Attitudes towards drones

[Django18]

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

I don't believe anyone should automatically have trust for a drone from an unknown source. I agree that you can't assume that it's innocent just because... However I do believe it's still unreasonable to say that because you don't know where it comes from that means it should be shot down. There's room for middle ground here. To give the benefit of the doubt and accept that many fliers out there have innocent reasons for using a drone. It's not automatically doing wrong just because I'm not familiar with it.

 

[Django18]

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.

I apologise if you found my comment on firearms to be offensive. It wasn't meant to be so. I have nothing against guns and didn't actually say that in what I wrote. I've been to my local target sports centre with my step son on a couple of occasions to use the shooting range with bolt action and semi-automatic rifles in controlled conditions and it's great fun. And I own a recurve bow for target archery. Ultimately firearms and bows/crossbows etc are designed to shoot things. In target shooting I wouldn't want to be the target! If I wanted to cause someone harm I'd choose a gun over a drone any day. It is ultimately destructive to shoot at anything, even if it's just a paper target. Although great fun and perfectly harmless if done responsibly or for the right reasons - animal population control and so on.

 

[ChrisOutdoors]

In the US and my personal experiences after several years of flying UAS' is that they're generally thought of as "cool" and not hated by the general public. Most people I encounter are fascinated and polite. I believe the "haters" are a tiny fraction of people who are very vocal and are using the web to voice they're unpopular opinions which makes it easy for us to find.

 

[The RAPier]

I have two points for the OP.
First, have you ever seen an animal react well to a drone? I have had dogs jump for it, birds dive around it , even bees swarm it. It is unnatural and many people have a similar visceral reaction.

Second, many years ago the drone, the military drone, came into existence. Why? To spy on the enemy, to fire or dive bomb an explosive at its often human target.
Now we need to realign people perception and it will be an uphill battle.
Drones for good, as someone said.
Good luck with your article.

 

[ChrisOutdoors]

I have two points for the OP.
First, have you ever seen an animal react well to a drone?

As someone who uses their UAS for filming wildlife, yes actually I have. Most look at it then go about their business. I have hours of footage to back this up. I'd say operator use/technique is the #1 factor in how wildlife react to your UAS. Being perceptive to subtle queues in animal behavior is also a strong must have.

 

[old man mavic]

I have two points for the OP.
First, have you ever seen an animal react well to a drone? I have had dogs jump for it, birds dive around it , even bees swarm it. It is unnatural and many people have a similar visceral reaction.

Second, many years ago the drone, the military drone, came into existence. Why? To spy on the enemy, to fire or dive bomb an explosive at its often human target.
Now we need to realign people perception and it will be an uphill battle.
Drones for good, as someone said.
Good luck with your article.

yes a dog will jump for it if it is 6ft up but not if it is at 150ft plus its all relative

 

[Robalot]

I have seen first happens when a dog sees a drone. I have a pit bull and a drone. I am an outcast from society. When he broke that leash I knew their was nothing I could do. I upgraded to a boat tie down for a leash.

 

[Icelandman]

Thank you for the article and your reply both of which I read with interest. I was flying my drone here in Iceland in the summer and some man picked up a stone and threw it at the drone. He missed and I asked him what the f... he was doing. He said he thought I was taking a photo of him (the drone was 10 metres or more away so would not have got a very clear picture anyway). I then pointed out that he had a camera and was I then allowed to throw rocks at that because I thought he was taking a photo of me? He walked off without saying anything, looked back once, tripped on a rock and fell in a ditch. Karma!

 

[anotherlab]

I have two points for the OP.
First, have you ever seen an animal react well to a drone? I have had dogs jump for it, birds dive around it , even bees swarm it. It is unnatural and many people have a similar visceral reaction.

I've seen wild animals just look at my drone and flat out ignore it. Mind you, they were deer. Not the smartest animal placed on this planet. Animals are going to treat a drone no differently than any other foreign object in their environment.

