2.3 Uninvolved Persons, Assemblies & Giving Way to Manned Aircraft

Why “People” Rules Are the Heart of Open Category

Open Category sub-categories are named for their relationship to people who are not involved in the flight. If you mis-classify who is uninvolved, you will pick the wrong sub-category, the wrong distance, and the wrong overflight decision. The A2 CofC exam expects you to apply the definitions in realistic sites: housing estates, construction compounds, school perimeters, industrial yards, and public parks.

This section trains three linked ideas:

1. Who is uninvolved versus who is involved
2. Assemblies / crowds (never overflown)
3. Giving way to manned aircraft (always)

Uninvolved Person — Default Status of the Public

An uninvolved person is someone who is not taking part in the UAS operation and who has not been briefed and made aware as a participant in that operation. In practice, treat people as uninvolved unless you can positively show they are involved.

Uninvolved persons typically include:

• Passers-by on a pavement or path
• Residents in neighbouring gardens or balconies
• Workers on a shared site who have not been briefed into your UAS operation
• Spectators who simply happen to be present
• Delivery drivers, visitors, and clients’ customers who are not part of the flight task

Being “aware that a drone is flying” is not the same as being involved. A person who glances up at the noise remains uninvolved. Involvement requires a participatory relationship to the operation: they are part of what you are doing, they understand their role, and they have accepted the associated risks at the level the rules and good practice require for involved persons.

Involved Persons

Involved persons are those who are taking part in the UAS operation. Core examples:

• The remote pilot
• Essential crew supporting the operation (for example a trained visual observer used in a planned role, or a technical assistant controlling access under the pilot’s brief)
• Participants who have been briefed on the operation and are aware of the risks so they can follow instructions (for example a roof survey client standing at an agreed safe point after a safety brief, or actors in a planned film shot who have been walked through the flight hazards and control measures)

Involvement is not created by:

• Mere employment at the same company if they are not part of this UAS task
• Standing inside a client’s building footprint without a brief
• Signing a generic site induction that never mentioned the drone flight
• Being the person who hired you, if they have not been briefed into the operation’s people-risk controls

Why the distinction matters by sub-category

Assemblies and Crowds — Absolute Overflight Ban

Even where A1 allows overflight of uninvolved people, the CAA is explicit: do not fly over crowds. Assemblies of people — sports events, protests, queues, festivals, markets, packed pavements, school open days, concert spill-out areas — are treated as high ground-risk concentrations. Open Category does not offer a “small drone over the crowd” exception for A2 or A3, and A1’s overflight privilege stops at the crowd line.

How to recognise an assembly on exam scenarios

Ask:

• Are people gathered for a common purpose or densely concentrated so that escape paths are limited?
• Would a failure mode put the aircraft into a group rather than toward open ground?
• Is the density more like a crowd than isolated individuals walking through an area?

If yes, plan the flight path so the aircraft never overflies that group. Horizontal separation and sub-category limits still apply to individuals around the edge, but the assembly itself is a no-overflight zone in Open Category thinking.

Crowds vs “people nearby” in A2

A2 Near People often tempts pilots to thread between groups. Remember:

• Intentional overflight of uninvolved persons is forbidden in A2 even for a single person
• A crowd adds a second, absolute layer: you do not overfly the assembly at all
• Reducing to 5 m in low-speed mode (UK2/C2) is still a horizontal rule for uninvolved people — it is not permission to transit above heads

A2: No Intentional Overflight of Uninvolved Persons

CAA Near People (A2) rules state that you must not intentionally fly over people who are not involved in what you are doing. This applies to all A2 aircraft — UK2/C2 and legacy under 2 kg alike.

“Intentional” in exam language

• Intentional overflight means you plan or continue a flight path that takes the aircraft over an uninvolved person (or you accept that path when a clear alternative exists).
• If an uninvolved person walks under a hover you could have redirected, continuing to hold over them is treated as a failure of control and decision-making, not as a clever loophole.
• Emergency manoeuvres to avoid collision with a manned aircraft or to prevent a worse outcome are judged differently from a planned product shot that tracks along a busy pavement “just this once.”

Horizontal distance is not overflight

A2 allows you to be near people horizontally (30 m, or 5 m low-speed for UK2/C2; 50 m legacy). That is beside / offset, not above. When drawing a mental flight map:

1. Plot uninvolved people and likely walking routes
2. Draw no-overflight cylinders above them
3. Keep the planned track outside those cylinders while respecting the minimum horizontal distance for your aircraft type
4. Brief involved participants so they stay where you expect them and do not wander into the flight path unannounced

Giving Way to Manned Aircraft

Unmanned aircraft in Open Category must give way to manned aircraft. Helicopters, light aircraft, air ambulances, military traffic, gliders, and microlights do not yield because your job is commercial or because you hold an A2 CofC.

