A nightmare in the Catskill mountains..NY

[swings16]

A week ago my family and i flew the NYC Coop for some fresh air and mountain lakes

I found a spot off a very lightly traveled road off Rt. 28 that is a local park

This was last week...it was dusk..a HUGE beautiful moon hanging in the sky and i am up a couple hundred feet taking it all in

As i am filming and enjoying myself + i notice 2 people sliding down the side of the road and coming towards me

I am always happy to see people watch me and answer questions and as they come closer i see angry faces

One man was in his 30's and there was smoke coming out of his ears...the other was an older man with the same attitude

At first i thought they would ask questions about flying but their only motivation was to threaten me about "flyin over MY property "

Do you have a camera in that thing ?

I responded honestly and both of them started in with me..Who gives you the right to invade my personal property ?

YOU are up to no good etc on and on and i am responding that i have no ill will or intent in my flying near their homes

The Younger one...ITCHING to fight starts to ask me for my name...he is in my face and smoke is rising from his head getting angrier by the minute

I try to keep cool but i am outnumbered...i am in my late 60's and this kid wants a piece of my ***

after a few insanely tense minutes this Psycho P.O.S. Hillbilly looks me in the eye...6 inches from my face...if i see that thing over my house again i will get my shotgun and take it down...DO YOU HEAR ME ?

Totally messed up my few days there...i did fly and film over a small lake and found some beautiful areas there but i was off...upset and ANGRY...Thinking of how i SHOULD have reacted...all a fantasy///

What would be the result of engaging him ?...all bad and negative ones and POLICE...I Swallowed deeply and i TRY to let it go..but a week later and i am still having trouble with it all

 

[BrooklynFlyer]

Try to stay away from ignorant people and don't go to far off the beaten path.

 

[Jack1266]

Sounds like you found a cook house.

 

[Phantomrain.org]

A week ago my family and i flew the NYC Coop for some fresh air and mountain lakes

I found a spot off a very lightly traveled road off Rt. 28 that is a local park

This was last week...it was dusk..a HUGE beautiful moon hanging in the sky and i am up a couple hundred feet taking it all in

As i am filming and enjoying myself + i notice 2 people sliding down the side of the road and coming towards me

I am always happy to see people watch me and answer questions and as they come closer i see angry faces

One man was in his 30's and there was smoke coming out of his ears...the other was an older man with the same attitude

At first i thought they would ask questions about flying but their only motivation was to threaten me about "flyin over MY property "

Do you have a camera in that thing ?

I responded honestly and both of them started in with me..Who gives you the right to invade my personal property ?

YOU are up to no good etc on and on and i am responding that i have no ill will or intent in my flying near their homes

The Younger one...ITCHING to fight starts to ask me for my name...he is in my face and smoke is rising from his head getting angrier by the minute

I try to keep cool but i am outnumbered...i am in my late 60's and this kid wants a piece of my ***

after a few insanely tense minutes this Psycho P.O.S. Hillbilly looks me in the eye...6 inches from my face...if i see that thing over my house again i will get my shotgun and take it down...DO YOU HEAR ME ?

Totally messed up my few days there...i did fly and film over a small lake and found some beautiful areas there but i was off...upset and ANGRY...Thinking of how i SHOULD have reacted...all a fantasy///

What would be the result of engaging him ?...all bad and negative ones and POLICE...I Swallowed deeply and i TRY to let it go..but a week later and i am still having trouble with it all

So your dealing with that voice in your head, that is telling you I wish I would have hit him ?
Keep in mind P.O.S hillbilly is use to getting into fights, going to jail. being in prison and ultimately living in a different world, im sure you have seen deliverance . Letting him roar in you face may hurt a little now but most likely saved you.

Its not about fighting , it about knowing that you were in a no win situation , and making that call to not take action is what you did. I stand behind it. And you stand today without a knife in your gut.

The fact that it bothers you so much means that next time you might not make such a good decision , and i pitty the next guy that messes with you. lol


Phantomrain..org
Gear for your mavic to fly in the Rain
Designer of the Lunar Landing Pad.

 

[swings16]

Hey Brother

THANK YOU for the kind words

It is sinking into this old cranium what you have said

Much of this is about MACHISMO...

