I was flying out over a field in rual Oklahoma and a woman in a truck came out yelling at me that I was flying over her house.  I wasn't.  Not even close.  I simply landed and went somewhere else.  I tried telling her I wasn't taking pictures of her or her home (other side of the road) but she wouldn't listen.  

Anyone else have a story?  

Yea, I've got at least one good one ... These people are idiots.

So, I took off one day, and the usual takeoff path is straight up, and then towards the corner of the property towards many acres of empty space.

This one particular time, I took off and another neighbor started talking to me over the fence. While we were talking, I had left our Inspire 2 hovering near the driveway of another neighbor who was arriving home from work.

He got out of his car, started yelling at me, saying that I was invading his privacy. We were only over his driveway, not even with our camera attached, in a location that we can see exactly the same from a drone as we can see from our bedroom window. Anyways, this bonehead came storming towards me yelling and we got into it.

He was claiming that we are recording his property, and invading his privacy. I told him we don't even have a camera attached to the drone. He came up to our back fence, yelling at me to come at him so we could fight. So I ran up the hill towards the back fence, and as I got closer, he kept backing further and further away.

(Mind you, he's a 240-lb plumber, looks very strong and tough. I'm about 125-lb on a heavy day, scrawny and pathetic as far as physical strength goes.)

He then accused me of lying (our X4S camera was actually at DJI for repairs, so I really wouldn't need to do much to prove him wrong) and proceeded to call the sheriff.

About 30 minutes later, we got a knock on our door, and a sheriff had arrived who had also spoken with other neighbors prior to coming to our house. One of the neighbors had told the sheriff that our drone is about 6' wide and is so loud that they can't even turn their TV volume up loud enough to hear.

And the jerk neighbor who started it all ... Well, no idea what his problem is, but he put his house on the market and I sure do hope that he gets it sold and gets the hey out of here. That dude is complete garbage.

I guess the moral of the story is that as long as there are people who are able to appreciate cutting-edge technology or other things that are new and "scary", there will always be cave people who have trouble understanding, and those cave people will always be ready for a fight.

~~~

A second quick story ... On the second day we had our Inspire 2, we took off same as previously mentioned, except this time we didn't start talking to a neighbor and hover over someone's driveway. This time, we took off and headed to our usual empty field. One neighbor texted asking if that was our drone, I said yes, and then sent them the video from our flight. (Since there was absolutely nothing to hide.)

They took the video, and shared it with other people, explaining how these drones have no problem seeing in our bedroom windows and invading our privacy ... My goodness, these people couldn't possibly get any more ignorant.

~~~

Aside from all that, I love being able to pilot a UAS. It is extremely liberating, and I absolutely love it. Then there's the wagon-full of complete idiots that are so ignorant they don't even know what color the sky is. Trying to get the city council to pass laws prohibiting just about everything regarding drones.

Well ok, I'll just go register ours as a commercial UAS, and then (since, in America, businesses have more human rights than humans do) I'll be just fine.

Yes it happened to me, but a bit different from your story, i was on a clif flying over the Mediterranean sea, 2.2km out (range test) i asked them (cos they were a couple) to phone the police, when they arrived (after 5 minutes) i show them that i was returning home from a range test. They became interested and amazed about the p4p, cos i was sitting on a rock with the controller by itself  next to me.
Long story short, they fined the couple for doing a bbq in a prohibited area.

To those who say anything to me, I point to the FAA certificate that I taped to the front of my case and say "If you have a problem with my FAA license to fly, feel free to contact the FAA."  I have yet to get a response after that.

SM-17 Posted at 2017-8-29 13:13
Yes it happened to me, but a bit different from your story, i was on a clif flying over the Mediterranean sea, 2.2km out (range test) i asked them (cos they were a couple) to phone the police, when they arrived (after 5 minutes) i show them that i was returning home from a range test. They became interested and amazed about the p4p, cos i was sitting on a rock with the controller by itself  next to me.
Long story short, they fined the couple for doing a bbq in a prohibited area.

