Crazy Neighbor and my Drone

[Deleted member 148928]

MMmm..... While not quite the same, it is just like the RV Park I'm staying at the moment... I always ask if I can fly where I am. The owner of the RV Park responded, in a rather ugly tone, that Drones fly over the RV Park belong to people looking to STEAL. Really....just like the lady that wanted the band to turn down the volume because it "looked loud"....

 

[cgmaxed]

I was recently approached by one of my neighbors that lives about 1000 feet away from me just down the road. He came to my front door and told me to stop flying over the top of his house. I don't know this person so I am dealing with a perfect stranger. I just want to mention that we live in the country and there are open fields both in front and back of my house. I usually fly in the front field with no problems. He informs me that I was looking at his kids in their back yard swimming pool at his house. If I don't stop flying over his house he will call the police.
I told him that I have not been do such thing but I would check my flight logs to be sure. I did check my logs and sure enough I had not even once come near his property. I told him that I am flying legally and then asked him to leave. He was quite an aggressive neighbor. My wife says to me that I should go and see him at his door and inform him that I have not flown over the top of his house but I think that I just don't want to get into another war. He never did call the police but I was ready with my flight logs if need be What would you do. Go see the neighbor with the flight logs or leave things alone. Any advice or opinion would be appreciated. Thank You Mr Mint

DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT GOING NEAR HIM OR WALKING ONTO HIS PROPERTY TO TALK. It will give him more firepower against you. If you wanted to escalate the situation (maybe you shouldn't), but if, file a report with police before he does. Tell them he is accusing you of flying a drone over his house, threatening you and give them a copy of the flight logs, so the cops can file them into record. If he claims any certain dates that you flew over his house, the logs will show you didn't. If your in the USA, it's not illegal to take a flight path over his house. Turn your cell phone camera video recorder on, if he ever comes to your house again. Call the cops before you even open the door. This guy is probably dangerous, and not very bright, considering he was willing to confront you on your own property. Eventually, if he bothers you again, you can file a restraining order.

 

[cgmaxed]

I personally don't have problems with my neighbors anymore. Everyone on my particular street knows me. Initially, the drone freaked them out. But once they knew it was me and they got to know me by talking or rumor, they all just left me alone to do what I do. I make it a point not to fly over backyards and pools, Even though i've passed over them, when going to a certain location, but I was going about 35mph, so it didn't look like i was spying. Most don't notice anyway, when I just buzz over there house. They only see the drone for a few seconds and it's gone.

 

[vindibona1]

The problem is people see too many movies and think your drone can zoom in and see anything close up and spy on them.
I would just let it go, avoid his property and fly as high as you can to reduce the drone noise.

We better be careful. They'll want to ban your "assault drone" next if it can take more than 10 pictures at a time.

 

[cgmaxed]

The copy know all about me. They have seen me flying from time to time and some of this is above their office. I first showed it to one of them that had purchased some property from me. He said the rest of them need to see this drone is it was quite impressive and the camera view was something else. I finally showed him how to operate the drone and let him fly. Since that time 3 other cops have shown up wanting to see the thing. They tell me drone operation is not even in their blue book and anything not in the book they could care less about. One of them even told me he has had complaints about the air ambulance helicopter flying over houses before. I would make myself known to the local police like I have.

Speaking of being well known to the local police, I am definitely known and not just for the drone. But whenever someone complains to the police about me flying the drone, they tell them them there is nothing illegal that, I the drone pilot, is doing. The police also tell them not to harass or threaten me, as they would be breaking the law, not me.

 

[hiflyer201]

My neighbor told my gardener that she thought that I had a drone and that I would be able to see her in her back yard, I told my gardener to tell her that I said that was the reason I bought the drone ...I'm on good terms with my neighbor it has never come up in our many conversations but it did get me thinking about that kind of situation. I thought and I thought and I don't have an answer. Fly quiet and fly high over populated areas is about the only thing you can do until everyone has a drone and I'm pretty sure that could happen.

