Drone operators need to be aware of flight restrictions when flying their devices, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) says.
The reminder comes after a Canley Heights man, 26, was fined $8000 by Downing Centre Local Court in Sydney on Tuesday (April 14) for flying a drone over critical infrastructure in Port Botany.
AFP Detective Acting Inspector Amy Knox says that operating drones over critical infrastructure and in restricted airspace is a risk to public safety and poses a security threat.
“Airports and freight facilities are populous areas that house critical infrastructure and facilitate the movement of people and cargo essential to national supply chains,” she says.
“It is your responsibility to know where you can and can’t operate it, if they need to be licensed, and the dangers of flying drones near controlled airspace.”
DRONE SIGHTING INVESTIGATED
The AFP says that their officers first spotted the device flying around Port Botany on January 15.
They searched the area and found the man in a nearby cemetery concealing it under his jacket along with a handheld controller and black mobile phone.
The federal police says their officers searched the man’s vehicle and located another controller, a mobile phone and multiple spare batteries.
Police reviewed the device’s flightpath which showed it had flown over logistics firms, critical infrastructure and within 5.5km of Sydney Airport.
The man was charged and subsequently pleaded guilty on March 24 to four counts of breaching civil aviation laws.
He had pleaded guilty to illegally operating it 121 metres above ground, not keeping it in his visual line of sight, flying it too low over a populated area and operating it in controlled airspace illegally.
For more information about safety and laws, you can visit knowyourdrone.gov.au
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