Anti Karen Apparel

[Paul Stocum]

A buddy of mine that just got his part 107, gave me this vest and called it the anti Karen. I took him out a few times with his new and first drone. Because he will be shooting a lot of real estate for residential homes, he doesn’t want to have to deal with the self-righteous people if possible. So he got himself one of these vests. Also got me one too for helping them out.

I already wear neon shirts so I can be easily found if someone has an issue. I’ve never really been bothered shooting real estate yet. But I’m sure overtime thus may change. Wearing the vest is worth a shot, although Karens will be Karens.

No offense to anyone actually named Karen and who does not display Karen like attributes.

 

[FLDave]

Making derogatory remarks about a female name Karen should indeed be taken as offensive. Why use an offensive reference and then apologize? Better to just not use offensive references. Just my opinion.

 

[karlblessing]

Feels very tacky and even more inviting of attention.

Just use a regular plain ol high vis or lanyard to get the same job done without the extra flair.

 

[dirkclod]

This has been posted so much about wearing this vest it’s un real. No offense op but this is old and I agree with post #2 and always have.

 

[Aerophile]

I have a feeling that the whole point of wearing this vest is actually not to avoid confrontations, but rather to trigger them.

 

[TommyGrimmer]

I would wonder if a true "Karen" would even know what FAA stands for

 

[DARKSeifer]

When flying drones, the less attention you draw, the better.

Just take off your M3 (or whatever <900g drone) from the hand, sit down on any place around, like a bench or under a tree and keep the drone at least at >300m from you and nobody will notice you because unless they were next to you during takeoff it just seems that you are playing with a portable console.

Another option is just to move around, simply walk around while flying, that way you can fly "long range" in a legal way and also, nobody will be interested on you. Just remember to set the RTH on you.

Stand up, stare at the drone, keep the drone at <300m, wear a shiny vest, put the H pad on the floor, use a foldable table, etc and a Karen will be next to you, calling the cops, in less than 5 minutes.

I learned these back in the days when I used a tripod on public, unfold the tripod and in less than 5 minutes someone is next to you asking questions. Do the same hand held and nobody cares.

 

[TommyGrimmer]

I wonder where the most Karen's are located. Every interaction I have had with people has been positive. Most just want to know more about the flying machine and if they could get one.

 

[karlblessing]

I wonder where the most Karen's are located. Every interaction I have had with people has been positive. Most just want to know more about the flying machine and if they could get one.

I've yet to have a major negative experience flying a drone, or being a photographer way before then. But can also depend on the location and how you present yourself. Most of my interaction ends up being an educational one with the approacher typically geeking out. And most of the time I'm approached it's usually by men, or the occasional kids with their folks.

But I'm also not trying to look stealthy, rather I'm simply visible and behaving like I belong there.

When I see the big jacket that has stuff on it like "FAA Pilot", it makes me think of back in the day when all the sudden everyone had to have a photo vest to appear 'professional', even though most of the actual "pros" at the time really didn't bother with them so much. We usually just carried what we needed to for the task.

 

[Jam0ne]

Feels very tacky and even more inviting of attention.

Just use a regular plain ol high vis or lanyard to get the same job done without the extra flair.

What is "tacky" about the vest ?

What "flair" ?

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Funny, read enough of "peoples" post here ( on this and many forums/medias), and you will sooner or later catch them in contradiction, or they "no comment" when it's a "highly respected member" or "staff" posts/thread "supporting" something they "dislike" or "disagrees with".

Owning it. Conspicuous outer wear to ID yourself as a UAV pilot during missions?

Does anyone wear conspicuous outer wear, like a construction-worker day-glow orange or yellow tshirt for example, with text printed on it with something to the effect of "FAA-licensed commercial UAV (or Drone) Pilot"? Especially on commercial gigs? If so, has it helped ward away Karens or...

mavicpilots.com

Carry on...

 

[Paul Stocum]

Photographing houses, I’ve been hassled with my DSLR on a tripod. Oddly, not while flying the drone. As I said, when shooting a house with the drone I wear bright neon shirts and fly in plain sight. I think being obvious makes me less suspicious and somehow more legit. Or maybe I’ve just been lucky.

 

[karlblessing]

What is "tacky" about the vest ?

What "flair" ?

Well considering I don't slap a banner on my car that says "Michigan Licensed Driver", and unless I was employed by the FAA I wouldn't be using their organization name big and bold on a vest. It's not really helping matters.

 

[Paul Stocum]

I've yet to have a major negative experience flying a drone, or being a photographer way before then. But can also depend on the location and how you present yourself. Most of my interaction ends up being an educational one with the approacher typically geeking out. And most of the time I'm approached it's usually by men, or the occasional kids with their folks.

But I'm also not trying to look stealthy, rather I'm simply visible and behaving like I belong there.

