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Attitudes towards drones

Django18

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Hastings, East Sussex, UK
I stumbled across an article on the Hastings Online Times (HOT) website about drones last week purely by accident which caught my eye. The author has written many interesting articles on local issues, however as I read this one and the comments people had left on the subject I became increasingly surprised by the negative attitudes and irrational hatred and distrust being expressed at these devices. I began to write a reply of my own to give an alternative viewpoint, however the more I wrote the more I realised a simple reply wouldn’t even begin to cover it, and so it’s in this context that this piece has been written. HOT themselves helpfully suggested I submitted this as a separate article and so this is what I've done. Hopefully it should be published soon. What do you think? I know it's almost certainly too long - I'm rubbish at being concise! Having said that if I've missed anything please let me know!!! Otherise, too strong? About right? Not strong enough?

You can read the original article I was responding to here:

Drone rage

As a drone flier for the last two months after much saving and researching I’m amazed by the level of hate directed at these devices. I understand and respect that everyone is entitled to their opinion, but so much of it seems to be knee jerk reaction to media headlines and fear of being snooped on rather than based on reasoned thinking. The facts are the vast majority of drone fliers are responsible people who go out of their way to be considerate and not risk their own hobby by bringing it into disrepute. There’s always a few exceptions like the idiot who flew over Gatwick last year. But this is not the norm. Anyone can buy a car and drive it on the public highway. Some motorists break the law and speed, or drive whilst on their phones, or tailgate and are a nuisance or even a safety risk. Should we ban cars? Of course not. I’ll attempt to give a balanced view of the comments I read the most often about drones and which are cited in the replies to the article in question.

1. ‘Drones are an invasion of privacy’. This seems to be the most common issue expressed. So let’s look at this logically. If I go walking on the hills and I see you, am I invading your privacy? No. If I use my phone or even a camera to take a picture of the landscape and you are in it (try taking a picture of almost any Sussex beauty spot with not a soul in it!) then am I invading your privacy? No. You are in a public place and as such are visible to any other member of the public. If I now use a drone to take that same scene from an elevated viewpoint to clear some trees and bins and other clutter, and for a more interesting perspective am I now invading your privacy any more than from ground level? Of course not. I have no interest in what you are doing. In the nicest possible way and with the greatest respect, do you really think you’re that interesting that anyone would want to spy on you? There seems to be a commonly held opinion that just because you might see a drone nearby it must be spying on you. Indeed even in the text of the original article the author states: ‘whoever was operating it, actually hovered it in the sky over our heads, presumably filming or viewing us’. Presumably? This is a huge assumption on which the whole article is based. And then to write about that in the public domain causing people to believe that that’s what it must have been doing is not right in my view. It may well have been watching the author, I’m not in a position to know. However it’s much more likely that it wasn’t. Even if one seems to be hovering nearby it’s most likely not looking at you but is more likely looking horizontally at the scene and the owner is likely checking exposure or focus before taking a picture you don’t feature in. I can promise you that almost all drone owners haven’t spent their good money just to go snooping on everyone they come across. They’ve spent it to further pursue their hobby and interest and open up new creative avenues. Modern life is filled with far more common examples of what could be perceived to be an invasion of privacy that we just don’t seem to notice anymore as they are so commonplace. Traffic enforcement cameras, the much more subtle traffic flow monitoring cameras, CCTV in almost all urban environments, availability of personal information including address details online from sites like 192.com. Yet we don’t take issue or seem to have such strong opinions about many of these because they are commonplace and no longer catch our attention. The occasional low-flying microlight or paraglider only raises glances of admiration and interest, never do I read that the pilots must be spying on us. It seems that because drones are still not an everyday sight, we are not used to them and hence we notice them more when we do see one. We are more wary of it and it’s human nature to be wary of the unknown. But this doesn’t automatically mean that there is some shady reason for it being there.

