The challenge
The Four Days Marches has no enclosed site. Walkers leave the Wedren before sunrise and return during the day to a city full of spectators. The event permit prohibits drones around the start and the finish.
We were flying there ourselves, on commission for the organiser. A flight above thousands of people cannot tolerate an unknown drone nearby: a small aircraft is spotted too late by eye, and you can only give way if you know something is coming. That made it two questions at once. Does our own flight stay clear, and can that ban be enforced?
The approach
One DRID on an existing elevated point at the Wedren, where the walkers depart and arrive and where the crowds concentrate for four days. Our own pilot could see who else was up before take-off and during the flight.
- Zones around start and finish, active from 03:00 to 18:00
- Live picture on the pilot's phone and at the organiser
- SMS alerts the moment a drone entered a zone
- Observations passed to the organiser and to the police on the street
The result
Over four days the platform saw 31 drones. Twelve of them were approached or passed on to the organiser and the police. Most flew in the early morning around the start, often by family members wanting to film a walker. Because the pilot position was on the map, it was clear where to find them.
Our own flight was never put in a tight spot, simply because we knew what was nearby before it got close.