Funny drone stories.
- Thread starter jac1957
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Not a "good" story. I was filming a location that was set up around a huge open dirt area (i.e. it looked like Mars). A person cam speeding over and started to yell at me to stop filming and leave. I asked her to stop yelling at me so that we could talk. She kept yelling. She told me that it was private property. I explained I was standing on a public road and actually it was not private property. She then stated that they were leasing the land. I again asked to stop yelling at me and this is the only way I'd speak to her. She continued to yell. I told her that she was welcome to call the police. She refused. She was standing about 2' from me. All of a sudden she slapped my hands down and the controller (P4) was knocked to the ground. I freaked a little as she had just hit me and I had no idea what she was going to do next. In a split second I grabbed her neck just enough to force her backward and sit her down. Mind you, I did not, nor was I choking her, this is just a good place to hold someone if you want to push them off balance and maintain control of them. She looked stunned. I told her that we were now done. I asked my father to start recording the encounter and told the person that I was landing my drone and that she needed to leave. I had to start the recording on the camera for my father (he's 85). I then realized that my controller was laying on the ground and my drone had just been hovering. I connected everything back up, landing and left. Needless to say, I was really shook up. While I was landing the person was telling my father that I assaulted her and he saw it. He explained that he saw her hit me and that I reacted to that (which was correct). I think she had realized that she really started the confrontation and was trying to make herself out to be a victim. This was probably 5 or 6 years ago now. I _really_ regret that it happen that way.
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So on New Years Day this year, I’m flying my new Mini on a desolate Bay Area beach. My objective was to video the Richmond Bridge, the passing vehicles and the San Francisco skyline in the distance. Rare Class G airspace for the area, but also no drone bans on this inland shoreline.
As I’m approaching the bridge (and max distance for the Mini), a minivan pulls up with an older couple and their two little dogs. The woman starts shrieking at me that I’m breaking the law and the drones are not allowed anywhere in the Bay Area [false]. She was a couple feet away from me, and got her dogs so worked up that they, too, seemed pretty angry at me. Although I wanted to hold her away from me in some way, I didn’t want to initiate contact or leave any room for mistakes. So I simply told her in a low, respectful tone, “Mam, I’ll be out of the area in about five minutes.”
She didn’t care and actually got louder, until her husband interjected, “Honey, shut up and let the man land his aircraft already.”
When I hand-landed, the gentleman complimented me and my Mini, and then let me know he was a U.S. Army warrant officer in Vietnam, flying medevac missions. He then asked me if he could buy one for himself at Best Buy!
Not sure how humorous or interesting that was, but it taught me some grace-under-pressure, for sure.
As I’m approaching the bridge (and max distance for the Mini), a minivan pulls up with an older couple and their two little dogs. The woman starts shrieking at me that I’m breaking the law and the drones are not allowed anywhere in the Bay Area [false]. She was a couple feet away from me, and got her dogs so worked up that they, too, seemed pretty angry at me. Although I wanted to hold her away from me in some way, I didn’t want to initiate contact or leave any room for mistakes. So I simply told her in a low, respectful tone, “Mam, I’ll be out of the area in about five minutes.”
She didn’t care and actually got louder, until her husband interjected, “Honey, shut up and let the man land his aircraft already.”
When I hand-landed, the gentleman complimented me and my Mini, and then let me know he was a U.S. Army warrant officer in Vietnam, flying medevac missions. He then asked me if he could buy one for himself at Best Buy!
Not sure how humorous or interesting that was, but it taught me some grace-under-pressure, for sure.
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dronerdave
Well-Known Member
Was looking for a racing drone a buddy lost in his 10 acre field. We walked the field with no luck. So I fired up the MP to scan the field. I always use strobes, red/white/green appropriate for aircraft and as it was getting toward dusk some guy screeched to a stop in his car and got out yelling WTH am I doing. Told him well I'm looking for a racing quad a buddy lost in his field. I mean I was over a 200 feet away from the road on private property. He just took off but what astounded me was he blocked traffic and jumped out of his car on a public roadway like some kind of nut. ???
Never did find that racing drone
Never did find that racing drone
RTKD
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I've had to straighten a few people out before, problem is that I tend to fly in tucked away places where I won't run into the public, and that means I run into homeless encampments and little outdoor "drug dens" quite a lot. I try to treat everyone with the upmost respect because I want the public to have a positive association with drone pilots, but the homeless guys tend to get aggressive quickly.
I know that some of this comes from the fact that they have to stick up for themselves on the street a lot, so I just try to duck out and give them space, but once I had a guy get right up next to me while I was flying my FPV rig. That's nerve wracking because I'm wearing goggles so I'm blind in the moment, and if I drop my controller my rig falls straight out of the sky. If I take the goggles off I drop the rig too (unless it's really close and I have a good understanding of it's orientation) This guy was yelling at me to "get out of here" while I could hear him rushing me.
