Rincewind
 lvl.4
Taiwan
Offline
|
Hi you all!
This is my first post, but I've been reading a lot here, and I've learned a tremendous amount by just keeping quiet in the corner ;)
First of all, therefore, thanks to you all for all the helpful info! This (my P3A) is really a terrific product, and I've been having loads of fun with it.
The reason I'm writing this is a sort of follow-up to a non existing angry rant I would have liked to write on saturday. If you're wondering, I couldn't write that one, because I didn't get my forum activation code until today. Basically, while flying in Taipei, TW, I was agressively comfronted by an uninformed security guard on behalf on another person, and I would like to tell what I've found out since then about using UAVs in Taiwan.
So basically, I'm a foreigner living in Taipei. In the city center there is this massive open expanse dedicated to Sun Yat Sen, basically the guy that founded modern China. This space is well known in Taipei for kite flying. You must know that these are not normal kites, but massive things with all kinds of lights and electrical displays on them. It also has a beautiful view of the Taipei 101, and the park and memorial hall are also quite pretty. Since I live nearby, I thought, this is the perfect place to test my new machine.
Because of work, I'd been flying late at night five or six times (after 10 p.m.), but last saturday, finally, I had a free morning! I had a very narrow window, though, due to rain forecast, I could only fly between 6 and 8 a.m.. So there I was, at 7 a.m., the place was almost empty, as I'd like it to avoid any drone-to-person combat. I start flying, and within 10 minutes or so, a security guard comes around and starts yelling at me to stop flying. Luckily, there was a very nice Taiwanese family there, who were asking me about the P3A, and who kindly helped me discuss things with the guy (although I do speak Chinese, angry shouting listening comprehension is not within the sylabus of my language classes). At that point, these couple comes around and again starts aggresively telling me that I should not fly there, since it would be a safety hazard. I remain curteous, but when I point out that the place is often used for kite flying, the response I get is that "while in this country, you will abide this country's laws". I told him that, to the best of my knowledge, I was doing precisely that, which was answered with a mention to the recent incident in Australia. At that point the drone landed (I had pressed RTH as soon as the security guard came to me), and I decided to repeat my intention of flying as safely as possible, and excused myself out of the park.
Once at home, I called the Taiwanese Civil Aeronautics Administration (http://www.caa.gov.tw/en/bbs/index01.asp?sno=20), which very nicely informed me that indeed, I was very much allowed to fly at the Sun Yat Sen memorial hall, albeit with certain restrictions.
1. Line of Sight.
2. Not higher than 60 meters (due to the proximity of the city airport).
3. Flying AND filming over hidden fortifications, the presidential house, and the Chiang Kai Check Memorial Hall will be fined, and even can be penalized with jail!!!!
Point two is especially important, because the limited height flight zone covers most of taipei, and is much wider than the one coded into the P3 by dji! Number three is also critical, since, even though cross-straight relations are much more cordial these days, the Taiwanese government still considers Taipei to be a primary target for mainland attack, and therefore has quite a lot of military emplacements in the mountains surrounding the city.
Finally, the guys at the Aeronautics administration sent me a couple of useful links and documents:
http://web-gis2000.caa.gov.tw/ca ... 9/TaipeiObject.aspx
In this address you can check height limits and no fly zones all over taiwan. Very useful indeed!
They also sent me the attached document, where, if you know Chinese, you can read that kites and UAVs (UASs in the document) are within the same category of hobby devices, and that they can be used under the same conditions. It also explicitly names the Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall as an area where these devices can be used. You can rest assured that my P3 backpack now carries a copy of that document at all times!
Ok, so that's that. I do hope that this rant might be useful to other guys flying around in Taiwan, and that everyone has as much fun as I'm having with the P3.
|
|
lvl.1
lvl.3
New