Another drone shot at - but arrest made

[Kbviper]

P.E.I. man arrested after allegedly trying to shoot drone flying in Cavendish | SaltWire

CAVENDISH, P.E.I. — Mounties have arrested a man who police say shot at a drone flying in Cavendish on Wednesday. Police responded to a report of the man ...

www.saltwire.com

Cavendish is a small village in the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island. It is a resort area with spectacular beaches very popular with tourists. Most of the residences are only used in the summer.

It will be interesting to follow this case and see what the results are as cases of individuals shooting at drones are fairly uncommon in Canada,

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Are you from around there ?
Be good to get local news updates posted here on this.

I personally feel that for the number of drone flights done in the World each day / week / year, the cases of individuals shooting at drones in general is fairly uncommon overall.
Thankfully !!

 

[Gagey52]

Too right MSO, thank god it is uncommon. Let’s hope there is a better outcome than the other one we read about. Judge in that case didn’t have a clue.
Regards

 

[edcMavicPilots]

Are you from around there ?
Be good to get local news updates posted here on this.

I personally feel that for the number of drone flights done in the World each day / week / year, the cases of individuals shooting at drones in general is fairly uncommon overall.
Thankfully !!

Really drones are uncommon. Up until I started up with the hobby about 1.5 yrs ago I had only really seen one being flown ever. It's hard to understand how something so rare can be so reviled by some. This urban legend of drone spying needs to be debunked but I don't know how.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Really drones are uncommon. Up until I started up with the hobby about 1.5 yrs ago I had only really seen one being flown ever. It's hard to understand how something so rare can be so reviled by some. This urban legend of drone spying needs to be debunked but I don't know how.

You're right there too.
Even now I still have only seen a few others in my near 5 years flying them.
I suppose that's not too surprising, perhaps an average flight time of 20 mins on the DJI range, and sparseness of where you can fly, it really is a matter of luck seeing one in the air.

It's an easy one to debunk, but yeah, how do you beat through the media type hype / ignorance, maybe just keep posting those nice photos and videos we see here and other places.
It might sink in with the general public eventually.

 

[Robert Prior]

It will be interesting to follow this case and see what the results are as cases of individuals shooting at drones are fairly uncommon in Canada,

Cases of individuals shooting at all are fairly uncommon in Canada.

I notice that the RCMP have warned drone pilots to obey Transport Canada regulations. I wonder if the pilot was flying in the national park (prohibited airspace)?

 

[Robert Prior]

This urban legend of drone spying needs to be debunked but I don't know how.

I've found showing people the controller screen helps a lot. "Everything looks so tiny!" is a common response.

Doesn't help that in most drone stories the media just use stock shots of consumer drones (usually Phantoms and Mavics), so when people hear about a drone carrying (say) 20 firearms into Canada they see a picture of a Mavic and assume that a 900g drone can carry 10 times its weight as payload.

 

[Daytona500]

I see them because their rebuilding the highway near me and they have drones doing surveys for the new highway.But outside of that yea I don't see many rec drones .

 

[KennethH]

Really drones are uncommon. Up until I started up with the hobby about 1.5 yrs ago I had only really seen one being flown ever. It's hard to understand how something so rare can be so reviled by some. This urban legend of drone spying needs to be debunked but I don't know how.

I suppose there is an urban legend that drone pilots are searching for women sunbathing. I personally wouldn't know where to start with that one. When I do fly from my backyard, I'm careful to not in anyway fly low near the neighbors yards. My most daring flights are to closely examine the 40 year old roof on our house. Not surprised to find that it is in perfect condition. I should do a film on the subject, and sell it to the manufacturer. Timberline I believe.
If I see our local woodpecker (we call him Robert) going at a power pole, I need to get a closeup of him. A Downy Woodpecker with a red blaze.

 

[YVRGUY]

P.E.I. man arrested after allegedly trying to shoot drone flying in Cavendish | SaltWire

CAVENDISH, P.E.I. — Mounties have arrested a man who police say shot at a drone flying in Cavendish on Wednesday. Police responded to a report of the man ...

www.saltwire.com

Cavendish is a small village in the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island. It is a resort area with spectacular beaches very popular with tourists. Most of the residences are only used in the summer.

It will be interesting to follow this case and see what the results are as cases of individuals shooting at drones are fairly uncommon in Canada,

Wow, just returned 2 weeks ago from PEI. Beautiful scenery, people, and history…it’s always hard to imagine this occurring in such a nice place as PEI or any other place for that matter. I flew my drone and photographed many areas without causing a spectacle. Of all my encounters with “looky loos” all of them were of a friendly nature…very synonymous of the PEI people.

It is NOT a Walt Disney production out there…anything scary like this can go down anywhere…anytime.