2. ‘They should all be shot down’. Why? I’ve overheard this one first hand last week when I was out flying - I’ll get to that in a minute. Do you really think it’s ok to destroy someone else’s property just because you don’t personally like it? You’re actually saying it’s ok to destroy someone’s things because you feel like it? If I didn’t like the colour of your car or thought it was too polluting with it’s big engine does this make it ok for me to smash it up or set fire to it? Of course it doesn’t. But using the ‘shoot it down’ logic this would be perfectly acceptable. And if you were to shoot it down, where’s it going to land? You would cause it to crash and possibly cause an accident.

3. ‘Purchasers should show good reason to have one’. A hobby-grade drone weighs about 500g to 1kg for a really expensive one, usually less, typically flies around 35mph max and a battery lasts for 25 minutes at the most. A car weighs 1-2 tonnes, can go over 100mph and can travel for many hours on a tank. A car can do a lot more damage than a drone. Many people are killed every day on the roads. I don’t believe anyone has ever been killed or even injured by a hobby-grade drone. Should we therefore make sure all car purchasers can show a justifiable reason to own a car before they’re allowed to own one? If privacy is the concern then should ladders be banned from sale without good reason in case your neighbour can look over your garden fence? Or how about cameras? They can capture images of people out and about. Should we require anyone buying a camera – or even a phone with a camera – to provide proof of why they need it? For cameras, is a hobby of photography not a good enough reason? That’s usually what people buy drones for too. They’re just a camera that can reach more interesting angles.

4. ‘There should be gun-style licences for public ownership’. To liken a drone to a gun is completely irrational. A gun is designed purely to inflict damage and destruction on whatever you shoot it at. A drone is designed to bring harmless creative opportunities to it’s owner. However just like so many other things there is the potential for misuse if not used responsibly. In these cases it’s not the device that’s at fault, it’s down to the way it’s used. Of course there will always be a small minority who may not respect the rules or fly considerately. I do therefore agree with the need for there to be some form of registration and licensing in the same way as for cars. The CAA has now launched a drone registration service which is mandatory after the end of November 2019 for all drone pilots of drones weighing more than 250 grams in the UK. There are 20 questions to determine good knowledge of the rules you need to abide by as a pilot and you receive a Flyer ID and an Operator ID. The Flyer ID is your confirmation that you achieved a good level of competency and knowledge in the test and your Operator ID identifies you and must be displayed on all drones you fly. Hopefully this requirement will weed out many who may buy a drone casually and not abide by the rules. Rules which are now included in the packaging of almost all drones you can buy in this country and encourage even better practice by making pilots aware of their responsibilities whilst airborne. I have passed this test and have my IDs displayed on my drone as I’m a responsible pilot, just like the majority.

I was actually flying my drone in the hills near Hastings last week just as the sun was rising. It was a beautiful morning and I wanted to try to capture the beauty of the place in the best light. As I was setting up an elderly gentleman out walking his dog stopped and began chatting to me. He was really interested in my drone and watched fascinated as I took off and began to shoot some frosty landscape views. As we chatted and I let him see the controller screen so he could see the view for himself a couple of other elderly gents walking their dogs joined us, friends of the first chap it transpired. They were all interested and found it wonderful to be able to see the beauty of the cliffs by looking back at them from over the sea. As I brought the drone back closer three elderly ladies walked past. One of them noticed the drone hovering off to the side and as they walked away I heard her say to her friends ‘There’s one of those drones, they should all be shot down if you ask me’. The gents I was with were as surprised as I was. I was doing no harm, not invading anyone’s privacy and not causing a nuisance. Even the noise was minimal as you can only hear it when under 50 metres away and most of the time it’s over this and constantly moving, anyone would only ever hear it quietly and for a few seconds. Any passing car causes much more of a racket. I politely asked the lady why she thought this and she just said ‘They’re an invasion of privacy‘. I indicated that I wasn't invading her privacy here in this public place, but she repeated ‘they’re an invasion of privacy, that’s my opinion and I won’t change it’. She seems to see the drone as the physical manifestation of the very concept of invasion of privacy. Yet we were in a public place and I could see her much better up close as she walked past than I could ever see with the tiny wide angle lens on my drone which is designed for taking in huge vistas. I left wondering to myself what had caused this lady to form her opinion and regard what is just a creative tool with such contempt...
DJI_0001 (2)-4000.JPG
 
i hope your article gets published what you said is precisely what the majority of us feel ,and the comments from the public are as you say fuelled by the biased reporting in the media,in some two and a half years of drone flying i have heard most of the comments myself some said in jest by people who know me, others from complete strangers under their breath,people fear what they dont understand that is human nature, but i think the majority only ask questions or comment on drone flyers out of interest, that has been my experience anyway the rest just walk by doing their own thing
 