Hillbillies with too much time on their hands

You are so right about these fools

it was a boring night in the hills...not much going on

WOW...look at that dang thing invadin our Privacy

let's GIT EM

the thing that bugs me after the fact is that i still have throwback DUMB THINKING about BEIN A MAN...Gettin DISRESPECTED...i know it is all ancient history foolish sick thinking but it still creeps into this old head...PUNK..i should have fought him !

Gotta work on that...get those thought OUT

i DID the right thing...has nothing to do with being a man...THEY have the problem

NOT me

Thanks...well said take on the whole thing

Martin

 

[old man mavic]

if they had beaten you half to death and destroyed your drone how would you be feeling now,it takes being more of a man to ignore ( Mod Removed ) like that ,than becoming a victim of ignorance

 

[Deleted member 93449]

I don't know if this would have helped or made matters worse but this might be one situation where wearing a bright safety vest with "FAA License Drone Pilot...Caution" or something similar on it might have avoided a confrontation. Some people might approach with a different attitude if they view what you are doing as connect with a government agency or work related.

Disrupting a flight operation is a federal offense although I can't say for sure that regulation applies to drone operation. I'd consider throwing that out since if the vast majority of drone flying is now regulated by the FAA you might as well try to use it to your advantage.

Beyond that I'm glad the situation ended with you having not gotten into a physically violent confrontation. That said allowing someone to "get in your face" puts you at a serious disadvantage tactically, especially if there are two people involved. This individual decide against attacking but when you let someone get that close to you the options for defending yourself are dramatically reduced.

 

[swings16]

if they had beaten you half to death and destroyed your drone how would you be feeling now,it takes being more of a man to ignore pricks like that ,than becoming a victim of ignorance

Exactly and so very true !

Every so often the old macho horse sheist kicks in and i know it is on THEM and not on me

Thanks to people like you affirming the truth of it all is what keeps my head held high

Thank You for shining light on the Reality of it all

Fools and Bullies are everywhere

The reaction to freaks like i encountered is what counts

Thank YOU and all my fellow forum members for the truth of it all

Fools ..Bullies and morons abound

HERE is where Fine GOOD people share Positive and informative info

That is why i put my story here...i KNEW i would get the truth from my fellow Fliers


Thanks ALL !!!

 

[Bill combs]

A week ago my family and i flew the NYC Coop for some fresh air and mountain lakes

I found a spot off a very lightly traveled road off Rt. 28 that is a local park

This was last week...it was dusk..a HUGE beautiful moon hanging in the sky and i am up a couple hundred feet taking it all in

As i am filming and enjoying myself + i notice 2 people sliding down the side of the road and coming towards me

I am always happy to see people watch me and answer questions and as they come closer i see angry faces

One man was in his 30's and there was smoke coming out of his ears...the other was an older man with the same attitude

At first i thought they would ask questions about flying but their only motivation was to threaten me about "flyin over MY property "

Do you have a camera in that thing ?

I responded honestly and both of them started in with me..Who gives you the right to invade my personal property ?

YOU are up to no good etc on and on and i am responding that i have no ill will or intent in my flying near their homes

The Younger one...ITCHING to fight starts to ask me for my name...he is in my face and smoke is rising from his head getting angrier by the minute

I try to keep cool but i am outnumbered...i am in my late 60's and this kid wants a piece of my ***

after a few insanely tense minutes this Psycho P.O.S. Hillbilly looks me in the eye...6 inches from my face...if i see that thing over my house again i will get my shotgun and take it down...DO YOU HEAR ME ?

Totally messed up my few days there...i did fly and film over a small lake and found some beautiful areas there but i was off...upset and ANGRY...Thinking of how i SHOULD have reacted...all a fantasy///

What would be the result of engaging him ?...all bad and negative ones and POLICE...I Swallowed deeply and i TRY to let it go..but a week later and i am still having trouble with it all

you did the right thing,when faced with a larger force back away and come back later with a large force of your own,the problem with bullies is no one stands up to them,come back with friends and if they show up “they won’t “ explain what it is you are doing and maybe they will understand.

 

[b52danno]

Or just stay in the city where everything and everyone is perfect.

