Dealing with spectators.....

[JoostGT3]

I have been very apprehensive of flying around people, as the places where I generally fly are rural areas where people enjoy quiet nature. So much to my surprise, all reaction so far have been of amazement and curiosity. Most people love it when I show them the vistas I get to see on the screen. One person gave me his card since he loved the view so much that he wanted me to send the hangar 360 pano and the youtube link.
Friendly people I love to show it, always happy to share and answer questions.
I had some people ask me "is it actually allowed to fly here?" When I started explaining that i could fly in that particular spot, but not over the nearby city, they told me "oh, since someone was flying a drone over our house lately...".
I'm a strong believer of being an ambassador, and so far, it has paid off.

 

[Nightowl702]

So far I have just had people look up at it when they notice it and keep on moving without saying anything. The one time I flew it at the nearest park it was early morning so there were not many people there. The only interaction I had was a lady walking her dog and telling me as she walked by that her dog wanted to eat my "toy". I was a bit surprised that she even saw it as I was up at 400 ft and constantly moving.

 

[BlakPhoenix]

I quite often have people come and talk to me. Most are positive about it, many have stories to tell of irresponsible pilots and wonder what the laws are, other wants to buy one themselves and just love how amazing the technology is. I'm yet to have people being abusive from the get go. Usually there's just lots of looks of wonder from afar.

 

[VK Mavic]

Most people I have came across are always fine with it and take in interest in it and ask questions which I'm happy to answer. I like to be friendly to keep them happy

I did have one guy though say "he would shoot it down" so I just brought it down and walked away. Grumpy old bugger that he was

 

[armyav8tor]

Only had one couple come up and the husband turned to the wife and said he's getting one. Otherwise everybody leaves me alone when I'm flying the Mavic mostly because they don't realize it's there.

 

[victor_lim]

question is, will u allow spectators to touch ur remote control?

 

[JMF]

I'm a pretty good multi-tasker, I don't mind spectators at all.

 

[Qoncussion]

question is, will u allow spectators to touch ur remote control?

Not a chance.

 

[dck22]

question is, will u allow spectators to touch ur remote control?

No way!

 

[JMF]

question is, will u allow spectators to touch ur remote control?

Nope !

 

[ZUCSTA]

question is, will u allow spectators to touch ur remote control?

Only my Mum .Lol ..My wife has her own now.

 

[ZUCSTA]

Spectators is a catch 22 in my book. Hover while talking is fine ,But it is risky to keep flying if your Distracted.

 

[dbyantis]

So you take your drone out to a field/park etc and start a flight - suddenly you have kids running to you, or others popping over to either grumble or ask what you're doing.

I don't mind them asking, but also like to concentrate on my flight and getting some shots etc.

How do you generally deal with spectators?
Do you stop for a chat? Chat while you fly? Or ignore?! lol

Any spectator stories to share?

I found that showing them the display of the camera, is enlightening, like "I thought it would look closer", not an NSA magnified satellite. I enjoy showing off my toy, so it doesn't bug me.

 

[victor_lim]

dont really like something distract me...almost crash one time becoz of tis, perhaps im a bad multitasker

 

[Garuda]

question is, will u allow spectators to touch ur remote control?

Wouldn´t allow any spectator touch anything, not even my private parts.

 

[locoman]

dont really like something distract me...almost crash one time becoz of tis, perhaps im a bad multitasker

I did crash mine once, trying to show off and be cute. Got off pretty easy, only a couple broken props. Haven't done that again. Wouldn't let anyone fly mine. If they want to fly, they can spend their own $1,000.

 

[BigAl07]

I always try and answer questions and give them flight demonstrations. There are several reasons to be up front and welcoming to spectators and the like. For one you never know who in that group might be influenced by your actions.

Case in point: In 1974 my father took me to a small flying field (cow pasture with a strip mowed as a runway... they literally had to avoid cow patties LOL) where we had seen R/C aircraft flying previously. We got out and walked over to the area where a man had just launched his R/C Airplane. I watched him fly it in total AWE and had to know more. I'm sure you can imagine how much this impressed me at age 4.

He landed the aircraft and taxied it over just a few feet in front of me. He came over and spent at least 30 minutes showing me the aircraft, the controls, and explaining how it all worked. That single day literally laid the foundation for where I am today. Today I have over 40 years of UAS experience and I own a UAS company and bring in 6 figure income (and it's not a full time job). I get to "work" doing something I love and make $$ doing this. It's almost not fair to call it work LOL.

To this day I remember that first man's name (Al Skipper) but I can't tell you what I had for lunch 2 days ago LOL.

So remember those people are mostly there because they are impressed and interested in what you're doing and it's a compliment to you. You are an ambassador for our whole community and every chance we get to make a POSITIVE impression we should. We need as much GOOD/POSITIVE publicity as we can get because 99% of what you hear from the media is BAD press for our industry.

Allen

 

[smurfslayer]

I really owe my interest in the drone hobby to some amiable drone flyers i met a few years ago flying the brand new at the time P2 visions. I was riding by on my motorcycle and spotted them in a park, and thought I’d seen a hawk or something. On the way back, I saw they were still there and I know that hawks don’t hover, so I stopped to chat. They graciously offered to speak with me about the aircraft and illustrate what they were capable of. I remember being quite impressed ... then I checked out the price... :-( Now a few years later I’m enjoying n00b drone ownership.

The gentlemen who spent time explaining stuff and what not were fantastic ambassadors of the sport and I would encourage that sort of approach at least to start. Sure, it’s kind of like having a dog everyone wants to pet, or similar and certainly there will be times to pay close attention to what you’re doing, but not all spectators are bad.

 

[Donunder]

I'll put money on that poor guy not being a perv. Probably just enjoying his hobby like you when someone saw him, the kids playing nearby and put 2 and 2 together coming up with 5. Think you dodged a bullet by forgetting that record button my friend!

Yeah I think most people overestimate the camera capabilities on consumer level drones. You'd really struggle to do any "perving" with it to be quite frank.

 

[AnzacJack]

Yeah I think most people overestimate the camera capabilities on consumer level drones. You'd really struggle to do any "perving" with it to be quite frank.

Yep. Until we can strap a gigapixle camera underneath