It looks like the war against the machines will be put on hold (for a little bit, at least), as flying drones have been banned in SA with immediate effect.

The human race lives another day.

The South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) has now made it illegal for any TV news operations, productions, documentary-makers, and basically anyone with a camera-mounted drones  to film or shoot any footage

SACAA says the ban of all so-called “unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV’s)” with cameras in South Africa is due to a lack of regulations guiding its use and that more time is necessary to understand its use, as well as to come up with an outline of how these camera drones could be incorporated into the civil aviation sector.

The law will undoubtedly have a big impact on the tourism and film industry, particularly in Cape Town, so the Cape Town Film Commission (CFC) has been in discussion with the SACAA, the Ministry of Transport, and the Department of Trade and Industry, to implement regulations that will still allow them to film, albeit with restrictions.

A spokesperson from dronephoto.co.za, who offer commercial drone filming services and sales of the new Phantom 2 Vision + drones which have a built-in camera and stabilizer, had this to say:

We are obviously quite surprised about these new laws, and it all seems a bit kneejerk. Although it does have merit when it comes to public spaces and safety. We will continue to carry out our services in private spaces as the suggested guidelines don’t really impact the work we do.

If approved, the policy will require adopting the below guidelines, which are similar to those used in Europe and Australia:

– Flying only under 120m
– No flying within 4.2 nautical miles of an airport
– Flying only in line of sight of the operator (500m)
– No auto pilot flying or night flying
– No flying over public property and roads without permission.

[source: Channel24]