Drone vs Dog

[zoomie]

No, they didn't hit each other.

As the obese woman tries to catch her breath after that 100' walk approaching her car with her 5 dogs, she yells at me with the Mavic not even 25' in the air, "Do you know those scare the **** out of dogs?". She follows up by saying, "This is supposed to be a peaceful place". As if the shooting range nearby isn't worse? Pow Pow Pow. I can still hear it as I reply, "This is the only legal place in San Francisco to fly. But I'll take it down. Just so you know." As she opens her mouth again, I interrupt, "I'm taking it down." She continues to jibber jabber, "It's very obnoxious," as I'm clearly taking the drone down to the parking lot. I take into consideration that she made the trip out here to have the dogs defecate in a place that isn't people's lawns, but does she do this daily? Maybe I should give her the benefit of the doubt. Still annoying.

A few things:
1. I get it, but you can't hear the drone nearly as loudly when it's 300' in the air. Perhaps she's used to the toy drones. Someone must've pissed her off the last time she saw a drone/quadcopter.
2. She was clearly leaving. The area wasn't cluttered with dogs. I picked a place that didn't have dogs nearby as I recognized she was heading towards the parking lot.
3. Does she really think that I don't know that she lets her 5 dogs do their business all over people's front yards when she's not making her trip up to Fort Funston? Don't even get me started about how many people get dogs in the City knowing their plan is to have their dogs urinate and defecate all over people's lawns. Guess what? If you don't live near a dog park, you don't have the luxury of owning a dog. Too many people think it's their right to do this and do that. Over sense of entitlement getting worse the past 15 years here.
4. Is she even a local?

My response by taking the drone down was more out of courtesy, acknowledging that this is a social issue. It's not a legal problem. Perhaps I should've brought the drone up higher and used this whole event as an opportunity to educate her on the volume decreasing as the drone goes up in altitude. With my kid sleeping in the car, I wasn't really in the mood to teach a stranger or get in a big fight.

 

[CamoGreg]

People are stupid around the world..... looks like we have the same ignorants....

I remember a guy saying to me that if police will see me I will receive a bill.... I asked him for which reason and he didn't know..... pfffffffff

 

[zoomie]

I respect that people have to share common space. It'll become more and more of a challenge as the City grows and I don't see SF getting any new open space anytime soon. Even if they do, it'll belong to the SF Park and Rec who are confused about their own regulations and being approached or not by a regulatory official for flying is a hit or miss.

SF is known for having more dogs than children. I don't see that changing anytime soon either. According to the New York Times earlier this year, SF has the lowest percentage of children out of the 100 largest cities in the US. The Animal Care and Control department of SF estimates 120k dogs in the City and the high end of the estimate for babies is 113k.

Guess we all just have to learn to get along with dogs. It's usually not the dogs I have a problem with. It's many of their owners. Don't get me wrong, I have plenty of friends and family with dogs, but even with them I have issue when they plan to have their animal pee and poo in people's yards.

 

[geigy]

Sorry you went through this. Unfortunately a lot of people don't get it, even dog owners who are generally more tolerant because they and their dogs are excluded from many parks and recreational areas. Doesn't always work that way, unfortunately. Glad you tried to be cooperative and calm things down - many people would not do this.

 

[GP-Mavic]

To piggy back on this... I was out flying my Mavic yesterday at a local park doing waypoints about 150 feet up and practicing panorama shots. A few people came over to watch amazed that the drone was following a pre-selected path. On it's way back another Mavic appeared piloted by a kid and young adult. He was flying low to the ground like he was playing a video game almost hitting a couple of people walking down a nearby path. One of the spectators near me asked, " Why can't you fly like that?" I told him that what that kid was doing was mostly illegal since he was flying recklessly and too close to people, and that it was behavior like that which will get drone flying banned from the park. I doubt he has read any FAA rules regarding flying so I'll print out a few copies and give him one if I see him again. Doubt it will do any good, but I'll try.

 

[PT_Mavic]

San Francisco is utterly screwed up, full of self-centered balloonheads and leftist as all get-out. I remember when it used to be nice and people got along.
That was a long time ago; being over 1,000 miles from it now feels about right.

It'll be interesting if that new Millennium Tower falls down, though.

 

[Flying Images]

Wow I've never had negative people. Usually people are curious. What annoys me is everyone asks how much? One guy asked how good my p2 was for spying. I said it's loud and has blinking lights. A camera on a pole would be more successful.

 

[Maxheadspace]

I try to be as stealthy as I can. Which is why I really like the little Mavic. If they don't see where it takes off and lands, they can't complain to the operator. I've had a few brushes with ###holes, but usually very brief encounters.

 

[geigy]

San Francisco is utterly screwed up, full of self-centered balloonheads and leftist as all get-out. I remember when it used to be nice and people got along.
That was a long time ago; being over 1,000 miles from it now feels about right.

It'll be interesting if that new Millennium Tower falls down, though.

