Every returning series I work on eventually puts a location inside an airport's Flight Restriction Zone. On Canal Boat Diaries it happens every year, because the Leeds & Liverpool Canal runs straight under the approach to Leeds Bradford Airport. So I've done this a lot — enough to know that the permission itself is rarely the problem.
The problem is finding out about it at 11pm the night before, when the schedule has already gone out.
This is how it actually works, from the operator’s side. I’ve used Leeds Bradford (LBA) as the worked example because it’s the one I deal with most. Every airport runs its own version, but the shape is the same everywhere.
What an FRZ actually is
Every licensed airport and most airfields in the UK has a Flight Restriction Zone around it, and no drone of any size can fly inside it without permission from the airport’s air traffic control. Not “shouldn’t”. Can’t. It’s a criminal offence — LBA’s own page quotes up to five years.
The zone is bigger, and a stranger shape, than most people expect. It’s three pieces glued together:
- A circle of 2 or 2.5 nautical miles around the middle of the airfield. LBA’s is 2.5 nautical miles, which is about 4.6 km.
- A rectangle 5 km long and 1 km wide off the end of each runway, along the line an aircraft would land on — the runway protection zone.
- Where the airfield boundary itself pokes outside that circle, a 1 km buffer around it.
All of it goes from the ground up to 2,000 ft. All of it is live 24 hours a day, whether or not the airport is open, so you still need permission at 3am on a Sunday. And it applies to every drone: a 249 g Mini is treated exactly the same as an Inspire.
One more thing worth saying plainly, because I get asked: my CAA operational authorisation lets me do things a hobbyist can’t, like working closer to people. It does not let me fly in an FRZ. Nothing does, except the tower.
What it looks like at Leeds Bradford
Nobody plans a shoot around an airport. They plan a shoot around a canal, a country house or a housing estate that happens to sit under an approach path.
At LBA the 2.5-mile circle takes in Yeadon, Rawdon, Guiseley, Horsforth, Bramhope, Cookridge, Calverley, Apperley Bridge and Rodley, and the two runway strips reach out over Guiseley towards Wharfedale in one direction and down over Horsforth towards Kirkstall in the other. On the canal, the stretch from roughly Rodley to Apperley Bridge is inside the zone. That’s two or three days of a boat’s progress, and a lot of very nice aerials.
The way to check any location is a proper airspace map — the airport’s own FRZ map or the Drone Assist app will tell you in ten seconds. Don’t rely on the map inside the drone manufacturer’s app. That’s a geofence, which is a software thing, not the law, and unlocking it is a separate step that doesn’t replace anything below.
The Leeds Bradford routine, step by step
1. Apply to ATC, not the press office. LBA’s published route is an email to atc@lba.co.uk at least 48 hours before the flight, giving the location, the maximum height and the date and duration. They’ve also taken requests through Altitude Angel’s approvals portal since 2024, and I’ve used both. For anything time-critical I’ll ring the tower as well: a two-minute call answers a question that would otherwise take three emails.
2. Give a controller what a controller needs, first time. The requests that come back fast are the ones nobody has to query. Mine include the exact take-off spot and the area I’ll be working, as a pin and a map screenshot rather than a postcode; the maximum height I’m asking for, which is never more than the shot needs; the date with a start-to-finish window rather than a single time; the aircraft and its weight; my operator ID, my CAA authorisation reference and my insurance; and a mobile number that will actually be answered on the day.
3. Allow a working week, not 48 hours. Forty-eight hours is LBA’s minimum. In practice a clean request comes back in two to three working days. I ask a week ahead when I can, and longer if the schedule’s tight or there’s a bank holiday in the way, because “may be declined or deferred” is written into their process and they mean it. Permission is always subject to what’s landing and taking off that day.
