft. This is really important because they’re not on board flying the aircraft.
But once BVLOS operations allow drones to share UK airspace with other aircraft, drones will be able to carry out inspections, surveillance and respond to emergencies on the ground without the need for the pilot to see the drone.
Whereas a drone is not designed to carry passengers, an eVTOL is! An eVTOL may be used to transport passengers and cargo within, across and between urban and rural areas, for example, carrying passengers from the city to an airport. Like drones, eVTOLs will be equipped with increasing levels of automation. This means that initially they will have a pilot, but over time they will be able to fly themselves (autonomously) without a pilot onboard.
There’s a company in Bristol that has built a battery-powered EVTOL aircraft that will carry four passengers over a distance of 100 miles and will be able to fly between Liverpool and Leeds in only 26 minutes, compared to 1 hour and 30 minutes by car, or Brighton to Heathrow Airport in only 20 minutes, instead of 1 hour and 20 minutes by car.
If this sounds exciting to you and you’d like a career in Future of Flight technology, take a look at the Careers section below.
Current careers & future roles
There are so many amazing jobs in aviation, and becoming a professional drone pilot is certainly an exciting one.
You could be working for the police or the emergency services to help find missing people or tracking down suspects. You might be using your drone skills for TV shows or delivering vital products to people directly in their homes. Drone images and film can be useful for surveyors and planners too.
It can be easier to get a job flying drones than you think. Some commercial drones aren’t that much more difficult to fly than the drone you fly at home. However, to fly some of the bigger and more complicated drones, you’ll need a special licence and STEM subjects will really help you getting this.
We also offer training courses and cover everything you need to know, including air regulations, safety, flight planning and practical flying skills.
You could even end up working for us and be involved in making sure drones are tested and used safely.
With more and more drone flights happening every day, it’s an exciting time to take to the skies.
Whatever you do, have fun, be safe and work hard at your STEM subjects of course! One day you could become a professional drone pilot.
Where can I find out more?
Future of Flight Action Plan
Everything you need to know is in our Civil Aviation Authority Drone and Model Aircraft Code
Christmas Challenge