sidtx
lvl.4
Flight distance : 266729 ft
United States
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Was out flying my P3S yesterday. I chose an area where there were new soccer fields under construction. Right now, just big muddy fields.
This is in a large public park with about 8 existing soccer fields.
There was no-one in the field I was flying in. Nothing but dirt and mud. No houses, no cars, no people, no kids, no crowds, no streets. Just a big muddy, empty field.
I was flying fairly low level, about 50ft - practicing ATTI mode. Doing lots of large circles and S-Turns in both directions. There was a nice breeze, so ATTI practice was lots of fun.
After about 10 minutes, this guy (about 20years old, carrying a 4ft long walking-stick) walks out into the field and stares at my aircraft. Just stares at it. As he was walking out, I moved the aircraft further away - given that I was practicing ATTI flying - I didn't want any chance of loosing control and crashing into him.
After a couple of minutes watching (from a distance of about 50 ft away) he suddenly shouts in my direction "HEY!!". Not sure if he was yelling at me, or others in the parking lot behind us - I ignored it.
Another minute goes by and another "HEY!!!!!!" This time pointedly looking in my direction. I put the drone into a hoover (P-GPS) well away from him and looked back at him, without saying anything. Well, he doesn't do anything, so I go back to flying. Even further away from him.
Now - about 2-3 miniutes goes by and he yells again - "HEY - Get your F...ing Drone out of my airspece"!!! I put the drone into a hover again, and put the RC control down, and just stared at him. I was considering inviting him over to check it out - but he just looked too "disturbed" to invite over (which is what I usually do, when curious people stroll by).
About this time, the battery alarm goes off - so I pick up the remote and fly the aircraft back to the home point (closer to me than him). He sees the aircraft coming in for a landing (and I'm prepared to zoom it back up as he is carrying a big stick) - and turns and walks off. I guess he decided he won.
After landing - he's about 100ft away. I stroll over to the aircraft, pull the battery and replace it with a fresh one. Then, start it up, and takeoff up to about a 20ft hoover to let it stabilize. I normally let it stabilize at about 5 ft, but once again, that big stick was in my mind.
Anyway - he sees this, but with others walking in my direction, he decided to continue walking away!
That was the first time I've had an experience like this. I'd had many people come over to see what I'm doing, and I usually demo the system to them, let them see the FPV view, show them how it flies, and if they are interested, talk about rules, regs, the FAA etc. Every other time, it is a good conversation, and people seem genuinely interested in the aircraft.
I guess there is just crazies everywhere!!!
Sid
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