Angry people pointing fingers at my drone and taking photos of it

[Yaros]

Today I was filming the beautiful beach of Cala Millor, Mallorca when I saw a public tourist boat was boarding. I Decided I could Active Track it from a distance.
There are no laws (that I'm aware of) in Europe against tracking a boat, so I select it in the app, and click Start (Point-Of-Interest). Everything was fine, the flight went well, or so I thought!
After coming back home, and reviewing the footage, I noticed that 5 people that were on board of that boat were angry about my drone and started pointing at it, waving, and taking photos of it, and the most ridiculous thing, calling other tourists to check out my drone; come on, WHY would anyone do that? It seems crazy to me!

I don't want to post the video here, but here are some screenshots of it:

This guy is trying to take a photo of the drone:


And another guy is pointing at it with his finger and waving like he wants it to go away:


I just don't understand how they could hear the drone, let alone see it! It was 50 meters (160 feet) high at that moment, about 80 meters away! The waves, water is loud, how?
I think even I wouldn't be able to see the drone from that high even if I was searching for it. All the screenshots above were zoomed in many times (I don't know how many times exactly)

Just for reference, here is a photo without any zoom from (relatively) the same frame as before:



As you can see it is pretty far away!

 

[slup]

..., I noticed that 5 people that were on board of that boat were angry about my drone...

How do you know they were angry?

Most probably they weren't used to drones at all, never seen one before & pointed.

 

[old man mavic]

i think you are being pretty upset about nothing,at best the people on the boat would hardly be able to see your drone anyway ,at the height and distance you were from them
and maybe they were just interested in your drone

 

[Yaros]

How do you know they were angry?

By their hand gestures they were trying to say "get away" or something similar, waving "no" signs and similar.
I will not post the video here but it is visible on the video when I zoom in and play it.

i think you are being pretty upset about nothing,at best the people on the boat would hardly be able to see your drone anyway ,at the height and distance you were from them
and maybe they were just interested in your drone

I'm not getting upset for this. I'm encountering angry people many times when flying my drone, this is nothing compared to some other people that "talked" to me while I was flying.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

When you saw people getting angry did you stop tracking the boat or did you continue?

 

[old man mavic]

whether they appeared to you to be angry ,about your drone or not ,is something that you personally have no control over ,
just because we as drone flyers ,and others with an interest in RC ,have enough knowledge to know what a drones camera is able to capture image wise ,there are many many others who believe all the negative reporting ,that the media are so fond of putting out about drones
as long as you have the necessary certificates and follow the rules when you fly ,then you have nothing to fear from other peoples ignorance, when i interact with joe public i do my best to educate them on what my drone can and cannot do ,and where it can fly ,there will always be those who for what ever reason, will be unhappy if they see a drone in the air

 

[Yaros]

When you saw people getting angry did you stop tracking the boat or did you continue?

I didn't see them when I was flying. I was using a phone in the sun, take a look at the last photo in my post, that's the zoomed out version of the video. Do you think I would be able to see them on that picture on my phone? I don't think so.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

I didn't see them when I was flying. I was using a phone in the sun, take a look at the last photo in my post, that's the zoomed out version of the video. Do you think I would be able to see them on that picture on my phone? I don't think so.

I have no idea of what you could see on the screen nor what size screen you were using. But I see I missed the "After coming back home, and reviewing the footage," bit.
But

I think even I wouldn't be able to see the drone from that high even if I was searching for it.

leaves me wondering, how could you see the drone?
You are aware that maintaining sight of the drone is a requirement of Spanish drone law.
Have you turned 16 yet? 31/03/20122, "I'm 15 years old, but I still fly drones, the minimum age here is 16... oh well, I'm 16 soon anyway." from Why EU regulations are so strict?

 

[stonecherub]

Good old Gauss (Carl Friedrich) explained so much about the world with his "bell-shaped" curve. On one side are the good guys and on the other are the bad, with most of us in the middle. I'm lucky, all of my flying is in a desert devoid of other people. I can neither annoy nor harm anybody else. The actions of bad drone fliers are much more significant than what the good ones can do - bad drone stories are what people think of when they see one, they can't know anything about who's flying it.