To lessen the chance of confrontation It doesn’t hurt to avoid the crowds. BTW…I fly a Mini 3 Pro and Mini 2. If it looks like a toy and sounds like a toy, then, it must be a toy. Fine with me.

Be Safe

 

[BurntFloridian]

I have to agree with Frank, and it is funny that bob's friends want to shoot down drones, I hope bob had the time to explain and educate his friends about Drones and the negative impact on their lives of shooting (or lasering) at a Drone, copter or airplane.

 

[rjwmorrell]

Wow, just returned 2 weeks ago from PEI. Beautiful scenery, people, and history…it’s always hard to imagine this occurring in such a nice place as PEI or any other place for that matter. I flew my drone and photographed many areas without causing a spectacle. Of all my encounters with “looky loos” all of them were of a friendly nature…very synonymous of the PEI people.

It is NOT a Walt Disney production out there…anything scary like this can go down anywhere…anytime.

To lessen the chance of confrontation It doesn’t hurt to avoid the crowds. BTW…I fly a Mini 3 Pro and Mini 2. If it looks like a toy and sounds like a toy, then, it must be a toy. Fine with me.

Be Safe

Firearms are a rarity in PEI, as well. It has the lowest per capita ownership rate of firearms in thr country. So this whole story is odd.

My guess is the person was or will be charged with unsafe discharge as a minimum, and could face a penalty of a 10 year ban on firearms ownership and fines and/or jail time.

 

[Jagerbomb52]

Firearms are a rarity in PEI, as well. It has the lowest per capita ownership rate of firearms in thr country. So this whole story is odd.

My guess is the person was or will be charged with unsafe discharge as a minimum, and could face a penalty of a 10 year ban on firearms ownership and fines and/or jail time.

Yup at the very least his possession and Acquisition Licence (PAL) will be taken away with all his guns. Hopefully a large fine for endangerment of the public. Some how I think he will not get jail time but I sure wish he would.

 

[Don Testme]

I've found showing people the controller screen helps a lot. "Everything looks so tiny!" is a common response.

Doesn't help that in most drone stories the media just use stock shots of consumer drones (usually Phantoms and Mavics), so when people hear about a drone carrying (say) 20 firearms into Canada they see a picture of a Mavic and assume that a 900g drone can carry 10 times its weight as payload.

I will often show beach goers interesting things I see, like dolphins, manatees, sharks , large schools of fish, etc etc. I then pull back on the zoom feature and point it at the beach goers, which the people watching don't know I did. All they see is "ant people". I allay their fears about drones this way.

 

[DefCon65]

I live in Atlantic Canada so I'm gonna follow this one as closely as possible but I think the shooter is gonna be in a world of trouble. I have personal experience with something somewhat similar and firearm offences in Canada are dealt with very severely. About 10 years ago my then brother-in-laws son and a bunch of his buddies got high and decided it would be fun to drive down the busiest street in town shooting airsoft pistols out the window of a car. Thankfully, nobody was injured and they got caught. They were all charged with careless discharge of a firearm and were facing years in prison. Brother-in-law spent a fortune on lawyers and, even then, it was looking like 6 months in prison plus probation. The crown finally agreed to a two year suspended sentence and three years probation.

The point is the law here regarding firearms is downright draconian compared to the US and crown prosecutors like to set examples. With likely no precedents, I can see them throwing the book at this guy just as a deterrent

 

[cbatch]

Cases of individuals shooting at all are fairly uncommon in Canada.

I notice that the RCMP have warned drone pilots to obey Transport Canada regulations. I wonder if the pilot was flying in the national park (prohibited airspace)?

I suspect the pilot was flying in the National Park area, as just about everything north of the highway in Cavendish is National Park area.

 

[Kbviper]

I suspect the pilot was flying in the National Park area, as just about everything north of the highway in Cavendish is National Park area.

You are correct in that most of the land north of Highway #6 is part of the National Park. However, the land where most of the businesses/cottages are in Cavendish is not part of the National Park.

I have had a number of discussions with National Park staff, some quite heated. Their position is that drones cannot be flown in the National Park - period. I have reminded them that the law states that you cannot or land in the National Park, but they do not own the airspace, so, as long as I am obeying the Transport Canada drone laws, not harassing or endangering wildlife, or invading anyone's privacy, I could take off outside of the park boundaries and overfly it.

They have made it clear to me that they do not want drones overflying any part of the park, I have told them that I will not take off or land in the park, and will stay at a "respectable height" and not bring attention to myself.

I have flown from a number of locations in Cavendish including the north east corner of Hwy #6/#13 and Avonlea Village, and not had a problem. Here is a map that shows the many areas in Cavendish that are not in the National Park, which is the green area.

Also a shot of Sandspit Amusement Park