Essex Drones exstremly pleased to announce that we have recently been granted drone night flying permissions by the CAA ,which means we can operate our drone fleet 24 hours a day .

Over the years we have been asked ‘can drones fly at night’ which is something  that most drone operators have to say no .But now with our full night toime and day time permissions from the CAA we can film around the clock

Drone operators have to pass stringent checks in order to operate commercially CAA require a high level of entry to be able to offer drone services commercially

Operating drones at night simply increases the risk factor, as visibility is significantly reduced .Most of the UK drone operators have not achieved this level of permission with the CAA and its a separate permission that Essex Drones have gained .

Applications for flying drones at night

The ability to operate drones at night not only brings with it greater flexibility for filming schedules, but can also allow for more unorthodox applications to be undertaken (and often with much lower wind speeds too). Some of the most suitable applications include:

Search and rescue:

Drones can be used more effectively at night when looking for missing persons or crime suspects, as when combined with a night-vision or infrared thermal imaging camera, they can easily pinpoint the location of the subject. Similarly, this technique works well for some wildlife management applications – especially with purely nocturnal animals.

News:

By their very nature, news events happen in the moment, so it is not always possible to wait for favourable daylight conditions to capture them when they occur. Having the ability to film at night ensures that journalists don’t miss the action as it happens.

We anticipate that drones will be used more frequently at night-time as they become a more common feature of our cultural landscape, but the number of drone operators who are granted permissions will remain relatively small as safety requirements are so strict.

Events:

Certain events only happen at night-time and without night flying permissions, these cannot be captured from the air. One such example would be for fireworks displays,  

Security:

Large out door events can be monitored and further foot patrols can be deployed .

Film and television:

Many films and television programmes can benefit from night shots and in some cases its safer to launch a drone at night