I've only ever had people Interested in what I'm doing when I've been out flying in public or not bothered at all. I think most of the suspicion and paranoia come from those who are not very tech savvy and do not understand what they are (as @old man mavic pointed out).
 
Cars, iPhones, and various other devices are imbedded into our society as they have a use which the general public depends on for daily life. So when a car kills somebody, the "risk" of such an event is outweighed by the public necessity for its use. When drones have some application to the general public beyond just fun, then they will be accepted and less vilified. It's going to take a long road to reach that point, if ever. Starting out with activities like SAR, or medication deliveries, etc., can the general public see the value side rather than the onerous side. I think it's going to take a lot more than that, and not necessarily in my lifetime.
 
I find it amazing that not only are mobile phones ignored in regard to 'invading privacy' - but there are now adverts for snap-on telephoto lenses that advertise quite amazing 'zoom' facilities for the average smart-phone camera. These are actually advertised using example photo's showing how you can zoom in on beach sunbathers and people's windows! The protests against these are deafening!!! NOT ...
 
We need more articles like this to educate the public so they don't make so many ignorant comments.
You did a fine job.
I had someone tell me he was going to shoot my drone down with a shotgun,
no matter how hard I tried to tell him how illegal that was and that it was the same as shooting at a maned aircraft he would not listen.
Some people just don't want to hear it.
 
I have no objection to people having their own opinions and expressing them publicly even if they differ with mine as long as they make sense and are based on reasoned argument and logic. And perhaps good old fashioned common sense. What irritated me enough to make me write something was the sheer irrationality of what I was reading. Nothing was based on facts or logic. And lots of negative comments such as ‘the drone menace’ and so on. Not really reasoned argument!!
 
Hi Jango 18. After reading your article I personally think you have hit the nail square on the head. I have been flying since 2015, and when anyone questions me I just ask them to wait until I land. When I do land I answer any questions they have, and I explain all the safety and fail safe features of the drone. I also I explain that I enjoy showing the area where I live in the best possible light on such platforms as YouTube and the other forums I am on to a wider audience. I find by doing it this way it lays people's fears to rest, and as for the comments after putting my videos on line I have yet to get any negative comments. All the best and keep up the good PR for our hobby. Regards Ian.
 
I have no objection to people having their own opinions and expressing them publicly even if they differ with mine as long as they make sense and are based on reasoned argument and logic. And perhaps good old fashioned common sense. What irritated me enough to make me write something was the sheer irrationality of what I was reading. Nothing was based on facts or logic. And lots of negative comments such as ‘the drone menace’ and so on. Not really reasoned argument!!
Likely because the press knows the emotional buttons in the average person and leverages that to get “clicks” on their sites... which helps them sell advertising.
 
A few bad apples spoil the bunch.

Fantastic article, cheers to hoping people come around!
 
@Django18 firstly I commend you in taking the step to write a reply to the article.
I hope it’s printed and maybe the editor there can be asked if any assistance is required to condense some parts for space considerations, they might help and resubmit to you for final tidying up.

Point 2. Is it not also illegal in the UK to shoot down or otherwise bring down an aircraft ?

Let us know how you go with the publication and their response.
Again, [emoji106]
 
This is a good discussion to have.

Personally, I do not like seeing other people's drones hovering. Never have. It is creepy, not knowing who is on the other side of the robot camera.

Also, I've told my friends a couple of times, if someone shoots my bird down over their property, I won't be upset or even irritated. Hopefully I'd be able to find them, and I'd buy them lunch if they'd let me, to let them know who I am, and that I'm ok with their marksmanship.

