Follow Me - and line of sight

Drone Rules and Regulations
1

Hi, I’m working through the DJI videos for the DJI Mini 4K and reading its manual. Because their system is a bit jumbled I saw a video for one of their small devices, possibly the Neo, which has a “follow me” mode. It struck me that all the CAA rules say you need to have line of sight to your drone… or a spotter whilst you’re in FPV.

That made me curious as surely the point of such drones is that they follow you (so you’re not looking at them) and you’re solo (so no spotter about)?

How does that work in the UK rules - or does it work at all with the UK rules?

They seem like cool devices but I’m wondering if they’re even legal here!

One of the odd things (for me as a photographer) is seeing so many drone videos/photos where the person flying the drone appears in the video/photo holding the remote controller.

The video I saw showed ideas for posing and there was no remote controller in view.

I do a lot of walking and this piqued my interest.

2

Yes, follow-me is permitted, up to a maximum distance of 50m. This is shown in the bottom right of our infographic here: fpv.uk/openinfog

3

Thanks, Simon. Yes, I found it in the Drone Code, eventually. Rule 35.

35. Flying with follow-me mode active

Some drones or model aircraft have a follow-me mode that means you can set your aircraft to follow you within a fixed distance.

You do not have to keep your drone or model aircraft in direct sight when follow-me mode is active and set to follow within 50m of you. You must still follow all of the other points.