Drones are being used by more people every day, but most don’t know all of the regulations.
A group of drone owners wrapped up a weekend course Sunday, learning the basics guidelines.
“They’re not allowed to be within 100 feet of roadways,” said Mat Matthews, Safety Manager of Elevated Robotics. “They’re not allowed to be within 100 feet of roadways. They’re not allowed to fly over large crowds, they’re not allowed to fly within 5 nautical miles of an airport unless they have proper airspace coordination.”
Terry Constantinescu accidentally broke the rules flying his drone, entering into an area where they're not allowed.
“I was on a quarter north of Wildwood that I owned, it's surrounded by Crown land on one side. I thought I was perfectly legal.”
Constantinescu’s error was minor, but a separate incident has sparked awareness surrounding regulations–earlier this month, firefighters near Fort McMurray noticed drones entering restricted airspace.
“People use drones to get a good idea of what’s going on in a situation where there is no knowledge of what’s going on,” said Ellen Christopherson, CEO of Elevated Robotics. “What people don’t consider is that when they do that, they’ve now grounded 50 water bombers who were out there trying to save lives.”
With files from Jeremy Thompson
