Call for signs in response to tourists
NO defecating on the streets, no drones!
Such is life in a small tourist town in the South Island of New Zealand.
Glenorchy residents are lobbying Queenstown Lakes District Council for new signs to keep tourists in check.
One of their chief concerns in the oncesleepy township is the rise of the machines.
‘‘Probably on a daily basis there’s someone flying a drone here,’’ Glenorchy Community Association committee member Robert Bakhuis said.
‘‘It’s a nuisance, and a safety hazard if they come out of the sky and hit someone.
‘‘And it’s an invasion of privacy — you’re sitting at home outside and a drone cruises over the top of you.
‘‘They all have cameras and are filming all the time.’’
Glenorchy is within a 4km radius of registered airfield Glenorchy Airstrip, which is used by a skydive operation, scenic flights and recreational private pilots.
That means it is illegal to fly a drone in the town, as it is in neighbouring Queenstown, around its international airport.
But that did not stop a drone operator flying one during last month’s Winter Festival celebrations, briefly halting the fireworks display due to radio interference with the firework launch signal.
Some 280,000 Kiwis have either owned a drone or flown one, according to an independent survey commissioned by the Civil Aviation Authority, Radio New Zealand reported.
CAA said it was more worried about the 200,000 overseas tourists who brought their drones on holiday with them to New Zealand each year.
That issue was raised at a Nelson seminar for commercial drone operators and aviation specialists, RNZ reported.
Mr Bakhuis said New Zealand’s resident population appears to have got the message.
‘‘It’s basically tourists, there’s the odd local, but they’ve realised there are very few places you can legally fly a drone; take a look at the CAA website.
‘‘You’re not allowed to fly over parks and reserves, over roads, over private land without the owners’ permission, over events.’’
That also applies to controlled airspace, such as flight paths.
Mr Bakhuis said the buzzing drone problem is another symp tom of the town and New Zealand struggling with tourist numbers.
‘‘There can be 1500 to 2000 people down on the waterfront in summer. We don’t have enough toilets.
‘‘Everybody in town is feeling the pressure of the growth in tourism. To say that we’re under siege wouldn’t be a lie.’’
Mr Bakhuis said the community association has been in talks with QLDC’s parks and reserves officers.
There could be as many as 10 signs. The association wants a multimessage sign, to cut down on clutter. It meets next on the first Thursday of next month.
QLDC communications adviser Sam White confirmed the council is exploring options to put up ‘‘No Drone’’ warning signs in particular tourist hotspots.
‘‘This could well include Glenorchy, given the comments from the community association.’’
As it stands, only operators with a Part 102 CAA certification and specific permission from the council can fly over any councilcontrolled land in the district — all parks, reserves (including lake edges) and roads.
‘‘The problem we have in Queenstown is that the flight path for the international airport includes areas where people would like to fly a drone, plus there are many aerodromes in the district,’’ Mr White said.
Anyone wanting to fly a drone over private land must get approval from the landowner and comply with CAA rules.
CAA is considering introducing stricter rules.
Additional reporting RNZ