It’s Illegal to Fly a Drone in a Commonwealth Park

Living as I do on the doorstep of Jervis Bay, I spend a lot of time down there flying my drone. Some of the nicest parts of that bay are, however, (almost) entirely off limits to drone fliers. There are several reasons for this and I thought I’d lay out the regulations here as I keep seeing drone footage shot in Booderee.
See the purple area? Yea, that’s restricted airspace. It has its centre at Albatross, but extends north up to Kiama and south as far as Milton. It also includes, as you can see, all of Jervis Bay, Sussex Inlet and Lake Conjola. You cannot fly a drone within this airspace between 8:30am and 11:00pm from Monday to Thursday and from 8:30am to 12:00pm (lunchtime) on Fridays. In other words you can fly until a little bit after sunrise any day of the week, after lunch on Fridays and all weekend. You can also apply to fly in the airspace outside of those times by emailing the tower at 453sqnnwaflt.ops@defence.gov.au with at least 10 business days prior notice. If you do email them, make sure you give as much detail as possible, such as exact location(s), the maximum height you’ll be flying at and the times you intend to fly.
The Commonwealth Park Problem
Firstly Booderee is a Commonwealth Park established under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. Under the act’s regulations are the following sections which pertain to remote control drones:- A remote control drone is defined as an “aircraft” under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act 2000.
- Under the EPBC Regulations it is an offence to taxi, land or take off an aircraft in a Commonwealth Reserve except in a landing area designated in a determination made the Director of National Parks.
- Under the EPBC Regulations it is also an offence to cause a remote controlled device to fly or land in a Commonwealth Reserve
The Military Airfield
All airfields and helipads have a 5.5km exclusion zone around them. It is possible to fly within that zone, but only if you have cleared it with the controller of that airspace and have permission to do so. Take a look at the map below:
See the airfield? Yea, that’s military. I’ve drawn a measurement line out from the eastern approach to the 5.5km distance. Imagine a circle with a 5.5km radius with its origin at the airfield and you can easily see that the vast majority of Booderee falls well within the 5.5km exclusion zone.
The Restricted Airspace
The other issue is that, thanks to the airfield in Booderee and the one at HMAS Albatross at Nowra Hill, the park is right at the centre of a large block of restricted airspace. Take a look at the map below: