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Why does the presence of a camera change the rules for distance? The article says that CAA is only making safety rules, not anything relating to privacy.

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Think the implication is that a drone with a camera is being flown FPV (ie with live video feed to the pilot), rather than being a movie camera that records for playback later.

As such, you don't need to stipulate that there is a line of sight as you fly using the camera / video feed.

Edit: whoops. i read that 150m part _completely_ wrong, cheers vp

Small Unmanned Aircraft (SUA) flown under FPV are defined under a separate exemption from Small Unmanned Surveillance Aircraft (SUSA), although the rules broadly overlap. Additionally for FPV the CAA mandate you must have a competent observer who can maintain unaided visual line of sight with the aircraft at all times.

I suspect their 150m surveillance rule is part privacy, and part a belief that if you're trying to film something/somebody with a camera you pose a higher risk than if you're just flying past them.

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