Is a quadcopter still a drone in the UK if it doesnt have a camera?

[PyROm]

Just had a thought, wherever I see the CAA rules about drones, they always talk about camera footage, I was just wondering if quadcopters/rc helicopters are still classified as drones if they have no camera? If they are still drones then there's a lot of infringement from all the small toy helicopters over the years etc, as a lot of people wouldn't be able to fly them in their backyard without breaching the 50m rule.

 

I ask because at the moment im tweaking my settings at a pub that lets me fly on their land, however tweaking is taking a lot of time and will take a lot of trips to the pub (not really a bad thing) to get everything correct, it would be a lot easier if I could hover it, say knee height. at home, but if its a drone I would be too close to the neighbors.

[PyROm]

I have found this FPV Legality | FPV UK which seems to suggest that the 50m and 150m distance limits do not apply to small unmanned aircraft, only small unmanned surveillance aircraft. And the difference between the two seems to be that a surveillance aircraft can record data (eg. pictures, video, telemetry?). However this is the only site I can find that seems to make this distinction and wondered if anyone knew if it was correct.

[Geoff]

There's no enforcement anyway.

[PyROm]

Unfortunately my neighbors watch the news and have decided that despite me flying it below the fence line, without a camera, that I am spying on them, and have threatened to call the police next time I fly it. This threat was a result of us asking them, to ask the builders currently replacing their roof, if they could take all the old chunks of mortar out our guttering when they've finished (the guttering is too high for us to get a ladder up to, they are using scaffolding). At the moment I have continued setting up at the pub but is a bit of a pain. If I fly it at home I know they will call the police, so need to make sure that I am correct.

 

Re-reading, I should point out the mortar is what the builders have dropped in our gutter, off the neighbors roof.

Edited October 27, 2014 by PyROm

[truebluesteve]

I wouldn't worry too much about the police - they might pop round and ask you to make sure that if you do have a camera, it doesn't look into their house but otherwise it's far more likely to be a civil matter.

 

It does seem to be a bit of a grey area when it comes to to recording of images but I don't think you have anything to worry about if you are in a public space

Edited October 27, 2014 by truebluesteve

[glen_j]

small RC aircraft without cameras for personal non commercial use are not classed as drones and come under the CAA CAP658 CAP 658: Model Aircraft: A Guide to Safe Flying | Publications | About the CAA (I fly RC planes and helicopters) we have things like this come up at the model club I fly at.

[Garacesh]

What if you have a remote aircraft that does have a camera, but only transmits live footage (for 'not-getting-it-stuck-in-a-tree purposes)?

[glen_j]

Thats classed as fpv or first person view. Theres a CAA exemption for that too ORS4 No.1011: Small Unmanned Aircraft – First Person View (FPV) Flying | Publications | About the CAA