Flying in your own neighborhood

[Nosebump]

The only adverse reaction received was a neighbor who moons me whenever I fly over his back yard. It’s all done in fun, and everyone laughed when I told them I didn’t see any leaves in THAT gutter! As long as I fly responsibly in my neighborhood, everything will be golden.

 

[drakkor]

Do you fly in your own neighborhood and have you had your neighbor watch or ask about your drone?

We have a neighbor watch here, and I often got asked to send my drone to investigate something suspicious, and/or collect evidences, which I then provide to the police for their investigation. So the whole neighborhood here love the idea to have a drone flying around their houses, like if it was some kind of safety mini-patrol.

 

[dbyantis]

Do you fly in your own neighborhood and have you had your neighbor watch or ask about your drone?

Only fly close to home to test setting changes, otherwise, I drive about a mile to an open park. I avoid flying with people around, they are usually just curious and inquisitive, which is good when I feel chatty instead of flying (never).

 

[SkyDogII]

My friendly neighbors call the police on me.

 

[Oliver Collin]

I live in suburb of Los Angeles in the San Fernando Valley.
I try to fly at least twice a day and launch from my drone port located on top of my office/converted Garage.
I fly at about 115 to 175 feet above ground.
There is a flight restricted boundary about 100 feet west of my house. So these days I fly to the East and South.
Yes I do fly over people's houses. The neighbors that know I have a drone (Actually three of them,) don't complain because I get along with everyone, However, there was some postings on Nextdoor.COM that complained about a drone snooping possibly scouting locations for burglary. The original poster was within my patrol area. I immediately identified myself as the drone operator and assured everyone that was following that thread that I was not up to nefarious activities. I also posted my FAA registration number and phone number and invited anyone with concerns to contact me if they wanted. No one has.

 

[DrBoost]

My neighborhood has a facebook group I'm part of. I posted on that group to let the neighbors know I have a drone and that I might, on a rare occasion (it's happened twice in 4 years) fly in the neighborhood. I explained I'm not spying and that I mean no harm. I invited anyone that sees the drone to come on down to my place to have a look first hand. Nobody has taken me up on that, but I got a lot of positive responses from the post.

 

[Flagpole]

Flying in my neighborhood is exactly why I want a drone. I want to check for stuff people throw out that I can "rescue" and fix as way too much stuff goes in the landfill. I live in a City and want to fly up and down the alleys between backyards. Do you think this is doable? I was going to get a Mavic Mini for Xmas but am worried about the issues people have been reporting.
Thanks

 

[Delmarksman]

I am very fortunate in that I am off of the beaten path and mostly surrounded by farmland, though I do have immediate neighbors to my right and left. The first thing I did, before getting my license or drone was to approach the farmers who own the land and my immediate neighbors to discuss my plans for flying in the future.

I am a First Responder for the State Emergency Management and State DOT outside of my normal working hours where I do Civil Engineering reviews. The State has paid for all of my training and testing for the FAA 107 and further though our Fire School, additional Pilot Training for everything from the basics through management of accident scenes to search and rescue, FLIR and night time.

To get fully certified as a Pilot for the state, there are many qualifications, both for testing and continued requirements for flight hours per month. So, all of that said, I wanted to let everyone know that, with their permission, I would be flying locally, a lot...
And fortunately, no one had any issues, so this is where I get to fly, at home.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Flying in my neighborhood is exactly why I want a drone. I want to check for stuff people throw out that I can "rescue" and fix as way too much stuff goes in the landfill. I live in a City and want to fly up and down the alleys between backyards. Do you think this is doable? I was going to get a Mavic Mini for Xmas but am worried about the issues people have been reporting.
Thanks

Restoring items is very reqarding for sure, I love making things useful again.
Working with wood, metal, glass (my trade).

The Mavic Mini might be of limited use, the cameras on these things don't show up a lot of detail until very close, especially if using a phone screen.
Even an ipad type device it's hard sometimes to see people from a few hundered feet up.
Maybe a M2Z with the zoom would manage to see things better.

But you will need a reasonable flying height (needed especially for the mini wifi), or you will lose connection very fast if not in LOS, coupled with urban wifi interfereance.
You'd be better scouting from a height, then walking the alleys etc when you spot a pile of 'rubbish'.

If you did fly low enough to see 'stuff' on the ground, you will most likely upset someone in the local homes !!
And probably with good reason as people won't be aware of your good intentions.

 

[Flagpole]

Restoring items is very reqarding for sure, I love making things useful again.
Working with wood, metal, glass (my trade).

The Mavic Mini might be of limited use, the cameras on these things don't show up a lot of detail until very close, especially if using a phone screen.
Even an ipad type device it's hard sometimes to see people from a few hundered feet up.
Maybe a M2Z with the zoom would manage to see things better.

But you will need a reasonable flying height (needed especially for the mini wifi), or you will lose connection very fast if not in LOS, coupled with urban wifi interfereance.
You'd be better scouting from a height, then walking the alleys etc when you spot a pile of 'rubbish'.

If you did fly low enough to see 'stuff' on the ground, you will most likely upset someone in the local homes !!
And probably with good reason as people won't be aware of your good intentions.

Thanks . Is it possible to fly steady at 8' off the ground and go up and down alleys on garbage night? Would that reduce range? If possible I could stay in the street and fly down the alley on the right and then left and walk another block and do the same. Way too many trees to try to spot stuff from up high.
Thanks
Joe

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Thanks . Is it possible to fly steady at 8' off the ground and go up and down alleys on garbage night? Would that reduce range? If possible I could stay in the street and fly down the alley on the right and then left and walk another block and do the same. Way too many trees to try to spot stuff from up high.
Thanks
Joe

Cheers Joe.
I don't own a mini, but from what I've gleaned here . . .

If you stayed at the end of the street, and kept good LOS to the drone, you should keep contact signal (control) ok as long as strong wifi didn't upset things.

Garbage night ?
If doing this late daytime, you might be ok, night you won't see much unless very well lit, and it increases risk of hitting electic / phone cables etc, these are near impossible to see during daylight.

It really is kinda spooky flying low in the dark with any drone.

The mini has no obstacle avoidance, but this only works during the day too, likewise the downward sensors / auto landing.

Take small steps I guess, learn to fly it really well during the day, then progressively more into twylight and beyond when / if you feel confident with it.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Oh, but I think unless the mini is really quiet, 8' you will probably attract some attention, even at 50' people are going to notice it and may react negatively.
But good luck with the plan, and hope you get what you want from the mini.

 

[Bob1956]

No real photographic merit, just tooling around the neighborhood

Where is that ? Reminds me of northern Minnesota

 

[MacCool]

Where is that ? Reminds me of northern Minnesota

It is northern Minnesota

 

[Bob1956]

It is northern Minnesota

I had to move back home in 2017 but I spent quite a few years living in Duluth and almost every weekend going up the North Shore to photograph bald eagles, lighthouses and northern lights. Good times.

 

[dougiefresh27]

Do you fly in your own neighborhood and have you had your neighbor watch or ask about your drone?

I showed my mom how I can sit on my front porch and fly over the hill and around. No one has complained at all. Always follow the rules.

 

[Ed H]

I always fly in my neighborhood. Usually in my back yard and stay in the neighbor back yard too if I don't want to be bother by anyone. I do not fly over there houses though. If I go out front then people might
come over and talk to me.But I never had any problems.