When I see the big jacket that has stuff on it like "FAA Pilot", it makes me think of back in the day when all the sudden everyone had to have a photo vest to appear 'professional', even though most of the actual "pros" at the time really didn't bother with them so much. We usually just carried what we needed to for the task.

Point taken. Although If you have the Next Door App for your community, search drone. You would think we are scourge of the earth, because all drones should be shot out of the sky and “privacy privacy privacy.” I attempt to professionally educate the haters (you never know who could be a potential client), but they don’t want to listen to facts, reason or common sense. The shear numbers of people posting stupid chit about drones may surprise you.

I could be wrong but I think real estate fliers are the most likely to be harassed. Because we are flying directly over peoples homes. Wearing hi viz shirts and flying in the open seems to have helped me so far. If someone chooses to wear a vest with or without the “pilot” verbiage, can’t say that I blame them.

 

[karlblessing]

Point taken. Although If you have the Next Door App for your community, search drone. You would think we are scourge of the earth, because all drones should be shot out of the sky and “privacy privacy privacy.” I attempt to professionally educate the haters (you never know who could be a potential client), but they don’t want to listen to facts, reason or common sense. The shear numbers of people posting stupid chit about drones may surprise you.

I could be wrong but I think real estate fliers are the most likely to be harassed. Because we are flying directly over peoples homes. Wearing hi viz shirts and flying in the open seems to have helped me so far. If someone chooses to wear a vest with or without the “pilot” verbiage, can’t say that I blame them.

Actually I am on the nextdoor app for my community and I share my drone shots which are often met with "how cool" and "thanks for sharing such beautiful image...." Etc.

 

[Aerophile]

Actually I am on the nextdoor app for my community and I share my drone shots which are often met with "how cool" and "thanks for sharing such beautiful image...." Etc.

Interesting...I just looked on my local NextDoor page, did a search for "drone" and found the results surprising...

First of all, LOTS of drones for sale around here!

There were maybe a dozen posts mentioning drones (I had expected more). Several that expressed the hope that our city's 4th of July fireworks show would phase out explosives and replace them with drones (I guess fireworks are hated even more than drones). Several references to a local guy that posts drone footage of open-air car chop shops that are thriving in local homeless camps (cops are prevented from entering said camps) and how the guy has connected multiple car theft victims to their cars (or what's left of them), many supporters praising his efforts and suggesting that the cops should start using drones to deter property crimes (lots of that around here, cops have had their hands tied by city council and are stretched too thin to do anything about property crimes, surprise -- people are fed up). Only one single post that said someone had noticed 3 drones hovering over her apartment building ("with green and red lights on them!"), and it made her feel uncomfortable; several people replied it was probably harmless real estate or contractors/roof inspectors and there's no reason to freak out.

That's it. And this is in a city that is officially extremely hostile to drones. I was expecting more torches and pitchforks. Makes me want to run outside and launch, just to fly around the neighborhood.

Maybe there aren't as many drone-haters out there as we think?

 

[SmilingOgre]

I wonder where the most Karen's are located. Every interaction I have had with people has been positive. Most just want to know more about the flying machine and if they could get one.

They all live in or at least congregate in Ann Arbor, MI. Twenty square miles surrounded by reality. They protest protests. Any social infraction one can possibly dream up has been or will be protested in A2. It's the home of SNL's church lady. The Man from La Mancha is required reading to live there. Virtue signaling is offered as a PHD degree at U of M. Every word spoken on the streets is bait. They have even developed their own language, a modified version of 1984's newspeak. All words that could possibly be offensive have been removed. It is a heavily enforces utopia.

 

[DARKSeifer]

Of course, I can only talk based on my experience, maybe in other parts of the world people don't get nuts as soon as they see a drone flying at 200m. But as I've seen on Youtube, Karens are quite a worldwide phenomenon, every major drone YouTuber has had their own confrontation video.

 

[FLDave]

Of course, I can only talk based on my experience, maybe in other parts of the world people don't get nuts as soon as they see a drone flying at 200m. But as I've seen on Youtube, Karens are quite a worldwide phenomenon, every major drone YouTuber has had their own confrontation video.

YouTube videos are not a statistical representative of the general drone user experiences. YouTube videos are more likely an indication of those trying to get attention with their videos, just my opinion.

 

[spsphotos]

Making derogatory remarks about a female name Karen should indeed be taken as offensive. Why use an offensive reference and then apologize? Better to just not use offensive references. Just my opinion.

People should not name their kids Karen anymore. Blame the "Karen's" who made it a type of self-righteous person.

 

[Trackerputnam]

I have a vest, just like this. I have had police, city workers and many others avoid bothering me when wearing it. It’s is invaluable for me in keeping the riff Raff at bay.

And the use of Karen is just fine. It’s a normal word used in everyday life, to describe a certain character. If you are named Karen, I would perhaps listen to you. But my sister Karen could care less she just told me.