 

[anotherlab]

Thank you for the article and your reply both of which I read with interest. I was flying my drone here in Iceland in the summer and some man picked up a stone and threw it at the drone. He missed and I asked him what the f... he was doing. He said he thought I was taking a photo of him (the drone was 10 metres or more away so would not have got a very clear picture anyway). I then pointed out that he had a camera and was I then allowed to throw rocks at that because I thought he was taking a photo of me? He walked off without saying anything, looked back once, tripped on a rock and fell in a ditch. Karma!

You should have taken a picture of him in the ditch with your phone.

 

[old man mavic]

You should have taken a picture of him in the ditch with your phone.

or even better you drone

 

[Skywatcher2001]

This was/is a very good article. I spent nearly an hour reading all the comments and even the responsive ones made by Pilgrim Pilot which many I agree with. Reading is fundamental when gathering information, knowledge and wisdom. When reading someone's thoughts or intentions or emotions it becomes clouded and somewhat jaded because so much gets lost in translation.

The OP should be on a video chat type platform where ALL of our inflections, expressions and emotions can add context to the discussion.

 

[Pilgrim Pilot]

Both are exactly good points.

As soon as the drone approaches an animal and the animal realizes it is within their zone, they freak, 100% of the time.

Sure, if you film from 150 feet away, they just glance at it, but the reaction of sheer terror/excitement is consistent for any animal who hears and sees the buzzard.

First, have you ever seen an animal react well to a drone? I have had dogs jump for it, birds dive around it , even bees swarm it. It is unnatural and many people have a similar visceral reaction.

Second, many years ago the drone, the military drone, came into existence. Why? To spy on the enemy, to fire or dive bomb an explosive at its often human target.

 

[ChrisOutdoors]

Both are exactly good points.

As soon as the drone approaches an animal and the animal realizes it is within their zone, they freak, 100% of the time.

100% of the time you say? How much would you like to wager?

Technique is everything.

 

[old man mavic]

at 50ft high and some 100ft away downwind of my MPP its barely audable but i can hear it upwind at 200ft high and 100ft away as ChrisOutdoors said Technique is everything

 

[Skywatcher2001]

I think dogs react EXACTLY the same to a bird as they do a drone. From a distance the dog wishes both of them would come closer . . .

 

[ChrisOutdoors]

Fly in a non aggresive way and you'll get this reaction from most wildlife . Notice his front left foot is slighty out, I did and stopped the UAS here knowing this was the closest distance he was comfortable with.

 

[Dale D]

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.

As best as I could, I read through all of the comments, but found very few, if any, actually answering your question, which was, about the actual article. So in my opinion, although I agree most heavily with every single thing you said so eloquently, I would make an attempt to edit it down to a shorter article. Like our videos, almost nobody finishes watching them if they are too long.

Keep up the good fight!

 

[Paulf10]

Django 18, your article was extremely well written. Every point was made in a clear and logical way with excellent examples. I do hope your article gets published. Our hobby needs sound representation such as you expressed so eloquently. ??

 

[Cymruflyer]

I don't believe anyone should automatically have trust for a drone from an unknown source. I agree that you can't assume that it's innocent just because... However I do believe it's still unreasonable to say that because you don't know where it comes from that means it should be shot down. There's room for middle ground here. To give the benefit of the doubt and accept that many fliers out there have innocent reasons for using a drone. It's not automatically doing wrong just because I'm not familiar with it.

Depending on where you live, you might see small light aircraft flying around you on a daily basis, especially if there is a flight training facility at a local airport. They may be circling overhead practicing maneuvers and these too will be unknown aircraft overhead, but no one seems to be concerned about these strange craft. They are probably just as innocent as the drones that people may see over head and as for camera invasion, well Britain is inundated with video surveillance everywhere, yet most people never give a thought to that aspect of no privacy.

Also bear in mind that the Gatwick incident was never proved to be a drone since no evidence was ever shown to show a drone was in fact there. Therefore, this was a suspected or assumed case of a drone, not a definite idiot flying one over Gatwick, please bear that in mind. You will recall another British commercial flight that reported a drone passing them close by when in the end it turned out to be a plastic bag from Tescos, as I recall.