Practical give-way actions

• Detect early — VLOS with a full view of surrounding airspace exists partly so you can see manned traffic
• Descend, land, or move away — do not climb toward a fixed-wing circuit or helicopter approach path to “hold your shot”
• Never assume the manned pilot sees you — many UA are hard to see; the obligation sits on the remote pilot to keep out of the way
• FRZ and airport environments amplify the duty — if you are legally present near manned operations under permission, the give-way and condition-compliance duties are stricter, not looser

Exam distractors on right of way

Wrong options often claim:

• “The drone has right of way because it is less manoeuvrable at low speed.”
• “Air ambulance must avoid the published UAS job because the hospital booked the survey.”
• “Above private land the remote pilot controls the airspace bubble.”

All false. Manned aircraft win. You give way.

Scenario Drill: Who Is Uninvolved?

Work these patterns the way the exam will:

Scenario pattern A — Construction site

You are surveying a steel frame. The site manager has signed your RAMS. Two ground workers continue bolting steel without any UAS brief. A delivery driver walks across the yard.

• Site manager: may be involved if briefed into this operation and participating (for example controlling access). Signature on a generic RAMS alone is weak; the exam usually wants evidence of briefing into the UAS operation.
• Bolting workers: uninvolved unless you brief them, they accept the role, and they are integrated into your control measures.
• Delivery driver: uninvolved.

A2 consequence: do not intentionally overfly the workers or driver; keep the correct horizontal distance; pause or reposition when they enter your planned track.

Scenario pattern B — Wedding videography

Guests are seated for outdoor speeches. The couple hired you and stood for a safety brief; ushers were not briefed.

• Couple (briefed participants): can be treated as involved if they remain within the briefed plan.
• Seated guests as a group: function as an assembly — no overflight in Open Category thinking, and A2 still bans intentional overflight of uninvolved individuals among them.
• Ushers / caterers without brief: uninvolved.

Scenario pattern C — Public park path

You hover for a static roof shot. A jogger runs under the aircraft’s position.

• Jogger is uninvolved.
• In A2, holding over the jogger is intentional overflight once you can see the conflict and fail to move.
• Correct action: reposition laterally or climb/offset within height and VLOS limits so the aircraft is not over the person, while maintaining horizontal separation rules.

Scenario pattern D — Manned helicopter

You are legally outside an FRZ on an A2 industrial job. A helicopter appears low on a transit.

• Give way immediately — descend / land / clear the conflict geometry.
• Do not wait to finish the orbit.
• Report / learn for next time if the site has recurring helicopter traffic (hospitals, police, news).

Putting People Rules Together with Sub-Category Choice

Use this decision order when a stem mixes people, crowds, and aircraft type:

1. Is there an assembly / crowd under the path? If yes, redesign — no Open overflight of the crowd.
2. Who under or near the path is uninvolved? Default to uninvolved unless briefed participants.
3. What sub-category am I claiming?
   • Need overflight of uninvolved individuals (not crowds) → only A1-eligible aircraft
   • Need built-up area + closer horizontal distance without overflight → A2 with CofC and eligible aircraft
   • Heavy aircraft / open fields far from areas and people → A3 distances
4. Any manned aircraft? Give way; VLOS scan continuous.
5. Still inside Open? If people risk cannot be mitigated inside Open rules, stop — Specific Category territory, not a stretched A2 answer.

Remote-Pilot Mindset for A2 People Risk

A2 exists so competent pilots can work near people with appropriate aircraft and mitigations. It does not exist so you can treat the public as obstacles to ignore. The competent pattern is:

• Brief early — convert only those who truly must participate into involved persons; keep everyone else out of the operating volume
• Segregate — physical barriers, marshals, or timing (fly when the yard is empty) reduce uninvolved density
• Fly the plan — intentional path discipline prevents “accidental” overflight
• Abort cleanly — when uninvolved people or manned aircraft break the plan, landing is success, not failure

Master the uninvolved / involved distinction, the crowd ban, the A2 overflight ban, and manned give-way, and you will answer the majority of Open Category people-law items on the A2 CofC with the same logic the CAA publishes in its Open Category flying guidance.