SAFETY
We take safety seriously at Flying Turtle Lab. Drone operation in Australia is governed by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA), and this determines the services we can provide, and where and when we can provide them. Please click the link below to visit the CASA drone rules, or see a summary below.
drone flying requirements
Flying Turtle Lab drone operators are accredited and registered with CASA to provide commercial services using "very small (<2kg)" drones. Our drones are also registered with CASA. Below are a summary of the main rules that determine the services we can offer you, and when we can provide them:
Height
The maximum height above ground that our drones can fly is 120m. This is roughly the height of a 40-storey building, so we can capture all but the tallest buildings and structures!
People
Drones must remain 30m away from people. They cannot fly over people. This means that we can fly around your event and capture amazing footage from different angles, but will not fly directly over the event where there are crowds of people.
Airports and other Aircraft
This is one of the biggest limitations for where and when we can operate. The Sunshine Coast has a major airport at Marcoola, and only our micro (<250g) drones can fly within 5.5km of this airport. No drone flight is possible within this 5.5km zone in the line of the approach/take-off runway. There are also other airports and helipads (e.g. Caloundra) where we can safely fly within 5.5km of the airport, but only if there are no airborne aircraft in the area. We sometimes need to wait or return another day if there is increased air activity.
Time
Flying at night or in conditions with low visibility is illegal without a permit. We will only operate our services during daylight hours where it is possible to maintain visible contact with the drone.
Weather
While flying in other weather conditions is not limited by CASA, we will not be able to operate our drones in wet weather, or in high wind conditions. These will not give you good quality images anyway, and we will return another day.