Got to love that! Great story.

Every time this happens, invite these people to contact the police, even carry a copy of the phone number for the police. The police will soon get tired of having to attend each time., and at the same time, they will get to know you and know you are not doing anything wrong.

I was accused of flying over this guys house from our town, apparently he thought I was checking out his wife, he wasn't happy, obviously I calmed him down explained I was 50 metres up couldn't see a thing so not to worry.
His friend was very annnoyed with me , asked was there something wrong with his wife, that I didn't choose to fly over his house , sometimes you just can't do right from doing wrong.

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-8-29 16:48
I was accused of flying over this guys house from our town, apparently he thought I was checking out his wife, he wasn't happy, obviously I calmed him down explained I was 50 metres up couldn't see a thing so not to worry.
His friend was very annnoyed with me , asked was there something wrong with his wife, that I didn't choose to fly over his house , sometimes you just can't do right from doing wrong.

LOL..She may have been pretty from 150 ft.

ALABAMA Posted at 2017-8-29 17:15
LOL..She may have been pretty from 150 ft.

Most wives are OK from 150 feet up. Even better from 250 feet up.

I haven't had a bad experience yet, but I foresee one at some point when I get my commercial license.  

There was one time I thought I was about to get yelled at, but it turned out all right.  My dad and uncle inherited an industrial building after my grandfather's passing last year, which they rent out to a manufacturing company.  They're trying to get the owner of the company to agree to a better deal so they can fund some expansions, and I decided to send the Phantom up to get some pictures of the area.  Now, nestled at the corner of the property is a radio broadcast facility and its 330 ft high tower, which belongs to a rather strong-willed guy who my dad and I certainly didn't want to cross.  As I took pictures, I made sure I stayed well away from the tower, not in the least because of the guy wires supporting it.  However, while I was packing up the Phantom after taking the pictures, here he came driving towards us.  My dad quietly cursed, but when the guy stepped out he basically asked if he could see the drone and if I could fly it up to the top of the tower for some pictures, since he had never seen it from that perspective.

I've had two incidents.
First time I took my mother out to a small village in the country where here grandmother was buried plus a few other ancestors. She is quite old my mother and not in such good health but she is fascinated by the drone and the aerial shots.
Anyway this guy comes marching up with his dog and start shouting and bawling at my mother. "What's that's guy doing?" "You want to know that, you go talk to him" she says. So he started shouting and screaming at me. I told him "if you have something to say to me you can stop shouting and address me in a civil manner and I will be happy to answer your questions". Anyway he carries on screaming and shouting "you're scaring the horses in that field"  "oh really I said, I suggest you look behind you". He looks behind him and the two ponies in the field have their faces rested on top of the fence while the chew grass and looking quizzically at him. So he turns back to me having lost that argument "how high you flying that thing?" "75m" I reply. "How do you know that?" He bawls. "See this on here buddy, this is a live feed with all the information, height distance, the whole shooting match". Then he starts screaming that he is a helicopter pilot blah blah blah. "You sure buddy? I ask "because you sure as hell don't seem to have the right disposition to be a pilot of any sort".
So I'll try cut a long story short. My mother has been stood behind a tree watching the proceedings when the guy finally loses it. He charges over to me and sticks his face nose to nose with me and tells me "I'm going to kick your f.... a..." "you sure pal?" I ask.
So my bird is hovering in the same position and I put my controller on the ground. It's winter and I'm wearing a big coat so I take it off and fold it up calmly and put that on the ground too. "Ok mr helicopter pilot lets get down to business" I say. With that he turns and runs with his dog chasing after him! My mother steps out from behind the the tree and says "well that was better than sitting at home watching TV.

