Airways regulations mean toy chopper flights are not child’s play

Up to five days’ warning is needed to fly a toy aircraft in Wellington.

New rules governing remote control aircraft came into effect earlier this month so when lawyer Leith Townshend got a remote control helicopter from his partner for his birthday, he thought he better play safe.

He emailed Wellington City Council asking what he needed to do to fly his helicopter within the rules. He was told he had to file his flight on Airways NZ’s Airshare website.

Airways require a complete flight plan of his toy, including latitude, longitude, the intended radius, the height of his flight above sea level, the height of his launch pad above sea level, and whether he had a certified transponder.

He also needed to refer to the Civil Aviation Act, supply a writ- ten description of the operating area, how long he intended his flight to take, and describe his emergency procedure.

His helicopter weighed than 1kg.

‘‘I understand why the rules are important for large drones. For some of the smaller stuff it seems crazy – to get children to fill flight plans,’’ Townshend said.

Townshend managed to supply all the information but Airways NZ said it could take five days to

less process his flight plan. Under aviation rules, all of Wellington City, parts of Lower Hutt, and Porirua are controlled air space. This means flight plans are needed five days in advance of a flight.

But within four kilometres of aerodromes – which covers most of central Wellington – Civil Aviation Authority rules apply and only people licensed by CAA-approved organisations can fly there – with some minor exceptions.

Airways NZ product develop- ment manager Justine Whitfield said the details asked for on flight plans were important for aviation safety.

‘‘If someone wants to operate in a part of the airspace that is used as an approach path for commercial jets, for instance, it makes sense that we need to know exactly where they want to fly, how high and for how long.

‘‘This information allows air traffic controllers to carefully consider the risks to other aircraft in the area and means we can work with the UAV operator to safely incorporate their operation into the airspace.’’

Council bylaws allow remote controlled planes on the basis they do not interfere with or restrict other users of areas or cause health and safety problems.

However, the council’s stance is now overruled by CAA regulations, which requires hobbyist and professional remote flyers alike to submit a flight plan.

CAA general manager of general aviation Steve Moore said yesterday a recent change to the rules had enabled greater flexibility for people who wanted to fly toy aircraft. ‘‘The change means that under a shielded operation, where an aircraft is flown below the height of and within 100 metres of a natural or man-made object such as a house, building or trees, approval from air traffic control is no longer required,’’ he said.