In my opinion, I think if someone is flying over your back yard, and you can safely neutralize it, you should have the right to take them down. I cannot recommend shooting into the air, but there are shotgun rounds that don't travel far.


...


In your article, it seems as if there is no room for other people to express their disagreement with your views.. You are basically insulting anyone who happens to be 'ignorant' and doesn't want an unknown drone flying over them. It seems as though there could be a misunderstanding about how many different reasons people might have to be uncomfortable about drones in their area, and rather than write them off, maybe consider that not everyone flies with the same motivations that you do, and maybe people have good reasons to not trust that all drones are benign.

Consider this -- many people are *way* behind the 'cutting edge' of technology. Believe it or not, there are large swaths of society who barely use the internet, or don't use it at all. I'm thinking specifically of elderly people and plain people like the Amish, etc..

If all you knew was that it was a flying robot, and you have no other education about it, how would you feel if you were out having a walk in the park with your family, or if you were in your back yard, or if you're "walking on the hills" and a drone appears out of nowhere. If I didn't know any better, my active imagination could suggest many things to me to explain what that thing is flying in the sky, and only some would be innocuous.

Now, consider all you know about drone technology. If you don't know who the pilot is or where they are, and a drone appears, it could be from anywhere, being flown by anyone, on any sort of mission. That is a lot of 'any' that our brains would fill in the gaps for, and I can think of some people I know whom I hope never get a drone, because I know they would use it for nuisance/violating purposes..


...


To me, currently, the biggest problem is congested airspace. This year, there will be x million people around the world receiving their new drone, and how many of them do you think will read all the rules, register their drones, and practice safely before taking off and seeing how high they can fly, with almost no thought about the flight paths of jets and the potential for disaster if one of these gets sucked into the intake?


All of this to say, I can identify with the apprehension people will have as drones become more commonplace. I think it is hasty to declare someone ignorant before realizing why they don't like your drone. You stated,

The facts are the vast majority of drone fliers are responsible people who go out of their way to be considerate and not risk their own hobby by bringing it into disrepute.

But, do you know this as a fact? In fact, I could refer you to dozens of communities online where people don't give a flip about the rules, and it's not just a hundred or so folks.. it is a lot of people around the country, globe. I won't refer you to them in the context, but the fact remains.

...

‘whoever was operating it, actually hovered it in the sky over our heads, presumably filming or viewing us’. Presumably? This is a huge assumption on which the whole article is based. And then to write about that in the public domain causing people to believe that that’s what it must have been doing is not right in my view. It may well have been watching the author, I’m not in a position to know. However it’s much more likely that it wasn’t. Even if one seems to be hovering nearby it’s most likely not looking at you but is more likely looking horizontally at the scene and the owner is likely checking exposure or focus before taking a picture you don’t feature in.

Is this really a 'huge assumption?' You say it's most likely not looking at you, but more likely looking horizontally.. but how can you make such a claim? You really have no idea what other pilots are doing. I fly around all the time looking down, filming folks who happen to be in the area where I'm flying, and so do many other people, and while there is nothing technically illegal about this in general, I have to always keep in my mind, "What would I be irritated by, if I were this person noticing this flying robot?"

...

I'm not motivated to respond to everything I disagree with in your post, but since you specifically asked for feedback, these are some of the most pertinent issues I thought to respond to.

On a final note, I vehemently disagree with anyone who uses the argument "well, we're being recorded everywhere we go anyway, so nobody should care if my camera records them also."

This very mindset is part of the reason we have allowed cameras to invade most public and many 'private' areas around the globe, and now children are growing up with the idea that they are always being recorded, which actually will have an inverse effect than what people are hoping for -- instead of making people more safe, children are growing up not caring about 'misbehaving' on camera, because the ever-present eye doesn't really seem connected to them. Today, most adults would at least think twice before doing something questionable if they know a camera is pointed at them. Tomorrow, people won't care.
 
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I don’t believe anyone has ever been killed or even injured by a hobby-grade drone.

