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UAS London at 51.5074° N, 0.1278° W
Thames Towage Filming in Poplar - UAS London
Thames Hub/Poplar Hub
Thames & River Marine Services

Thames Towage Filming in Poplar

Specialist over-water thames towage filming at Poplar for marine engineering, logistics, and creative media.

Recent Work

Selected work from across London and the Thames.

We run drone operations in Poplar throughout the year, in all tide states. The work ranges from single vessel shoots to multi-day coverage of marine civil projects. We are used to working alongside vessel crews, ground units and marshals already on site.

We identify launch and recovery points in Poplar that work at the state of tide on the day. RTK platforms are available where the deliverable is a measurement rather than an image. Kit is checked ashore before anything is committed over water.

Our crews hold marine VHF and stay in contact with river traffic while the aircraft is airborne. Failsafe return-to-home points account for drift, tide and a moving launch platform. Our river risk assessments are written to be read, not to satisfy a filing requirement.

Delivery is by secure cloud transfer with the raw capture archived as backup. Talk to our skippers before you commit. They will tell you quickly whether the shot is achievable. Quotes are fixed, not estimates that drift once the job starts.

Marine Specifications in Poplar

Over-water flight safety fail-safes
Dynamic ship-to-ship tracking shots
Riparian landowner and pier operator liaison
Comprehensive risk planning and NATS filing
VHF marine radio equipped pilots
Georeferenced river and foreshore mapping

Book River Filming

Drone operations at Poplar require Port of London Authority clearance and skipper-coordinated flight paths.

Request River Booking

Thames Operational Specs

  • PLA Coordination Managed
  • VHF Radio Pilot Logs
  • MCA-Coded Support Vessels
  • £10M Maritime Insurance
  • GPS Tracked Over-Water Flights
  • Wind-shear resistant platforms

Reference Links

RegulatoryCAA approved operator
Insurance£10M public liability
Experience1,000+ flight hours in London airspace
AirspaceNATS permissions for central London operations
RegisteredUAS London Limited · 16148461

Frequently Asked Questions

Do you need Port of London Authority approval to fly in Poplar?

Any professional drone operation on the tidal Thames, including Poplar, requires notification to and coordination with the PLA and London VTS. UAS London manages those clearances as part of the service.

Can you film moving vessels in Poplar?

Yes. Vessel tracking is a large part of our river work, from towage and workboat operations to passenger craft. Dual-operator crews let the pilot manage proximity and line of sight while the camera operator holds the shot.

Do you carry out structural inspections on Thames bridges and piers?

Yes. We fly high-zoom and thermal payloads for close-range condition surveys of bridges, piers, river walls and marine civil works, and can deliver the output as an annotated report or georeferenced imagery.