 

[DARKSeifer]

Well, that's the point of having all the permits and certifications up to date, let him call the police once and end of story.

Once a crazy woman came with his car to my front door and started yelling at me, but I didn't even had time to land before she went away. Later I discovered she lives in a house at about 100 meters or so, but never came back... and it's been 150hours of flight since then XDD

When you fly drones expect this to happen, just stay calm and let them call the cops (or call them yourself), if you have all the permits and certifications and are flying more or less legally you'll be fine.

That's why I love Long Range flights, you never get assaulted like that.

PS: The trick with if you fly from your home is to climb to top altitude (120m) right after take off, then move 200m out of the way and just fly normally in a 200-500 meters range from your house. When you are coming back do the same, never come back at low altitude, increase the altitude to 120m and then just go down right over your propriety.

The people that will come to you is the people you have in a radius of 200 meters or so, past that they'll just don't know where the drone came from, so 200 to 500 meters is the "safe" VLOS radius, specially for little drones like the Mini 2.

 

[Mr Mint]

Wow, I am really amazed at the amount of experience that all of you drone pilots have when it comes to the public. People that do not fly a drone don't really understand what a drone and the laws are all about. Now I will give you people one more comment that my crazy neighbor told me that I wanted to start to laugh but this guy was serious. He said to me during his discussion that he had controlled air space around the perimeter of his property up to a height of 50 meters and that I could not fly through that controlled air space. I could not believe what he was saying to me I corrected him on that comment and he slammed me down verbally for not believing him That was when I know I was dealing with some kind of nut case. I hope that if he ever does call the police on me, I think that the cops might suspect that this guy is a nut case. Anyways, I stay clear of his property and I fly high. What a world we live in.
I want to thank you people that have made your comments to me and I really do appreciate the advice. Are there any more comments ? Than You Mr Mint (Air 2s)

 

[Tufargon]

I was at a garage yesterday installing my train horns in my truck. So me and the receptionist were talking and we started talking about drones. She said her friend saw a drone around her property and she thought it was spying on her. The receptionist then started going off on drones on how they spy on people. So then she says "I read somewhere that if it's over your property that you can shoot it down because we own the air above our homes". We then spent the next half hour educating her. Don't know where she read that but I told her it's a felony with possible huge fine and even possibility of jail. She appreciated me letting her know. I think her friend had the gun ready for next time.

 

[A.O.]

Wow, I am really amazed at the amount of experience that all of you drone pilots have when it comes to the public. People that do not fly a drone don't really understand what a drone and the laws are all about. Now I will give you people one more comment that my crazy neighbor told me that I wanted to start to laugh but this guy was serious. He said to me during his discussion that he had controlled air space around the perimeter of his property up to a height of 50 meters and that I could not fly through that controlled air space. I could not believe what he was saying to me I corrected him on that comment and he slammed me down verbally for not believing him That was when I know I was dealing with some kind of nut case. I hope that if he ever does call the police on me, I think that the cops might suspect that this guy is a nut case. Anyways, I stay clear of his property and I fly high. What a world we live in.
I want to thank you people that have made your comments to me and I really do appreciate the advice. Are there any more comments ? Than You Mr Mint (Air 2s)

So does his property border yours do you share a property line?

 

[DARKSeifer]

As someone said, sharing local photos of the sunsets of your town on Instagram helps to spread the word.

I'm a photographer and I did that since day one and the drone's account it's quite popular in the area, even the town council usually uses them to promote tourism.

So now when someone sees the drone instead of freak out they think that it's just taking landscape photos (which is in fact what I do XD).

 

[Mr Mint]

No I do not share a property line I would not want to have this guy live so close to me. He is about 1000 feet down the street from me, I kind of like the idea of maybe posting some photos on Facebook, just to see the reaction of what people think about the photos This could be interesting Any other comments?

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

but I have documented everything

Including this thread, it shows your concern and desire to live harmoniously with your neighbours.