Second one, I was flying over the river recently when another guy comes running across. "My wife has just seen you flying your drone outside the bathroom window taking photos of her". I looked him up and down and said "well if she looks anything like you pal she sure as hell ain't gonna make centrefold". "What the f did you say?" He screams. "You heard me first time and for the record everything is recorded on this controller, every photo, every second of video, flight path, altitude timing etc etc". So if you want to throw accusations around you come and check out what's on here. I've been flying along the river and nowhere near anyone's houses. So you come check it out". Bye now he's getting closer, I guess I look like a bit of a geek from a distance as I have my cap on, fairly big specs that a wear when flying and a windproof jacket. Well I ain't the smallest guy in the world, I might be 55 almost but I've been working out since I was 16 and still do 4 times a week. He's up close now and he's getting the picture and realises I'm not some dweeb that he's going to give a good kicking to. "Errrr oh ok mate it doesn't matter, you don't look like the type of guy that would do that sort of thing" "no no I insist, let's get the cops here too so they can check everything out too" I say. "Errrr no mate lets leave it at that" he says and turns round and walks off sharpish.

ALABAMA Posted at 2017-8-29 17:15
LOL..She may have been pretty from 150 ft.

That's funny right there, I don't care who you are!

I had a incident not long after I had started to fly, I was in my local park (which allows drone and Rc craft to fly) and there was some canoes on the lake so did a few flybys ...never being directly above and in a responsible manner, did one battery and on the second battery a guy approached with a radio and looking rather formal. He was polite and asked if the drone was mine, so I told him it was and brought it back to me.
He was amazed on how it was so clear on the screen and goggles, so let him watch me land it and then he said he was a PROBATION officer for young offenders and they were on a jolly on lake and asked if I would not show video of his group anywhere, to which I agreed and he told me how to identify them from the air. (STRIPED JUMPED SUITS WITH BALL AND CHAINS AROUND ANKLES) gave it away.... sorry could not help myself then.... on a serious note I could easily identify his group so deleted any footage I had when go home ...but the point I am making is we were both polite and courteous so it all worked out perfectly, and on a footnote, when I was packing up he was loading the minibus with his group and a couple of lads came over EXTREAMLY polite and asked about the drone so I took it out and showed them how it all worked and put drone it air to hover and rotated to show them the view . One lad asked to have a go but before I could graciously decline his team leader said you need a special license to operate, which got me out of situation nicely..
so all ended well ..

They just don't enjoy the fun of a bird view n flying..so they can't they make us run.

This is turning into a really fun thread ...

Being retired ( AND MAYBE RETARDED ) I purchased one of the orange safety vests that says in big bold letters FAA REGISTERED DRONE PILOT--STAY BACK ...I'm hopeful that this will squelch anyone with a bad attitude, I fly in city parks on week days and there are very few people around so I have not had a problem yet... only had one handy capped kid make a bee line for me but I put the sUAS on the ground well before he got to me with his mother chasing after him, he wanted to look at the craft but his mother just pulled him away BUT HE SMILED and we waved Goodbye to each other, who knows maybe he one day will enjoy the hobby like we all do. Fly Safe y'all and have a nice day.

RMJovo Posted at 2017-8-30 10:41
Being retired ( AND MAYBE RETARDED ) I purchased one of the orange safety vests that says in big bold letters FAA REGISTERED DRONE PILOT--STAY BACK ...I'm hopeful that this will squelch anyone with a bad attitude, I fly in city parks on week days and there are very few people around so I have not had a problem yet... only had one handy capped kid make a bee line for me but I put the sUAS on the ground well before he got to me with his mother chasing after him, he wanted to look at the craft but his mother just pulled him away BUT HE SMILED and we waved Goodbye to each other, who knows maybe he one day will enjoy the hobby like we all do. Fly Safe y'all and have a nice day.

yes that orange vest is a good idea,maybe i'll get me one soon.