 

[JoelP]

I grew up in a remote part of the Catskills called Leibhardt, about 10 miles from Woodstock. People live there because they like their privacy. I remember as a kid having a shotgun fired in my direction when I rode my bicycle past someone’s property. I can only imagine what they would think of my drone.

Fortunately not all of the people there are lunatics. I may try to fly there in September. Fortunate, I know enough people there that I can ask permission. If you want to do this again you might ask in town about who you might approach. In these areas everybody knows everybody.

 

[FASTFJR]

Thats the time to hit record audio on your iphone

 

[emvision]

FWIW, I was in a similar situation. I simply told the guy we could call the cops to sort it out. He backed down instantly. There are a number of sites which cover your rights for flying. Not that this helps in a tense situation, but if the cops do show up, it helps to have not broken any laws. Quite frankly, it sounds to me like you did the exact right thing.

 

[The Rolling Drones]

That is a major overreaction on the redneck’s part, it seems like you handled it well considering the situation. In a short time you will be able to look back and laugh. I would not be surprised if they had weed growing on their property or some other illegal activity. You took the right path IMHO by not letting the situation escalate. if you had tried to tell him he does not own the Sky over his property etc who knows where it would have gone.
It also sounds like you may have been flying when it was starting to get dark(you say dusk), which if is the case would make your lights more predominant and people even more paranoid .

 

[Cmick1972]

Sounds like you found a cook house.

Holy crap! I bet your right.

 

[ChrisOutdoors]

You did the right thing, I'm in remote areas all the time and keep my drone flying discrete. Rednecks/hillbillies tend to dislike them a lot, never quite figured out why. The hunting/fishing forums I'm on when discussing UAS are always full of "I'll shoot it down!" which is comical since anything above 100' and moving is very hard to shoot even with a shotgun. Just keep cool, stay legal, and fly above 150' and they won't touch you. Of course, it doesn't hurt to carry, I do!

 

[swings16]

I grew up in a remote part of the Catskills called Leibhardt, about 10 miles from Woodstock. People live there because they like their privacy. I remember as a kid having a shotgun fired in my direction when I rode my bicycle past someone’s property. I can only imagine what they would think of my drone.

Fortunately not all of the people there are lunatics. I may try to fly there in September. Fortunate, I know enough people there that I can ask permission. If you want to do this again you might ask in town about who you might approach. In these areas everybody knows everybody.

That is the area where it happened...Shendaken..Town of Pine Hill...I have been going up there for decades...know many fine people...NEVER a problem but there is one in every crowd...a few in every small town and i have learned a few lessons...i won't knock the area because it has brought me great joy there...this incident could have happened anywhere....i will stick to natural scenes and areas....I took some vids of the local countryside and will post...nothing special other than the glory of nature

 

[swings16]

You did the right thing, I'm in remote areas all the time and keep my drone flying discrete. Rednecks/hillbillies tend to dislike them a lot, never quite figured out why. The hunting/fishing forums I'm on when discussing UAS are always full of "I'll shoot it down!" which is comical since anything above 100' and moving is very hard to shoot even with a shotgun. Just keep cool, stay legal, and fly above 150' and they won't touch you. Of course, it doesn't hurt to carry, I do!

Good advice and if i could i would arm myself...getting a carry permit in NYC is out of the question unless you have a friend within the Police force or if you deal in the transport of large sums of money...i am sure there are other ways to get one but honestly i don't know one person in my area of Glendale that has a carry permit..

 

[swings16]

That is a major overreaction on the redneck’s part, it seems like you handled it well considering the situation. In a short time you will be able to look back and laugh. I would not be surprised if they had weed growing on their property or some other illegal activity. You took the right path IMHO by not letting the situation escalate. if you had tried to tell him he does not own the Sky over his property etc who knows where it would have gone.
It also sounds like you may have been flying when it was starting to get dark(you say dusk), which if is the case would make your lights more predominant and people even more paranoid .

funny that i saw them coming and was in a good mood and i welcome people who are interested in flying ...people often will ask me questions and make positive comments while i am setting up or flying..THAT is what i thought these two ( Mod Removed ) were up to..I welcomed them and then it went south instantly...

 

[swings16]

Or just stay in the city where everything and everyone is perfect.

SWING...and a miss