Calgary Police take aim at drones
Posted Jun 8, 2017 10:57 am.
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The Calgary Police Service is reminding everyone to be careful where and how they fly their drones.
It comes after a University of Calgary study this week showed unlicensed operators are causing a lot of near misses with aircraft.
Sgt Colin Foster says municipal bylaws currently ban anyone from using green space or parks to fly their drones within city limits.
“And also you can’t fly over a road and that’s a typical bylaw-type ticket,” he explained. “Now there are investigations that we are currently referring through Transport Canada as they’re the enforcement arm, shall we say, for dangerous flying.”
In those cases Calgary Police collect the evidence and send it to Transport Canada, which determines if charges are applicable.
“There’s new regulations in regards to how far away you have to be from Calgary International Airport and that’s been extended to 12.5 kilometres, which obviously covers a huge chunk of the city,” he said.
“We encourage people to look at the Transport Canada website and there’s some links there for what to ‘Do’s and ‘Don’ts’ are of UAV flying,” said Foster.
There have been two recent close calls in Calgary which caused flight interruptions.
People using drones out of McCall Lake Golf Course, which is right in the flight path, continues to be an problem spot as well.