He was NOT ready for the drone that I'm controlling. I sped it back and did a hot pass at almost full speed (over 65mph for sure) and warned him that I'd hit him with it if he got any closer. He started swearing and kept yelling at me so I told him calmly that I'd leave but he had to back off. He slowed down, but he kept coming toward me to the point where I could smell him. By this time I had brought the drone back again and I started orbiting the both of us. Then he backed off and exclaimed "What the *** is that!? I gave it another hard punch into the sky above us, and dove it past us through the trees and said "it's a racing drone buddy, it's dangerous around people, that's why I come out here."
Well, he want from angry to interested in that moment, I could see it in his body language through the camera.
"Wow, that's pretty cool" he said.
"Thanks, I built it"
"Really? Wow, that thing is cool! How are you flying it though the trees?
I finished the battery as I was explaining how it worked, did some flips and showed off a bit. He was laughing by the time I landed. I apologized and told him I'd leave, but when I took the goggles off he was smiling big. I think he wanted to watch me fly more.
I quickly left without packing anything up, just carrying everything. I've been back to that spot since, and I've seen a lot of trash and signs of life, but no people.
I love winning people over
I know that some of this comes from the fact that they have to stick up for themselves on the street a lot, so I just try to duck out and give them space, but once I had a guy get right up next to me while I was flying my FPV rig. That's nerve wracking because I'm wearing goggles so I'm blind in the moment, and if I drop my controller my rig falls straight out of the sky. If I take the goggles off I drop the rig too (unless it's really close and I have a good understanding of it's orientation) This guy was yelling at me to "get out of here" while I could hear him rushing me.
He was NOT ready for the drone that I'm controlling. I sped it back and did a hot pass at almost full speed (over 65mph for sure) and warned him that I'd hit him with it if he got any closer. He started swearing and kept yelling at me so I told him calmly that I'd leave but he had to back off. He slowed down, but he kept coming toward me to the point where I could smell him. By this time I had brought the drone back again and I started orbiting the both of us. Then he backed off and exclaimed "What the *** is that!? I gave it another hard punch into the sky above us, and dove it past us through the trees and said "it's a racing drone buddy, it's dangerous around people, that's why I come out here."
Well, he want from angry to interested in that moment, I could see it in his body language through the camera.
"Wow, that's pretty cool" he said.
"Thanks, I built it"
"Really? Wow, that thing is cool! How are you flying it though the trees?
I finished the battery as I was explaining how it worked, did some flips and showed off a bit. He was laughing by the time I landed. I apologized and told him I'd leave, but when I took the goggles off he was smiling big. I think he wanted to watch me fly more.
I quickly left without packing anything up, just carrying everything. I've been back to that spot since, and I've seen a lot of trash and signs of life, but no people.
I love winning people over
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Skyflyer129
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Peterson
Well-Known Member
Flycaster said:
2 Drones fly into a bar.........bartender says, "hey you two, show me some (remote) ID".
First Drone says, "sorry I don't have it on me but can RTH to get it"
2 Drones fly into a bar.........bartender says, "hey you two, show me some (remote) ID".
First Drone says, "sorry I don't have it on me but can RTH to get it"
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RTKD
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earlier today a man appeared in court for flying his drone in a circus big top
he was found guilty of flying with intent
he was found guilty of flying with intent
I got a funny one. I was out of town visiting my mom. I went down to the local park with my nephew to show him how to fly. now let me set the scene. wide open park, 1 playground about 500ft away empty 5pm roughly with a walking trail all the way around the park and about 70°F. not a breeze around. did a quick pre-flight check, and took off and made sure everything was golden and then landed to get comfortable. about that time a couple college girls from the local college aprox 1/2 mile away come walking down the walking trail. Take in mind the walking trail sort of comes to a dead end about 250ft behind us. So I hand over the controls to my nephew for his maiden flight and explained again everything he needed to know. No sooner than the bird got in the air did the girls come walking up to us. So to not panic him I step back away to them about 10ft away and said "whats up" that asked about the drone and how it worked and asked if they could see some pictures and were super excited about " the possible best selfi camera". So they said bye and walked off. take in mine this all took about 25 minutes so the bird was in need of a new battery. To my amazement my nephew was a natural and landed right back where he started. So i check out the drone and put a new battery in it and I take back over the controls and take off. About the time that I reach the other side of the field the girls where running up to the drone, and I said "great here we go". Well to my amazement they smile waved and then craziest thing happened both of them pulled up their sports bras and let the sisters graze the light of day. now I am drooling and afraid of now having the "Twins" on videos "unintentionally" and started to head back to me to hurry up and leave before anything else happened, well they just smile and waved and jogged off down the trail. All in All I couldn't stop laughing at the chain of events, and my nephew (17) at the time was in need of an ice-pak! LOL Sorry for the book but that's all I got!
Doodi
Member
i already linked this in a post, but it sure fits here too! its pretty funny. except if your the girl i guess.
Doodi.
Doodi.
"What the *** is that!? I gave it another hard punch into the sky above us, and dove it past us through the trees and said "it's a racing drone buddy, it's dangerous around people, that's why I come out here."
I love winning people over
Great story, this one really stuck with me. Being out in the middle of nowhere with googles on and having some sketchy dude come out of nowhere mid flight was nerve racking to read. I'm glad it ended well though.
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