You can find numerous examples online of people loading them with dangerous payloads, and being intercepted before they reach their target.. usually heads of state, that sort of thing.. it's good they have that kind of pre-emptive protection .. but what about when someone aims a killer drone at you?

There are also a lot of people who are equipping their drones with capabilities you haven't thought of yet. Most of your examples fall apart because they're based on faulty, incomplete assumptions.
 
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Thanks for the feedback. I do actually like to hear alternative viewpoints if they make sense and are reasonable as yours are. I do however firmly deny that my article has insulted anyone, no matter their level of knowledge of drones. In fact in my article where I mention the author making an assumption I specifically stated that maybe the drone they wrote about may well have been filming her, I’m not in a position to know. I merely said I thought it was unlikely. And I explained that the reason for this is that after looking at hundreds of YouTube videos in my research before buying my drone it seems most flyers are interested in using it for photography and videos. There’s always going to be exceptions of course and I don’t pretend that all drone owners are angels.

I wasn’t referring to heads of state and political figures and drones loaded with explosives and other payloads. This isn’t typical of recreational drone use which my scribble was referring to.
As for dismissing anyone with a different view as ignorant this is not the case at all. I accept and respect your points as you have thought it through and explained your reasoning and it all makes sense. I get that without the benefit of a certain degree of knowledge that people are likely to be sceptical. It's human nature as I already agreed with in my article. I just find it a bit of a jump from there to stating that they should all be shot down. I think that stating that publicly is a bit much without making some attempt to read up a bit more and at least try to understand the subject before airing such an extreme opinion.
 
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You're right, you weren't insulting. I misspoke there.

It's more of a perception of audacity, I think.. Like, "Sheesh, how could these people be so....?" As if it is so hard to understand why someone wouldn't "trust" an unknown flying object hovering nearby.

Why should anyone automatically have "trust" for a drone from an unknown source? I'm genuinely curious how you might answer this question.

negative attitudes and irrational hatred and distrust


It's not a matter of thinking you're interesting.. Or even thinking they're spying. I think it is the 'unknown' and the 'potential' that concerns most people.

In the nicest possible way and with the greatest respect, do you really think you’re that interesting that anyone would want to spy on you?
 
@Pilgrim Pilot as i said in my post#2 the problem we all face as drone pilots are the fear of the unknown, the negative media coverage of our pastime,and a lack of understanding of what a drone can or cannot do.
as i said people all react differently when they see a drone,most of them just ignore them and carry on with what they were doing some make comments on what they think a drone can do ,and others are genuinely interested and will approach the pilot and ask questions about the drone ,from our side of things we should be polite to peoples questions help them to understand what the drones camera can see and slowly the public will spread the word that not all drones or drone flyers are the enemy
 
Indeed.

people all react differently when they see a drone,most of them just ignore them and carry on with what they were doing some make comments on what they think a drone can do ,and others are genuinely interested and will approach the pilot and ask questions about the drone ,from our side of things we should be polite to peoples questions help them to understand
 
I find it amazing that not only are mobile phones ignored in regard to 'invading privacy' - but there are now adverts for snap-on telephoto lenses that advertise quite amazing 'zoom' facilities for the average smart-phone camera. These are actually advertised using example photo's showing how you can zoom in on beach sunbathers and people's windows! The protests against these are deafening!!! NOT ...
Just look at how the new IPhone 11 is being mass marketed. Triple lens on the camera with amazing zoom capability. How dare they create such an instrument of intrusion! ?
 
‘they’re an invasion of privacy, that’s my opinion and I won’t change it’

Some battles will never be won.
 
If you decide to publish your article, please go back and rewrite it. As you posted it, it contains large blocks of text that are formatted as a single paragraph when they should be written as several. As it is, it is very hard to read and your readers will notice the difference.

Also, consider avoiding being a case of 'the pot calling the kettle black'. The primary theme of your article seems to be about people forming extreme negative opinions of an activity based on ignorance. Your comment on firearms was exactly that. I found it to be very offensive and I'm there are many in the UK who will also be offended. The firearm reference adds nothing to your point.

Nick
 
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