Drone Use

I am considering buying a lightweight drone to supply footage to pond5 so under 249g I do not need a licence in the UK do i need one to satisfy the rules of Pond5 ?? thanks David

you need licence if the drone has a camera to record with...in europe it works this way,not sure about uk but it would be odd to have a different rules...

I think the question is does pond5 need you to have a license.

They have not requested that you need a license to submit drone footage.

Ok thank you jhdt

Nobody needs a license in the UK. For a sub-250g drone you need an operator ID. It's easy to get a flyer ID too, which you may as well get but legally you don't have to.

Pond5 have no stipulations for such things, it's really not something that should concern them. They just want high quality footage.

I'd also recommend joining one of the clubs such as FPV UK. You can take a simple online test with them and get Article 16 operational authorisation, plus you can get an ID card with all your info on. I think it's good to have all those in case you're asked for details by police, which is bound to happen from time to time.

You'll also get liability insurance with FPV UK, which is worth having. You don't have to have it but it's cheap so I have it. You don't need commercial insurance though unless you're taking money for filming a particular subject. If you do some flying and filming and then decide to use it for stock, that's not considered commercial IN MY OPINION (and that of some people who know more than I do about it). I personally pay for damage insurance too to cover me for damage or flyaways, which gives me some piece of mind. That's not as cheap but especially for a new drone user it's probably sensible.

I'm quite new to drones as I only bought mine in November, so I'm not any sort of expert. Also I should add that I'm not recommending FPV UK or not - I just don't have any experience with the alternatives, of which there is at least one in the UK but I forget their name.

Hope this helps!

It’s best to register as an operator and flyer on the government website, I think the operator is free and the flyer is £10 or something like that. You get an operator and flyer id and attach it to your drone. You do a 40 question test but all the answers are on the website, it’s worth doing. I only fly a dji mini 2 and cover most places I need to fly. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/drones-are-you-flying-yours-safely-and-legally

Thanks for your Valuable Advice GS footageuk

@JLorentsen: Yes I agree, register on the government website. It may have seemed in my previous reply that I meant you could get those at FPV UK but that's not what I meant. You only then need to attach the operator ID to your drone. What you do at FPV UK is tell them your ID numbers and then, if you wish to, get a membership card from them that has those details. Of course that costs too, and it does start to add up. I think the main reason for signing up to an organisation like that is as a good way to get cheap liability insurance.