I had my first negative encounter last week with someone regarding me flying. About two months ago we got some new neighbors that rented the house next door. Not long after they moved in I was flying out in the front yard one day and I head the wife (neighbor) talking to a friend that was visiting her about me flying my drone and wasn't she afraid of me trying to spy on them. (I wasn't trying to eaves drop on them, they were just really loud and I was probably 50 feet away from where they were at so you couldn't help but hear.) Anyway the Wife (girl next door) told her friend that she wasn't worried about me because a friend of hers had a drone and he was flying outside of his yard spying on people and the "Gubment" took control of it while he was flying it outside his property and flew it away and he never got it back. (Ok stop your laughing because I know you are because I thought I was going to die laughing when I heard them say that.) So anyway they finally walked over to ask me about it and I explained it all to them and how it worked and even let them watch the video and showed them how even if someone wanted to spy on them they would have to be flying pretty dang close to the windows of the house to see inside and if that was the case they would know it was happening. Anyway, they went on their way satisfied that I wasn't doing anything but flying around for fun, which is exactly what I do at the house.
Let me preface the next part by saying that I own my house, the two acres it is on, and 6 more acres adjacent to the back of my house. Next door (opposite side of my neighbor) is 23 acres of wooded area owned by a defunct Sand and Gravel company of which a high school best friend of mine manages (and has given me permission to fly over), behind the 6 acre tract I own in the back, my cousin owns 7 acres (where I have permission to fly) and then across the road from that tract I have a friend who use to work for Parrot who owns 16 acres where he has given me permission to fly. So in total I have like 54 acres where I can fly. So why would I ever even care to fly over the next door neighbors yard, and I don't. The other thing I have to preface is that I live in a very rural area. When it gets dark, it is DARK. No street lights anywhere.
So this past week they had changed some lighting over where my brother works about 2 miles from the house, on the other side of the 23 acres of woods next door. They went from old high pressure sodium to LED and he had told me they were going to light up the world. I wanted to see what it looked like from the air, so I sat down on my front door steps just after twilight and popped the Mavic straight up from my front yard to just over tree height so I could take a peek. I left it in a hover there for about 15 minutes and then I hear some guy next door (visiting the neighbor) talking with the guy next door (neighbor) about my drone flying. Then he gets out a flashlight and starts shining it at me and then at the drone. He (the visitor) goes on and on over there talking and telling the neighbor that I was over there filming them and taking pictures and it was invading their privacy and it was illegal and they could call the police and I could get arrested, and on and on and on.
Just ignored them and when I was finished flying I brought the Mavic back down and walked out into the yard to pick it up and as I was on the way to the door this guy starts yelling at me across the yard. He starts yelling at me that he wants copies of those pictures I took and I was invading their privacy and he was going to call the law. Well I started to just walk into the house and ignore him but I was afraid he would come into the yard and to the door and at that point I might have to bring something out he didn't want to see. So I told him exactly what I was doing (looking at lights on the other side of the woods). Well he kept on and on, NO you were taking our pictures, invading our privacy. So then I try to explain to him that it was pitch dark, and even if I was trying to take their picture (and I wasn't) that I couldn't do it because the camera just wasn't capable of doing that. Then he called me a liar. Said he had a drone and he knew what they were capable of doing. Which I am thinking at this point that this guy can't even spell drone must less have one because if he had one he would know you can't do what he was saying I was doing unless you had something really high end (which he definitely couldn't afford).
Anyway in the end I just walked into the house and shut the door. Which I was in the yard the following day and I heard them over there arguing about it amongst themselves but I didn't get into it.
So that was my first negative encounter.
Let me preface the next part by saying that I own my house, the two acres it is on, and 6 more acres adjacent to the back of my house. Next door (opposite side of my neighbor) is 23 acres of wooded area owned by a defunct Sand and Gravel company of which a high school best friend of mine manages (and has given me permission to fly over), behind the 6 acre tract I own in the back, my cousin owns 7 acres (where I have permission to fly) and then across the road from that tract I have a friend who use to work for Parrot who owns 16 acres where he has given me permission to fly. So in total I have like 54 acres where I can fly. So why would I ever even care to fly over the next door neighbors yard, and I don't. The other thing I have to preface is that I live in a very rural area. When it gets dark, it is DARK. No street lights anywhere.
So this past week they had changed some lighting over where my brother works about 2 miles from the house, on the other side of the 23 acres of woods next door. They went from old high pressure sodium to LED and he had told me they were going to light up the world. I wanted to see what it looked like from the air, so I sat down on my front door steps just after twilight and popped the Mavic straight up from my front yard to just over tree height so I could take a peek. I left it in a hover there for about 15 minutes and then I hear some guy next door (visiting the neighbor) talking with the guy next door (neighbor) about my drone flying. Then he gets out a flashlight and starts shining it at me and then at the drone. He (the visitor) goes on and on over there talking and telling the neighbor that I was over there filming them and taking pictures and it was invading their privacy and it was illegal and they could call the police and I could get arrested, and on and on and on.
Just ignored them and when I was finished flying I brought the Mavic back down and walked out into the yard to pick it up and as I was on the way to the door this guy starts yelling at me across the yard. He starts yelling at me that he wants copies of those pictures I took and I was invading their privacy and he was going to call the law. Well I started to just walk into the house and ignore him but I was afraid he would come into the yard and to the door and at that point I might have to bring something out he didn't want to see. So I told him exactly what I was doing (looking at lights on the other side of the woods). Well he kept on and on, NO you were taking our pictures, invading our privacy. So then I try to explain to him that it was pitch dark, and even if I was trying to take their picture (and I wasn't) that I couldn't do it because the camera just wasn't capable of doing that. Then he called me a liar. Said he had a drone and he knew what they were capable of doing. Which I am thinking at this point that this guy can't even spell drone must less have one because if he had one he would know you can't do what he was saying I was doing unless you had something really high end (which he definitely couldn't afford).
Anyway in the end I just walked into the house and shut the door. Which I was in the yard the following day and I heard them over there arguing about it amongst themselves but I didn't get into it.
So that was my first negative encounter.
