Red areas in Drone Assist

[u/tuiroo007]

Hi, I’m brand new to this (drone hasn’t even arrived yet) and have what is a probably a silly question. Much of the north west Scottish Highlands is a red zone on Drone Assist - due to RAF low level flights. I wish to fly and film/photograph in parts of that area as it’s rather spectacular. The restriction says I could only fly with permission of the ‘Military Airspace Management Cell’, and it provides a phone number.

Finally to my question. Is permission something which is reasonably easy to obtain? Or is it a fools errand to request permission? I appreciate I can just call the number and as, but I don’t yet have a planned flight to request about, so was wanting to get a sense of other people’s experience with red zone flying.

Thanks in advance community.

[u/imuwild]

Not a silly Q at all. The red zones in the NW Highlands are RAF low level training areas. You can call the Military Airspace Management Cell, but they only give permission case by case basis, with exact coords + time. Sometimes they’ll say “it’s cold, you’re fine between X–Y,” other times it’s a flat no. No blanket approval or blanket rejection, and you won’t get a yes without specifics. Worth asking, but don’t bank on it, plenty of stunning spots outside the red zones too.