RMJovo Posted at 2017-8-30 10:41
Being retired ( AND MAYBE RETARDED ) I purchased one of the orange safety vests that says in big bold letters FAA REGISTERED DRONE PILOT--STAY BACK ...I'm hopeful that this will squelch anyone with a bad attitude, I fly in city parks on week days and there are very few people around so I have not had a problem yet... only had one handy capped kid make a bee line for me but I put the sUAS on the ground well before he got to me with his mother chasing after him, he wanted to look at the craft but his mother just pulled him away BUT HE SMILED and we waved Goodbye to each other, who knows maybe he one day will enjoy the hobby like we all do. Fly Safe y'all and have a nice day.

I had to look up what you meant by the vest, as I'd never heard of them before.  That's definitely something on my buying list in the near future.

Been there. A woman while I was filming a skate session came out of her home yelling about me flying over her home. I did technically fly over a corner of her property (not her home) but I ultimately just agreed to move along. It wasn't worth the debate to get the footage.

Also, remember that people behaved the same way when mobile phones first started adding cameras.

TN Lone Wolf Posted at 2017-9-1 05:52
I had to look up what you meant by the vest, as I'd never heard of them before.  That's definitely something on my buying list in the near future.

My lady was screaming at me that I flew over her home   and I didn't... I was across the street... She said.."are you calling me a liar!?"  I said very nicely... "No, ma'm.... just mistaken...."  it didn't help....

MrRobert5823 Posted at 2017-9-1 07:04
My lady was screaming at me that I flew over her home   and I didn't... I was across the street... She said.."are you calling me a liar!?"  I said very nicely... "No, ma'm.... just mistaken...."  it didn't help....

"You calling me a liar!?"

"Well I ain't calling you a truther!"  

Encountered a couple of less than happy home owners while on vacation at a beach area.  Both were concerned about privacy.  One was fairly reasonable and just expressed her concern for flying cameras.  The second was more forceful thinking I had some interest in her house (I didn't).  I explained that most of my interest was the light house off shore...which I later finally flew out to video.

Most folks have no clue of how these things work and even less knowledge of the FAA (at least in the USA) and who controls what.  I think some have seen too many SciFi movies about weapon drones and how easy they make it look to see every single bit of detail...

I was new and Decided to go into "Sport" Mode I looked at the manual red a lot about this how its Powerful and etc etc. I fly it for 2 mins crashed the drone into my neighbours garden all the prop guards were smashed and broken the drone was 100% with 1 broken propel-la lucky i bought 30 idkw lol just ordered some new Prop Guards all is safe now ill never go in that mode ever ever again lool

MrRobert5823 Posted at 2017-9-1 09:22
Ahhhhhh, patience is NOT an easy thing to learn....

Meh I got DJI Care so i don't mind that much if the worse happens allways get a brand new one hehehehe

TheKJ Posted at 2017-9-1 09:13
I was new and Decided to go into "Sport" Mode I looked at the manual red a lot about this how its Powerful and etc etc. I fly it for 2 mins crashed the drone into my neighbours garden all the prop guards were smashed and broken the drone was 100% with 1 broken propel-la lucky i bought 30 idkw lol just ordered some new Prop Guards all is safe now ill never go in that mode ever ever again lool

Ahhhhhh, patience is NOT an easy thing to learn....

DroneGuyEd Posted at 2017-9-1 08:30
Encountered a couple of less than happy home owners while on vacation at a beach area.  Both were concerned about privacy.  One was fairly reasonable and just expressed her concern for flying cameras.  The second was more forceful thinking I had some interest in her house (I didn't).  I explained that most of my interest was the light house off shore...which I later finally flew out to video.

Most folks have no clue of how these things work and even less knowledge of the FAA (at least in the USA) and who controls what.  I think some have seen too many SciFi movies about weapon drones and how easy they make it look to see every single bit of detail...

Can you show pics or vid of the lighthouse?  I would love to see it!