If you have a community Facebook page, the photo post of the local area or landscape / sunset etc would be fine, from great distance, no detail of homes etc . . . taken legally.
See what sort of reaction you get, hopefully positive comments.

 

[AVLJMA]

I was recently approached by one of my neighbors that lives about 1000 feet away from me just down the road. He came to my front door and told me to stop flying over the top of his house. I don't know this person so I am dealing with a perfect stranger. I just want to mention that we live in the country and there are open fields both in front and back of my house. I usually fly in the front field with no problems. He informs me that I was looking at his kids in their back yard swimming pool at his house. If I don't stop flying over his house he will call the police.
I told him that I have not been do such thing but I would check my flight logs to be sure. I did check my logs and sure enough I had not even once come near his property. I told him that I am flying legally and then asked him to leave. He was quite an aggressive neighbor. My wife says to me that I should go and see him at his door and inform him that I have not flown over the top of his house but I think that I just don't want to get into another war. He never did call the police but I was ready with my flight logs if need be What would you do. Go see the neighbor with the flight logs or leave things alone. Any advice or opinion would be appreciated. Thank You Mr Mint

I think that you have handled it correctly so far. Not knowing your neighbor or his disposition, I would almost be tempted to invite him over to witness a flight or look at the fight logs...or maybe even get him interested in the hobby. Again, I am not sure how contentious your interaction was BUT may that is an option.

 

[JackL]

I was flying from an oceanside parking lot and a woman walked by and said"I hate those expletive things,I don't even know what they are!"Ignorance breeds contempt.

I've taken a bunch of snide comments from people on Twitter, quite laughably trying to use droner as a slur, but in real life no one seems to care and when I do talk about them with people and show some video they are always blown away and want to go buy one. South Florida is like that though. Other areas are definitely going to be different

 

[JackL]

I have 3, one out to 300 yards!

I have got to move! Nearly everyone in Florida can do that except folks in the two stupid counties I live in.

 

[Joethedrone]

Just one more thing that I forgot to mention and that is I am somewhat nervous about this crazy neighbor and I am sure he will be spreading a lot of bad fake stories about me to a lot of people in the village. I suspect I will be known as the Man with the Drone. I really don't feel comfortable about this aspect. Any further comments? Thanks Mr Mint

What others think about you ain’t your problem, it’s theirs. Happy flying,

 

[lilewis]

Your flight log is NONE of his business!! I'd show him nothing!

It's MY business and it's my decision to make. Since I have no interest in having issues with neighbors who might misunderstand what I'm doing, I prefer to be transparent and attempt put put them at ease. If you prefer to be confrontational with your neighbors - that's your decision and is fine with me. Good luck!

 

[Mr Mint]

With regards to the most recent posting, I have to say that I do not want to be confrontational with this crazy neighbor.. He is the one that came to my front door and dropped a bomb before I had much to say. Things did escalate and then he left. The strangest thing that I found so funny out of all of this experience is when he told me that his has a No FLy Zone around the perimeter of his up to a height of 50 meters. When I tried to correct him on that point he just told me that he doesn't want to hear any legal stuff. I was serious with him but my comments didn't seem to mean any thing to him. Just to say the least life goes on and I still continue to fly legally. Thanks for the comments and any other comments are greatly appreciated. Thank You Mr Mint

 

[The Kid]

After reading all of these wonderful postings, I see that some people feel that my problems may not be over with. I see from some people that it might be suggested to attend future town meetings as well as maybe seeking ,as I see it, some advice from the local police force Any further comments ? Thank you very much Mr Mint

My suggestion is to let sleeping dogs lie! Going to the town meeting just could open a can of worms.....like, passing a local ordinance banning the use of drone within the city limits, etc. I *would* make a report to local law enforcement about the neighbor's actions at your door. Explaining to law enforcement before hand, about rules, registration of your bird, the legalities of flying and operating , the registration of your craft, etc., can help when a disenchanted neighbor makes a complaint.