Does anyone have any real work experience flying near/ under / over UK electricity pilons.  I have a couple of photos to take but my only access would be to take off behind two rows of pilons and either go under or over to take the photo.  Ive always steared clear in the past but I dont know if thats a genuine issue or more of a myth.

I flew under, around, above and sideways of a couple of huge electricity pylons in the past, with no, zero and none interference or problems.
BUT, I could have been lucky, and could not assure you 100% that it would work out for you.

Well it's certainly no myth that there will be an electromagnetic field generated around the cables.

What's potentially (no pun intended) the worst case situation ?


Some good practicle information Here from one of the UK power distributers.

Charissa Posted at 9-18 01:09
I flew under, around, above and sideways of a couple of huge electricity pylons in the past, with no, zero and none interference or problems.
BUT, I could have been lucky, and could not assure you 100% that it would work out for you.

thanks for the info.

DAFlys Posted at 9-18 02:05
thanks for the info.

Good tips on that site,   but its not clear if there 50m distance includes over flight.

I tend to keep my distance but have flown nearly every drone I've owned in relatively close vicinity to major pylon networks and have never experienced compass errors or signal drop outs as a result. That said, I deliberately keep a reasonable distance to be safe.

DAFlys Posted at 9-18 02:05
Good tips on that site,   but its not clear if there 50m distance includes over flight.

The closer you get to the power lines, the stronger the electromagnetic field.

So a worst case scenario might be that compass information becomes unreliable, aircraft switches to ATTI mode. Then drifts into powers lines where it becomes entangled, or perhaps shuts down the power.

On page 15 of this other Document you will see the potential differences in the voltage rise steeply (and also the magnetic field strength) as you get closer than 50m from cables.

At the end of the day the pilot is responsible for their actions. Your choice.

A J Posted at 9-18 02:16
I tend to keep my distance but have flown nearly every drone I've owned in relatively close vicinity to major pylon networks and have never experienced compass errors or signal drop outs as a result. That said, I deliberately keep a reasonable distance to be safe.
[view_image]

Me too,  always keep my distance,

Aardvark Posted at 9-18 02:19
The closer you get to the power lines, the stronger the electromagnetic field.

So a worst case scenario might be that compass information becomes unreliable, aircraft switches to ATTI mode. Then drifts into powers lines where it becomes entangled, or perhaps shuts down the power.

Seems that its not worth the risk.   I need to take another look and see if theres another approach.  thanks all for the info.

DAFlys Posted at 9-18 02:26
Seems that its not worth the risk.   I need to take another look and see if theres another approach.  thanks all for the info.

I went and scouted the location at lunch to see if there's any other access, and interestingly when I walked under the power lines I lost 4g on my phone until I came out the other side.  So I think I'll be avoiding pilons for a while to come

DAFlys Posted at 9-18 02:23
Me too,  always keep my distance,

Very much so - if you need to get closer then you'll either need a zoom lens or a very specialised enterprise level drone which will cost more than an average car such as a Matrice 210 RTK V2.0 with a Z30 on it!

Hi, thanks for the inquiry. We would recommend flying the drone in an open area to avoid incident. Thank you for understanding.

DAFlys Posted at 9-18 04:06
I went and scouted the location at lunch to see if there's any other access, and interestingly when I walked under the power lines I lost 4g on my phone until I came out the other side.  So I think I'll be avoiding pilons for a while to come

You can always go back, and play Star Wars with fluorescent tube.

HedgeTrimmer Posted at 9-18 20:42
You can always go back, and play Star Wars with fluorescent tube.
[view_image]
[view_image]

Thats freaky.

HedgeTrimmer Posted at 9-18 20:42
You can always go back, and play Star Wars with fluorescent tube.
[view_image]
[view_image]

Cool in a strange way

Now I want to fit a fluorescent tube on  my drone, and make light painting patterns in the sky..................

I assume you're PfCO otherwise its not legal due to 50m rule.

There is EMI coming off them for sure but i have and many others have flown relatively close to them. Going under is taking a chance, particularly on a drone that cant do ATTI mode (think compass interference).

I've had no issues - flew over these and beyond with no trouble.
Never tried (or would consider) flying under them.

Worth bearing in mind that on the screen you can't see the cables, so you really want to make sure you can see the drone, pylon and cables first-hand (as you should anyway).

Yes, I flew over and under them numerous times with my MP.
No issues.

DAFlys, being new to drones, I would think a respectable distance from the wires, no matter along side or above, just good sense.  The photo by "mavic2zoom-ch"  looks like a good distance.  Also, induction of radiation can do unseen things to other electronics.