Jesse Tahirali, CTVNews.ca
Published Sunday, December 28, 2014 7:05PM EST
Published Sunday, December 28, 2014 7:05PM EST
Trying to make money with a drone can be costly, as one Montreal man recently found out.
Julien Gramigna was slapped with a $1,000 fine for using his unmanned aircraft to take a video of a house for sale last June.
Though he had permission from the homeowner and the real estate agent, Transport Canada wasn’t happy with the fly-by. According to the government, Gramigna didn’t have permission to operate the aircraft for commercial purposes.
Read more: http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/drone-flyover-lands-montreal-man-1-000-fine-1.2164432#ixzz3NG9xoJvH
Comments
It is clear he is a commercial operator from his website and made an error thinking he could get around the guidelines...
Lesson learned...moving on.
I think some people (and I'm looking at you Gary, I've sent you an email to point this out recently but I don't know if you read it) need to understand what the rules are in Canada before commenting.
Yes, Canada has regulations. But those regulations were hard to follow in the past, and became almost impossible to follow with the changes that occurred in November.
The government made a big deal about "exemptions" that were touted to make it easier to fly commercially for most operations. That's completely crap. These exemptions contain a clause which states that you can't fly within 9km of anything. So those exemptions would not apply in this case, or the fast majority of UAV use cases.
So, that means that you need to apply for an SFOC. The rules regulating the SFOC process have recently been removed from Transport Canada's website. Yes, that's right, you can't actually see them. They also got much harder to apply for.
The whole thing was just a huge publicity stunt for the government. There were comments made in there about Canada becoming a world leader in integration of UAS, but that's a lie, when compared to other countries in Europe, UK, Australia, etc. Some of your news stories have been part of this propaganda campaign Gary, you dancing to their tune, just like all the other mainstream media outlets, and I expected better.
Want an example of how ridiculous our "rules" are? This photo was taken on an abandoned fire watch tower in Lac Cayamant Quebec (google it). It's about 100km north of Ottawa, and 50km south of the next "city" (population ~20,000). How much cooler would this photo be if it were done from a Phantom stationed a 100 feet back to include the watch tower?
Well, you could not do that under the current exemptions, because this location is in a "built-up area" as defined by the exemption regulations. You see, there are cottage around that lake in the background.
Can't use a Phantom. Seriously. There.
So to do a photoshoot, using a Phantom, you would have to submit an SFOC application, and wait an non-deterministic amount of time (20+ days).
But, these recently changes weren't a factor in June when this flight occurred. So while the SFOC process was not a secret back then, it was still impossible to follow. There is no such thing as "licensing" in Canada. Does not exist. It's not like the UK, or Australia, where a person can follow a procedure, get some education, some trainining, and go do a test, and get licensed to operate subject to some reasonable regulations.
No, in Canada, each flight is handled on a case-by-base basis. Doesn't matter if you're Forrest Gump, or Chuck Yeager. If you want to photograph a house, you fill out an application, submit it, and then wait at least 20 days. Or maybe 3 months. You really don't know. You can't run a business like that. Which is why the vast majority of UAV operators in Canada were simply operating "under the radar" like this guy. Why this happened now, why him, I'm not sure. But there's probably 1000 people in Canada working exactly like him. And it was out of necessity, because the regulations don't work.
The only people for whom the regulations work, are large, well funded operators (military contractors) doing significant work on major projects, where time and money are not a factor for their customers. The only people I know who are operating legitimately are companies serving the military markets, or employing people coming out of the military, or manned aviation guys branching out into UAV's. It's exceedingly difficult, nearly impossible really, to build a UAV business from the ground up.
So, after the new rules made it that much harder, I expect even more people will flout the laws, and just try to make it work. At least until they get caught.
Personally, I would like to see a group get together and challenge this in court.
@Zinc - Wow, that website doesn't leave any doubt whatsoever that he is a commercial operator. I wonder how he gets insurance if he isn't properly licensed? His work is quite nice though. It just doesn't make sense that he wouldn't be aware of what is required but I would guess he is better informed now.
He claims to be confused about whether he qualifies as commercial use?
Check out his website
http://vuduciel.ca/en
The chap operates an S800 commercially in a country with rules to follow and does not have the permissions. Showing a DJI Phantom was slightly disingenuous of him. I think he was lucky with only a $1000 fine. If that comes with a criminal record then not so lucky. It would not surprise me in the least if a licenced operator reported his operation. This is how authorities find folks to fine in countries where there are regs, the people that have jumped through the hoops investing money police for the authority. This bloke has said so much to different news outlets that is plain wrong he will probably struggle to ever get licenced. Canada has had clear rules for years.
-
1
-
2
-
3
of 3 Next