On a deserted and relatively cold beach in the fall of CT,  I was flying near a pier at a beach to get some fall colors for my sizzle reel.  There was literally no-one in sight and it was cold enough that I had to wear a jacket.  I was using my iPhone as a monitor.  It was a sunny day and I had forgotten my monitor hood, so my visibility of the screen wasn't great.  Anyway, I hovered over the area where the pier met the beach, and did several passes down the pier, down the beach, etc.  I hovered over the same area to start my various runs.  Anyway, I shot for about a half hour, landed, and left.

Later, when I was reviewing the footage, I was shocked to see two women laying on a blanket on the other side of the pier.  I inadvertently hovered over them several times, flew over them a bunch of times.  Every time they appear on camera, they seemed more agitated at the drone.  It was clear that it must have seemed to be stalking them.  Their body language indicated that they were pretty angry toward the last flights.  

After getting over my shock that I accidentally shot video of women laying on the beach on this cold day, I REALLY wished I could have gone back to the beach to let them know I wasn't stalking them...  I have no doubt that I accidentally gave us drone operators a bad name with at least two women in CT.  It actually still bothers me when I think about it.

Mabou2 Posted at 2017-9-1 10:35
On a deserted and relatively cold beach in the fall of CT,  I was flying near a pier at a beach to get some fall colors for my sizzle reel.  There was literally no-one in sight and it was cold enough that I had to wear a jacket.  I was using my iPhone as a monitor.  It was a sunny day and I had forgotten my monitor hood, so my visibility of the screen wasn't great.  Anyway, I hovered over the area where the pier met the beach, and did several passes down the pier, down the beach, etc.  I hovered over the same area to start my various runs.  Anyway, I shot for about a half hour, landed, and left.

Later, when I was reviewing the footage, I was shocked to see two women laying on a blanket on the other side of the pier.  I inadvertently hovered over them several times, flew over them a bunch of times.  Every time they appear on camera, they seemed more agitated at the drone.  It was clear that it must have seemed to be stalking them.  Their body language indicated that they were pretty angry toward the last flights.  

That reminds me of the movie "Blow Up" where a photographer finds out in the darkroom that he has photographed a crime. I'm waiting for the day I am screening my footage to find out that I filmed some gruesome crime ;-)

You ever heard of someone with an RC car get yelled at?  We live in a hyper paranoid, ignorant society where often people are so eager to lash out, they're just waiting for an excuse to blame their dark personality on.  You can't fix stupid, and I sure as hell am not going to let them stop me from rightfully enjoying my FAA approved flying around.

As a disabled person who uses wheels or two sticks to get about I get abused on an almost daily basis. Yet strangely, when I am flying my drones I have had nothing but curiosity. Strange old world.

Nauticalman Posted at 2017-9-1 13:01
You ever heard of someone with an RC car get yelled at?  We live in a hyper paranoid, ignorant society where often people are so eager to lash out, they're just waiting for an excuse to blame their dark personality on.  You can't fix stupid, and I sure as hell am not going to let them stop me from rightfully enjoying my FAA approved flying around.

That is an absurd comparison.
I do understand peoples insecurity/fear. This is why I stay away from them.

We can't expect people to understand that the camera lens is too wide angle to recognize anything if the drone is not close by.
A drone is per se and due to media hype a scary device - it has all possibilities to spy on something.
I myself would be irritated if a drone is hovering over my backyard.

A big fear factor is that people seeing a drone can't connect it with the pilot.
And this starts with the drone being only a few hundred feet from the operator.

Eric13 Posted at 2017-9-1 13:40
That is an absurd comparison.
I do understand peoples insecurity/fear. This is why I stay away from them.

Actually, it IS NOT an absurd comparison, BECAUSE IT HAPPENED happened to me two weeks ago.  Three kids were racing their cars, and I was practicing manuvers well about 30 feet in the air.  The woman said my drone was "intrusive" to her, even though I wasn't recording anything.  