Oh please, it's been hippies and queers since I came out here in the late 60's, and I love it that way.

Wow I've never had negative people. Usually people are curious. What annoys me is everyone asks how much? One guy asked how good my p2 was for spying. I said it's loud and has blinking lights. A camera on a pole would be more successful.

By far, most people are polite and curious, and I try to be patient.

People are very chatty when I'm concentrating on steering a straight line, coming in off a mile of ocean on 20 percent battery after the wind has shifted, LOL.
|
|Nearly all of them want to know how much it cost. I'm embarrassed to tell them it's a thou because that's a lot of scratch for most people.

 

[zoomie]

This whole issue about how to respond when people ask how much is interesting. Maybe deserves a new thread. My other hobby is riding a recumbent trike. People ask how much those are too and yup, they're pretty pricy. I usually respond by telling them briefly how much entry ones cost, mid range and then high end. Only after they understand the context do I tell them where mine fits in. If I just blurt out a number, it doesn't really mean anything in context to the market. They would otherwise just compare it to what it means to them. e.g. a year's worth of coffee, their kid's monthly day care, etc that aren't relevant.

Electric scooters/bikes/ice chests are the same way. Most people don't understand the cost of batteries. Try telling them our Mavic batteries cost $80-90 and see how they respond. Haha. We don't want to give them the whole 10 minute lecture (nor would they want to hear it), but I think for our sake and theirs, we should probably brief them before saying a number.

 

[McToddy]

Shouldn't this thread be labelled "Drone vs Dog Owner"? (It would definitely be more intriguing.)

I was just checking in to see who won.

I got 4 dogs (3 pit mixes, and a Sheppard mix). They're curious about the drone if I'm doing test flights in the yard. (They are restricted behind a dog fence to keep them and the drone safe.)

I've been lucky -- some of the places I fly are also used by hikers with dogs and no one has complained. But then, I try to be low key and try to have the drone at distance or altitude if dogs/people come near me.

More recently, the concern of birds swooping in on my drone came to note when I was flying near some beach cliffs. (I had to evade a couple of pesky seagulls)

 

[zoomie]

Shouldn't this thread be labelled "Drone vs Dog Owner"? (It would definitely be more intriguing.)

I was just checking in to see who won.

I got 4 dogs (3 pit mixes, and a Sheppard mix). They're curious about the drone if I'm doing test flights in the yard. (They are restricted behind a dog fence to keep them and the drone safe.)

I've been lucky -- some of the places I fly are also used by hikers with dogs and no one has complained. But then, I try to be low key and try to have the drone at distance or altitude if dogs/people come near me.

More recently, the concern of birds swooping in on my drone came to note when I was flying near some beach cliffs. (I had to evade a couple of pesky seagulls)

True, but figured "Dog" would be more fun and it rolls off the tongue better. The dog won. I had forfeit. Funny that you say, "keep your drones safe." I wish that lady thought the same.

I just say its worth more than my car on the few occasions ive been asked.

Haha, my car's got 233k miles on it. Sooner or later I'll be in the same boat.

 

[McToddy]

Funny that you say, "keep your drones safe"

Yeah, cuz my drones aren't $1000 chew toys!!!

 

[zoomie]

Thought this was suitable to post. Another overweight woman with a dog and an attitude has conflict with a drone (quadcopter actually). She steals it and blames the pilots for almost hitting her when she's the one who walked 100ft towards the quad to take it! Hides it under her shirt and talks all this smack. All recorded. Hillarious:

 

[forumboy007]

Thought this was suitable to post. Another overweight woman with a dog and an attitude has conflict with a drone (quadcopter actually). She steals it and blames the pilots for almost hitting her when she's the one who walked 100ft towards the quad to take it! Hides it under her shirt and talks all this smack. All recorded. Hillarious:

Can't believe I just spent 16 minutes watching that...I must say, that guy had ALOT of patience...I would have been a lot less patient about it...Yep, I'm a gym rat, yep, I'm covered in sleeve Tattoo's, and while I'm very kind and humble, I tend to overreact when dealing with idiots...friends call it roid rage, I just call it "I won't tolerate your ****!"

 

[saboken]

Thought this was suitable to post. Another overweight woman with a dog and an attitude has conflict with a drone (quadcopter actually). She steals it and blames the pilots for almost hitting her when she's the one who walked 100ft towards the quad to take it! Hides it under her shirt and talks all this smack. All recorded. Hillarious:

She was definitely off her meds!

 

[Maxheadspace]

Thought this was suitable to post. Another overweight woman with a dog and an attitude has conflict with a drone (quadcopter actually). She steals it and blames the pilots for almost hitting her when she's the one who walked 100ft towards the quad to take it! Hides it under her shirt and talks all this smack. All recorded. Hillarious:

I agree to try to inform people when they have questions or concerns, but it's clear this woman was out to get you. No amount of being kind or informative would change her attitude. Filing a complaint of theft against her would have more impact and ensure it doesn't happen again.