How To Handle a "No Drones Allowed" Claim

[mustafa_mohammed]

Many people "ASSUME" that since it's a city park full of people - no drones are allowed. Since one of the kids said it first seems to verify that. Most people are aware that drones are not to be flown over large groups of people and they were simply regurgitating that - without even knowing where "he" was flying. Again, they simply assumed he was flying over them.

The first answers about being polite and saying "Oh, I didn't know that!" and leaving it at that is the best way to handle it. Thank them for the "advice" and move on. Far too many "Karens" out there in the world to call the cops or worse and blow a situation totally out of control.

Transport Canada RPAS regulation restricts flying "901.41 Special aviation events and advertised events"

 

[DoomMeister]

The OP is from San Diego (affectionally called Sandy Eggo) so the Canadian rules do not apply in this case. FAA rules are to be observed. As long as there are no launch/land restrictions and he does not fly over people then there is no problem.

 

[pinballwiz86]

I always try to take off and land from private property. If that is not possible, I take-off/land from the side of the road on the roof of my car.

 

[Red_Pyro]

I had one angry encounter today, but the guy just wanted to complain and scream for nothing that so I told him to get lost.

Otherwise, I always tell them the only authority about where to fly a drone is the office of aviation, and that they can gladly call the cops if they're not happy. I always check DJI + the zones decided by the office before going somewhere. I honestly have better to do then educate people, if I know I'm right and the person is just annoying then I stop responding, I have no obligation to justify anything.

Of course, if they give a valid reason, then you consider it. I once had a farmer telling me she didn't want drones here because it scares her cows. Granted, that's a valid reason so I moved a little further and stayed high in the sky.

In short: If there is no good reason and you're in a fly zone, then you have no need to justify anything

PS: The guy got angry because I asked him what the problem was, he didn't like that I didn't give the attention he wanted. Ignoring them is also a solution I think. It's not worth your time when people raise their voice.

 

[Greekislandlover]

TBH, the only time I've been asked not to fly was over some heathland recently. A guy walked up to me and asked me not to fly there because there are ground nesting birds on the heath. I had checked beforehand with the CAA (UK equivalent of FAA) and there was no restriction from their and, and like the FAA, the CAA rules the skies.

However I did land and stop flying because he was very polite and accepted my assertion that the CAA site says you can fly. No reason to get into pointless arguments sometimes. We had a nice chat.

 

[Cymruflyer]

You could simply say that the no drone flying was told to you once before and that you were not aware of that but did stop flying. You then checked with the city regarding fly or no fly and were informed by the city official that drone flying was in fact allowed there and that some people still seem to think that drones are not allowed. Then offer to give them the contact info of the person you spoke with so that they could also confirm for themselves that drones are allowed to be flown there.

 

[Aerialskape]

TBH, the only time I've been asked not to fly was over some heathland recently. A guy walked up to me and asked me not to fly there because there are ground nesting birds on the heath. I had checked beforehand with the CAA (UK equivalent of FAA) and there was no restriction from their and, and like the FAA, the CAA rules the skies.

However I did land and stop flying because he was very polite and accepted my assertion that the CAA site says you can fly. No reason to get into pointless arguments sometimes. We had a nice chat.

Although there's no restriction on the CAA site, it often doesn't cover SSI's etc. It doesn't show Dartmoor as no fly, yet the whole national park has a no drones policy. It's mainly there to show airfields and military training areas

 

[tlswift58]

I had one angry encounter today, but the guy just wanted to complain and scream for nothing that so I told him to get lost.

Otherwise, I always tell them the only authority about where to fly a drone is the office of aviation, and that they can gladly call the cops if they're not happy. I always check DJI + the zones decided by the office before going somewhere. I honestly have better to do then educate people, if I know I'm right and the person is just annoying then I stop responding, I have no obligation to justify anything.

Of course, if they give a valid reason, then you consider it. I once had a farmer telling me she didn't want drones here because it scares her cows. Granted, that's a valid reason so I moved a little further and stayed high in the sky.

In short: If there is no good reason and you're in a fly zone, then you have no need to justify anything

PS: The guy got angry because I asked him what the problem was, he didn't like that I didn't give the attention he wanted. Ignoring them is also a solution I think. It's not worth your time when people raise their voice.

The best any of us can do is use DJI / Aloft / B4UFLY / and other apps to see what restrictions may apply in an area of interest. If none pop up - then flying should be fine. Sometimes smaller locals may have imposed rules that none of the apps pick up and when they post no signage - how do they expect us to know that.

Early droners may have caused a lot of the public craziness when they flew right over peoples home, backyards, and it "seemed" like they were spying / filming. Who knows? Stories get blown way out of proportion as they digress down the "gossip" chain - to where we see it regularly.

I personally have not been approached and given the 5th degree about flying a drone. Most of my encounters have been very positive and simply showing people who are interested what sights they can actually see while droning compared to ground level. I reference a couple of flights in Savannah, GA and when people saw what I see from the air - they were like - I NEED A DRONE. Most were men and of course their wives gave them - ain't happening pal look.

I do try and find the most out of the way locations, but that is not always doable, so keeping the conversation as jovial / positive as possible seems to work for most. I know there are those socio / psychopath types whom think I may be spying / filming them - so if they are interested I show them what I have. Also many, esp here in the USA seem unaware that drones have many regulations / rules and that the FAA has control over airspace. Some tend to think that a landowner owns the land and airspace and kind of go off, esp on social media. I do explain to them that the FAA controls the airspace in the US, not landowners and the rules we have to abide by to fly drones. Some are okay, some not - but that is their problem when I have flown within the rules.