4. Read the conditions. They’re the real permission. What comes back isn’t a blanket yes. It’s a yes with conditions: a height cap, the agreed window, and a requirement to speak to the tower before and after every flight. In my case that means a direct number, a call fifteen minutes before I launch and another once I’m down. Every flight, not every day. The tower can hold me on the ground if something’s on approach and can tell me to land at any moment. That isn’t a hassle. That’s the system working.
5. On the day: ring, fly, ring. Call, quote the reference, say where I am and what height, get the nod. Fly. Land. Call again. If the controller says “give it ten minutes”, we give it ten minutes. On a canal boat that’s rarely a crisis, because the boat is doing four miles an hour anyway.
6. Log it. Every one of these flights goes into the flight log and the day’s risk assessment, so the production has an audit trail if a broadcaster, an insurer or the CAA ever asks.
What this means for your schedule
The permission is tied to a place, a date and a window. If the schedule moves, the permission has to move with it. That’s usually a quick follow-up email, but it isn’t something to discover on the morning.
The operator applies, not the production. You don’t need to fill anything in. What I need from you is the pins and the dates, early.
Build in slack. Being held on the ground for ten or twenty minutes while an aircraft lands is normal. A shot that has to happen at 09:00 sharp inside an FRZ is a shot that might not happen at 09:00.
Sub-250 g doesn’t get you out of it. Night doesn’t. “The airport’s shut” doesn’t.
At LBA the email route doesn’t cost anything [Phil: confirm, and say whether the Altitude Angel route charges]. The real cost is lead time.
Have a plan B. If ATC says no on the day, the useful question is “what can we get from just outside the zone?” I’ll have already looked.
It’s not only airports
Two other things catch productions out on the same kind of route.
Prisons. Since 25 January 2024 it’s an offence to fly within 400 m of a closed prison or young offender institution in England and Wales. The canal passes within sight of HMP Leeds at Armley, so that circle gets checked on the same recce as the airport. There’s no 48-hour email for a prison; if a shot needs to be inside that ring, permission has to come from the prison itself, and you should assume it won’t.
Temporary restrictions. Air shows, royal visits and big events put short-notice restrictions in place through NOTAMs, and some events come with their own rules. At Henley this June, a Battle of Britain Memorial Flight flypast meant hard “drone on the ground by” times either side of it. Those are the kind of thing an operator should be checking the week before and the morning of, not something a PM should have to know about.
And every other airport has its own form, its own lead time and its own temperament. Some turn a request round in a day; some want a fortnight. If a series moves through more than one zone, each one is a separate permission.
What to send your drone operator
Five things, as early as you have them: the location pins; the dates, with the widest window you can live with; the shots you want and roughly how high they need to be; who I should ring if the day changes; and when the schedule locks. With that, I can tell you within a day whether a location is a form or a problem.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need airport permission for a drone under 250 g? Yes. A Flight Restriction Zone applies to every unmanned aircraft, whatever it weighs.
How long does Leeds Bradford take to approve a drone flight? Their minimum notice is 48 hours. In practice a complete request comes back in two to three working days. Ask a week ahead.
Does FRZ permission cost anything? [Phil: confirm] At LBA the email route is free; the cost is lead time and the risk of a hold on the day.
Can we fly at night when the airport is closed? No. The FRZ is active 24 hours a day regardless of the airport’s opening hours. You still need permission.
Who applies, the production or the drone operator? The operator. It’s part of the job, and the tower wants to talk to the person who’ll be flying.
What if the schedule changes after permission is granted? Tell your operator straight away. The permission is tied to the agreed date, time and location, and a moved day usually needs a fresh confirmation from ATC.
What happens if ATC refuses on the day? They can, and occasionally do, because live traffic always wins. A good operator will already have looked at what’s possible from outside the zone.
Planning something near an airport? Send me the pins and the dates — phil@halovue.co.uk or 07957 627 628 — and I’ll tell you within a day whether it’s a form or a problem. Halo Vue holds a CAA PDRA-01 operational authorisation, £5m public liability cover and broadcaster approvals with the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Sky, Netflix and Disney+.