 

[Meta4]

I noticed that 5 people that were on board of that boat were angry about my drone ....
And another guy is pointing at it with his finger and waving like he wants it to go away:

You are fooling yourself.
There's no way you can tell they were angry from that distance.

I just don't understand how they could hear the drone

They couldn't

 

[BigAl07]

While we, as UAS enthusiasts, see no problem/worry about a random Flying Camera tracking a boat for fun and leisure put yourself in their shoes. Think how it would look if you had no Drone/UAS knowledge and you're out in the middle of the water and a random Drone (Camera Drone, War Drone, Spy Drone . . . the options go on and on and on) is actively pacing your boat and possible tracking/recording your movements.

That could be VERY unnerving and it's a very contagious mindset. While it's likely no rules/laws were broken, if you put yourself in THEIR shoes you should be able to see how they may have felt and realize maybe it wasn't your best idea to do that. Just because we CAN do something doesn't mean we SHOULD do it.

 

[Korrd]

How do you know they're angry?

I've been in that scenario more times that I can count, and whenever I crossed paths with those waving and pointing, they remarked how cool it was, and ended up getting new followers on my YT channels instead.

Only once I was scolded for it. Some dude that was under the impression I was spying at him. He even threw his dogs at me and got all fussed over because he was worried the drone could hurt them.

Called the police, they sent him on his merry way on harassing a pilot.

 

[Yaros]

Think how it would look if you had no Drone/UAS knowledge and you're out in the middle of the water and a random Drone (Camera Drone, War Drone, Spy Drone . . . the options go on and on and on) is actively pacing your boat and possible tracking/recording your movements.

2 years ago I had no drone, and I had no problem with a drone flying around a boat I'm in, as long as the drone isn't trying to fly into me or by other means disturb me. Yes, you might argue that "disturbing" might mean different for everyone, that's true.

Just because we CAN do something doesn't mean we SHOULD do it.

True, but I didn't think that flying around a boat at distance at height where almost no one could hear/see it will disturb anyone.

 

[Yaros]

bad drone stories are what people think of when they see one, they can't know anything about who's flying it.

Sad truth...
I just don't like what most people think when they see a drone.

 

[Korrd]

Btw, what's the deal with drones there? Why are ppl so fussed up about having drones flying nearby? It reminds me of the era where phones with cammeras appeared, and everyone freaked out whenever you took your phone out of your pocket.

 

[EpicFlight]

Good old Gauss (Carl Friedrich) explained so much about the world with his "bell-shaped" curve. On one side are the good guys and on the other are the bad, with most of us in the middle. I'm lucky, all of my flying is in a desert devoid of other people. I can neither annoy nor harm anybody else.

Well, raht thur yer humanocentric bigotry is showin'.

Go back and review your footage and pay particular attention to the Prairie Dogs and squirrels chittering angrily, dropping nuts and shaking their tiny fists at your drone.

Your comfort and complacency is simply a product of your speciesism.

 

[Tufargon]

It doesn't look like anyone is angry to me. Looks to me like they were probably saying "Wow cool! look, a drone!". And waving at it.
I've had it happen twice to me.
I don't see any harm in posting the video.

 

[Chip]

Yaros, I would not worry about the matter another minute. Its unlikely they saw or heard you. More importantly, you live on Mallorca! Looks awesome to me.

 

[Starz]

If they were not happy that your flying camera was there, you probably would see several hands in the air with only the middle finger!

 

[GregS]

whether they appeared to you to be angry ,about your drone or not ,is something that you personally have no control over ,
just because we as drone flyers ,and others with an interest in RC ,have enough knowledge to know what a drones camera is able to capture image wise ,there are many many others who believe all the negative reporting ,that the media are so fond of putting out about drones
as long as you have the necessary certificates and follow the rules when you fly ,then you have nothing to fear from other peoples ignorance, when i interact with joe public i do my best to educate them on what my drone can and cannot do ,and where it can fly ,there will always be those who for what ever reason, will be unhappy if they see a drone in the air

Well said Old Man Mavic.......