Drone Assist from NATS
*** NOTE: A free account is required in order to use Drone Assist. Drone Assist provides information for the UK only. Your email address and mobile phone number are required in order to send you urgent safety announcements about the areas in which you've told us you want to fly. Your personal details aren't sold or used for marketing purposes. For full details, please read our privacy policy. ***
Drone Assist provides location-based information on areas of airspace to avoid or in which extreme caution should be exercised, as well as on ground hazards that may pose safety, security or privacy risks.
Many drone pilots don’t realise that there are rules, set by the UK Civil Aviation Authority, for where and how you can fly your drone. This app will help you to abide by those rules, providing a tool to assist you in enjoying flying your drone whilst protecting your safety and the safety of other airspace users.
Features:
View areas of controlled airspace, such as airfields and airports, where flying a drone could be hazardous or prohibited
View ground hazards, such as schools, overhead power lines and sports venues, flying close to which may raise security, privacy or safety concerns and could breach UK rules on drone flying
Easily connect to www.dronesafe.uk – the drone safety website developed by NATS and the CAA, which provides you with further information on the rules around drone flying in the UK, including the CAAs Dronecode, information on CAA-approved training courses and other useful resources.
Category : Productivity
Reviews (26)
Excellent app. I'm glad I used it before I took my new drone out to fly. I knew I was close to a high risk no fly zone (several actually) but wasn't sure how close. Turns out I need to travel a few hundred metres if I don't want to risk 5 years in prison. Can't fault it, the info it gives is fantastic. 5 stars - Samsung S6.
This stupid software does not allow to use it without giving away lots of your personal data. How weird is that. Uninstalling it right now (I don't live in UK). And continue to use AirMap which is much more user-friendly. And btw, you don't create an account you have to force close the app or restart the phone because the back button does not work.
Crashes immediately This app used to work well but now crashes immediately. Useless obviously!
The concept is great in theory. I live in an area on the Surrey/London border with two glider schools on my doorstep and frequent low flying helicopter traffic. Sadly a tool is only useful if people actually use it. I've frequently seen dozens of gliders in the sky and nothing mentioned in the app. To the same token if I decide to file a report to fly over the north downs, it's completely pointless if other people in the a nearby airspace aren't alerted to the report. App also crashes a lot!
Pretty terrible. It fails to load data half of the time and if it does, it does not display it the other half of the time. I also don't understand why you need to create an account to access the map. Appalling show from the National Air Traffic Service. (NATS) which has obviously spent the bare minimum producing this app.
Much better app than airmap, it didn't bother me to supply personal data to access the software. If you're not going to fly it irresponsibly, then why would it bother you. Safety should be paramount to anyone planning to fly anything bigger than a Tello. Lots of info in this app. Worth a download.
Too complicated and appears inaccurate. TMA/TRA/CTA/CTR. im sure I could google these things to work out what they are, but im really interested in where i can and cant fly. its just not obvious (to me at least). Then I turn off Class D airspace in filters. Still appears on map (round Edinburgh at least)
cant find a way to give satellite view instrad of map. seems a serious ommission considering so much model flying is off fields or parks. Also as noted by others, want s personal data in order to run. More junk email on its way!
Very outdated code that doesn't work on modern Android versions. Even says its designed for an older version when I install. would like to be able to use it but it crashes every time I attempt to make use of it.
The application crashes when opening, most of the time. When I do eventually get in, it's really slow to update the map. I'm running android 11 on Samsung note 20 ultra.
The reviews didn't fill me with hope but I figured I'd give it a try. Unfortunately was greeted by a message when first loading the app about the "updated drone laws" from 2018. They've been updated since then but the app doesn't seem to tell you about that so I have no confidence that the map will be up to date.
Works fine on Samsung S9, easy to register and set up. No issues at all. Very usefull tool. Not sure about the negative comments though. I would recommend it to all drone flyers.
Crashes on opening. Used to work well, but not any more.
Excellent application. I used this app last year 2018 when I was flying my 250 class freestyle quad. It allows other pilots and airspace users to know what area you are in, you can tell them what your max ceiling height will be. All useful information when flying in lower airspace for quads, light aircraft, hang gliders, balloonists, we all use the same airspace. All in all it is unobtrusive yet extremely useful to all aviation. Very useful.
dose what it says. although some of the info boxes do tell you what status the area is they are not enlarged enuf to read the full description. more instructions of how to use the app. rather than a click and learn experance. other than that it doea not tell aircraft controil you plan to fly in a area so dont think your safe from planes when you go flying. remember ti stick to the code always. does not show hazards like power lines.
Opened the app after install and it crashed. Opened it again and tried to create an account, got an XML error about blob storage. This doesn't bode well..
The whole hassle of registering to use the site is a pest! In its earlier incarnation the site was at least publicly informative for quick reference to no fly zones, but now it hides its information behind a register and log in barrier. Sorry, no further use to me. Uninstalled.
Crashes after a few seconds. There is obviously a problem with this app, it crashes every time after a few seconds on my Android 11 phone.
Very poor app, with wrong information, it doesn't know about flight restrictions or anything, don't follow what is says on this app, you may be breaking the law.
Does not work / app doesnt open? on android
The idea is great but not the app. Keeps shutting down at random. I'm using OnePlus 5T and yes I've tried to un/install. If dev fixes issue and description of areas improves I will give more 🌟
Doesn't fit onto an android phone and unable to use it. When eventually sorts itself some of the info included is less than accurate!
Great app. Very informative and really a must have if you intend to fly a drone. At least with these kinds of apps your doing what you can to keep everyone safe while enjoying flying. Works well on huawei p20 pro
Find the app crashes more often than not or just refuses to let me enter a flight notification, map updates slowly. Good idea just not working well in practice
I didn't get very far with this app. First of all you need to open an account and I'm not sure why this is necessary. Then the back button doesn't work on my OnePlus 5T. Uninstalled.
A bit helpful but not easy to use. Map information is helpful however, knowing the no-fly zones and warning areas etc. I don't know how to start a flight. I click on top button and it's not the right one, then the other. The flight report and area report buttons in the top app bar are side by side on the app bar and not clear what each is. Perhaps use one floating action button (FAB) to start a flight and one for advice/area reports. Also, wind forecasts would be fantastic! Happy to advise devs as I'm a fellow Android app developer