 

[Olav van Gerven]

Last year, in Sweden near Gothenborg, I had a similiar interaction. I prepare my flights carefully, know the restrictions etc. This guy came up to me, telling that it was not allowed to fly there "because it was causing a problem with the sound of a movie they were filming inside a house..."
I told him to wait, returned the drone and then explained that I did my research and showed him the maps I had in my tablet with the propertylines and restrictions for an area about 2 km away etc. Then I informed him, that if the producers of the film did not want a drone flying over, the first thing they should do is contacting the authorities to see if they can get a TNFZ installed.
Then I packed and went home. There I checked again and since there were no restrictions, I returned the next morning and finished the flight.

 

[tlswift58]

Last year, in Sweden near Gothenborg, I had a similiar interaction. I prepare my flights carefully, know the restrictions etc. This guy came up to me, telling that it was not allowed to fly there "because it was causing a problem with the sound of a movie they were filming inside a house..."
I told him to wait, returned the drone and then explained that I did my research and showed him the maps I had in my tablet with the propertylines and restrictions for an area about 2 km away etc. Then I informed him, that if the producers of the film did not want a drone flying over, the first thing they should do is contacting the authorities to see if they can get a TNFZ installed.
Then I packed and went home. There I checked again and since there were no restrictions, I returned the next morning and finished the flight.

I'm sure you intentionally had the SUPER NOISY props installed to agitate their filming inside. LOL

While the drone does make some noise - was it that bad?

 

[Olav van Gerven]

I'm sure you intentionally had the SUPER NOISY props installed to agitate their filming inside. LOL

While the drone does make some noise - was it that bad?

I do a lot of filming/video and sound things myself. The sound of a drone would not be a problem. Just a short sample to identify the dronenoise, run it over the sound and your noise is gone. If I can do that with my limited options as an amateur, they can't tell me that they can't do it as a professional filmproduction company.
I guess it was more that they feared me pre-publishing some content they want to keep secret untill they release the film. And since I am not interested in their film, they could have had that easier and nicer, simply ask me to check before publishing on youtube that there is no filmcontent in my clip.

 

[bentbrent]

So I flew my second session ever from a city recreational park, on a weekend where the large football-size playing field had widely dispersed groups of people enjoying the beautiful day.

It's on a tall hilltop with a walking track going around the playing field:

View attachment 126201

I went right to the edge of the field and performed my flight ops out over the valley in order to stay away from the people to avoid any unwanted nuisances. Just about when I was wrapping up because I was getting a low battery warning, a family came around and one of the children said there was no flying allowed. One of the adults came forward and said the same thing, something about a rule or something.

I had researched earlier and found no drone restrictions for any city parks, and after landing my drone, searched in vain looking for any such drone restrictions specifically for the park I was at, as well as the city in general, but found zero such restrictions. And there are no official signage explicitly prohibiting drones posted anywhere at the park that I could find. My cousin lives down the hill and he and a friend comes out to this very same park to fly their drones. In fact, about a half hour later there were two other people flying drones at the edge of the field.

Either the family was misinformed regarding drones, or they simply don't like drones invading their privacy and attempt to prevent any drones from flying by spreading lies in hopes of scaring drone operators away.

I intend to contact the park services directly (hard to do during this pandemic as they are not fully staffed) to see if I can find a definitive answer, and if they confirm there are no such drone restrictions, how should I handle the next incident of strangers attempting to stop my drone flights?

I want to be as conciliatory and understanding as possible and explain that my only intent is practicing and not to invade privacy by flying over the homes below and being a "Tom," but I do not want to cave and close-up shop simply on their insistence alone.

Any advice on how to reasonably discuss the situation without getting into a heated debate? And if the other party simply would not back down even with concrete evidence provided of the right to fly, would it be better for the hobby overall to tuck tail and leave?

I've tried to be as unobtrusive as possible and avoid flying over people and homes, but it seems even trying to be as courteous as possible, some people may simply not want any drones around, period.

Personally, I would also take the I didn't know approach, but I would take it further. I would say that i had looked to see if it was prohibited, and saw no prohibitions. Then, as friendly as you can, ask them where they saw that prohibition, so that you may be better informed. Just my 2 cents worth.

 

[Chaosrider]

Personally, I would also take the I didn't know approach, but I would take it further. I would say that i had looked to see if it was prohibited, and saw no prohibitions. Then, as friendly as you can, ask them where they saw that prohibition, so that you may be better informed. Just my 2 cents worth.

Excellent approach!

If a LEO tells me to leave, I'll just do it, no lip and no hesitation. Any discussion I want to have about it will then go through official channels, and be documented.

If a stray person tells me I can't fly, as benignly as I can without losing clarity, I'll tell them that I can.

Not an issue yet, since so far I've only flown in my little canyon from my house!



TCS

 

[Pixeldawg]

Here in China, the rules are no flying near military, high speed rail, airports, train stations (high speed rail) and over governmental and police office space. Outside of that, you're ok as long as you are registered with the government. I have more curious people, even police officers who are simply interested in the drone. I keep kids back until I land, but them allow them to come up close and look at the drone with their parent(s). I have let a couple of police officers fly it a bit as well. I think in this place anyway, a bit of good will goes a long way and I generally never get hassled about flying.

Be well,

Mark

 

[Daytona500]

Many people "ASSUME" that since it's a city park full of people - no drones are allowed. Since one of the kids said it first seems to verify that. Most people are aware that drones are not to be flown over large groups of people and they were simply regurgitating that - without even knowing where "he" was flying. Again, they simply assumed he was flying over them.

The first answers about being polite and saying "Oh, I didn't know that!" and leaving it at that is the best way to handle it. Thank them for the "advice" and move on. Far too many "Karens" out there in the world to call the cops or worse and blow a situation totally out of control.

If you have the right to be there, don't give up your rights. Be polite, don't argue but stand your ground.