Thermal drone elephant monitoring in wildlife buffer corridors: CAA night exemptions?
3 Answers from travellers
Standard CAA regulations prohibit drone operations between sunset and sunrise. Securing a night-flight exemption for research requires filing an application at least 30 days in advance. You must provide: Ministry of Defence night surveillance clearance, Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) ethical research approval, pilot night-rating credentials, and detailed geofenced coordinates. Thermal operations inside active national park boundaries are strictly prohibited; operations must remain confined to designated human-elephant conflict buffer zones alongside local wildlife rangers.
Acoustic disturbances from low-flying multi-rotors irritate wild elephants; maintain an operating altitude of at least 70 meters AGL to prevent herd stampedes.
Equip drones with bright anti-collision strobes visible for at least 3 nautical miles, coordinating frequencies with the local air force radar control.
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