I'll admit, a few years ago, I bought into the "everything is out to get you" paranoia which included the introduction of drones to society.  And being as quadcopters is in fact a new part of our culture, the paranoia will eventually die down and the people who act irrationally will be few and far between.

MrRobert5823 Posted at 2017-9-1 09:23
Can you show pics or vid of the lighthouse?  I would love to see it!

Check PM for more info

I have had only one negative comment made to me so far, I showed some footage to a former friend of the area around my property, I was at 120 mt panning slowly 360 degrees I stopped the video in the direction of his property and said your place is to the left of those trees, he started ranting about privacy laws & I should have asked his permission rant rant rant, you could not see his property, it is over 2 kms from me at ground level, you can't see any buildings because of the dense bush around him. On a positive note some people who I have  known for some time moved in at the end of the street, I thought it best to approach them and tell them I had a drone and won't be flying over their property, he said "why not, come down & take some pics of my house & property next time you fly", as said in a previous post there are people who are in awe of drones and others, well just stay out of their way. ( I am lucky that I live in a rural residential development, block sizes area all generally 5 acres or more & most of the blocks are undeveloped)
Regards
Eric

For some people and drones, it's a little like a recent interaction with a 4 year old grandson.  The wife asked him if he wanted a Klondike Bar (those ice cream bars that date back decades).  His immediate response was "No, I don't like those".  She got one out and starting eating it, then broke off a piece for him.  He ate, smiled big, then said..."Yes, I do like those...".  In the absence of any real information, his default response was no.  For some people, the same thing happens with drones.

Nauticalman Posted at 2017-9-1 15:47
Actually, it IS NOT an absurd comparison, BECAUSE IT HAPPENED happened to me two weeks ago.  Three kids were racing their cars, and I was practicing manuvers well about 30 feet in the air.  The woman said my drone was "intrusive" to her, even though I wasn't recording anything.  

I'll admit, a few years ago, I bought into the "everything is out to get you" paranoia which included the introduction of drones to society.  And being as quadcopters is in fact a new part of our culture, the paranoia will eventually die down and the people who act irrationally will be few and far between.

You're right, it's not an absurd comparison.  I've seen a Youtube video of one of those big powerful RC cars with an FPV camera roaming a neighborhood.  While most people barely gave it a passing glance, there were two women trying repeatedly to catch it, or worse.  Their body language didn't suggest they were going after it playfully, either.

DroneGuyEd Posted at 2017-9-1 17:16
For some people and drones, it's a little like a recent interaction with a 4 year old grandson.  The wife asked him if he wanted a Klondike Bar (those ice cream bars that date back decades).  His immediate response was "No, I don't like those".  She got one out and starting eating it, then broke off a piece for him.  He ate, smiled big, then said..."Yes, I do like those...".  In the absence of any real information, his default response was no.  For some people, the same thing happens with drones.

I remember thinking that a drone up high could see everything... now I understand that there is no zoom... that there is no military grade telephoto lens.... Yes we can see people... and I do consider it very rude to fly over someones house.... the threat of invading someones privacy is much, much lower.   

I was flying at a small harbour village called Groomsport, and got asked from a middle aged woman about my drone.  

"Can that thing see me?"  She asks.

I consider the question for a few seconds before replying "It can, but at the height and distance I am flying, with no zoom - there is no defining features to make out" thankfully I said under my breath.

That's the only borderline negative query I've had.  Everyone else has been fascinated, and wants to see the image I am recording.

Saying that, having a ready smile, and the ability to be firm but polite seems to work for me.

I'm not exactly a small guy either (glad to have the broad shoulders, but not the broad belly!), but I do wonder how some of the smaller / lighter guys might react to bigger ignorant bully types.

Rigger73 Posted at 2017-9-5 13:26
I was flying at a small harbour village called Groomsport, and got asked from a middle aged woman about my drone.  

"Can that thing see me?"  She asks.

I agree... once people even "glance" at the screen, they realize that you can't zoom in the amounts that they are frightened of.  Thanks for the post....