Mavic Received a Death Threat
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bmarvin2222
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We live in the land of the FREE, yet it feels as if we have NO freedoms left. I'm tired of being bullied by these idiots. Here is my story of flying in Key West last week. I flew at 9 am after contacting the Airport Tower and getting the OK. They asked me to keep it below 100 Ft as I'm right in the path of approaching aircraft. I set the MP for max alt. of 30 meters and started my flight. I flew away from the building over the pool which was empty, then over the ocean and finally around the marina where I kept over water channels 90% of the time with sufficient altitude to avoid sail boat masts. I had 2 separate people come and warn me about flying. First was a manager from our condo complex because someone within 5 minutes of my take-off already had complained over concerned about me peeking into their room. The second, a women working the boats, who told me I couldn't fly near the airport, I was on private property, and finally that it was "illegal" to fly over the marina. I have my sec. 107 lic. and know the laws. I'm an owner of the condo I was flying around (so the property is actually partially mine and not hers). I did remain kind, finished my flight and packed up... but I still felt like a 14 year old kid getting scolded for doing something wrong. I'm **** tired of this harassment and bullying by people who want to be the drone police. They don't understand, so they get aggressive. I realize that we don't want to jeopardise the flying community / activities, but being passive is no longer the answer. We need to stand for our RIGHTS TOO! If this year has taught anything to us... being passive while ignorant people protest and try to intimidate good people should no longer be tolerated or it will grow and incrementalism will be the doom of our hobby. I will no longer be backing down... I will be educating the ignorant with the same force they apply to me.
geigy
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Our feelings will get hurt on occasion, sure, but I think you did the right thing in the situation you describe. I think drones have great intrinsic value, and are a great new form of photography that benefits many people. I see an increasing number of people with mobility problems who are posting wonderful footage on youtube. This is the kind of thing that will increase goodwill among the public at large.
Yes, there are quite a few people who are paranoid about being spied on by drones, and a rising tide of anger that is fueled by sensationalist, and often true, stories of drones crashing into buildings, harassing people and animals, and crashing in public areas.
Standing up to people who object to your flying, and making them dig their heels in, in my opinion, is going to create a bad result for drone flyers in general. I know it's hard to be nice to someone who is being nasty. I don't do it lightly or easily, but I try hard do it because I want to preserve the good will of people who enjoy drones and enjoy watching drone footage, and I'm glad you did on this occasion.
Yes, there are quite a few people who are paranoid about being spied on by drones, and a rising tide of anger that is fueled by sensationalist, and often true, stories of drones crashing into buildings, harassing people and animals, and crashing in public areas.
Standing up to people who object to your flying, and making them dig their heels in, in my opinion, is going to create a bad result for drone flyers in general. I know it's hard to be nice to someone who is being nasty. I don't do it lightly or easily, but I try hard do it because I want to preserve the good will of people who enjoy drones and enjoy watching drone footage, and I'm glad you did on this occasion.
Honour being the best part of valour etc...
However I had my kid with me and I don't want to sound self riotous but he is 7 and I'm not going to lower myself for some scum inner city junkie type. Plus I did call the cops, or he did and it all changed when my dash cam showed the truth.
Being rude back where I was with my kid would've put him in danger and I still feel as in my case the next those cops see a drone owner they will think he's probably a sound guy and leave him be. They were genuinely interested in what the video I'd shot with it was and joked that one of them (the male police officer) would like one himself. Even with not being lucky to have taken off from in front of my car and so the whole thing being caught by my dash cam, I don't want to be setting an example to my kid that it's ok to beat the crap out of a dude because he's a piece of rude crap...
I have had a few people get "weird" when they see I am flying my Mavic. I usually tend to try and engage them and let them see what I see from the Mavic and that I am not "Spying" on them or anyone else. It has worked on a few instances and they become intrigued. I also think it insured them I am not some creepy dude. People seemed so self absorbed that people want to spy on others. Its a very strange dynamic. I do not even look at others. In fact I do not want people in my videos. People post on social media for the world to see, take car webcam videos and post everywhere, relentlessly take pictures but now you have what I basically call an "Aerial" Camera and some people seem to lose their minds. Now for me personally I would never fly a drone in a neighborhood or residential area out of respect because I know people have fenced yards to enjoy personal privacy. But I go out and fly over beaches, mountains and rivers and people freak out. Just last weekend I took off from a beach and flew around the island, I had some rude tourist woman come up and with a nasty scowl told(did not ask) me to take that somewhere else. I looked at her and smiled and said "OK" and just walked down the beach and she seems to have felt she won but I just laughed because all I did was move the remote, the Mavic was still flying.
Sadly I only sense this "Drone" issue getting worse with people and as we all know there are "Drone" owners that do have them to invade peoples personal privacy and its those few that will create all the bans, rules and laws for the rest of us.
Sadly I only sense this "Drone" issue getting worse with people and as we all know there are "Drone" owners that do have them to invade peoples personal privacy and its those few that will create all the bans, rules and laws for the rest of us.
chappmaster
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i thought people cant shoot down drones cuz it falls under a aircraft and could hurt someone when it falls down when shot down am i right or am i wrong thought i read u cant shoot them
People are oversensitized to "drone horror stories", so I always take the polite route. Flying around a neighborhood can creep people out, A friend was flying his quad up around 400 ft and someone stopped to accuse him of being a pedophile since he was obviously taking videos of kids from 400 ft. Mt point is that if you are flying around homes, expect issues, right or wrong, so if possible I try to inform vs. insult.
People "shouldn't" according to the FAA, but if a home owner is armed and perceives invasion of privacy, shoot first, then see if the police can locate the shooter.
This is why i like how it caches video and pics, better chance to narrow it down, possibly even see then standing right there.
geigy
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But the same footage would justify their claim that their privacy was being invaded. Fly high and keep moving over residential, is my advice. At 400 feet, the Mavic is quiet, nearly invisible, and pretty much out of range of anything less that 0 gauge shot.
Legally, you do not have a right to privacy when you're in public.
So no, it wouldn't justify their claim.
...your response (and body language?) sounds perfect....BUT mother may be corncerned about "child at risk" issues like they should be
The UK has the most surveillance cameras per SQ M than any country in the world, Out of all the flying i have done here only one person ever brought up privacy issues and bedroom windows. i must admit to laughing my *** off as she was no oil painting.
i explained that she was on video more times per day in the UK than the soap operas on TV. Then she brought up the drone falling from the sky (i was in open fields) so i hit RTH put the controller down and told her to watch the drone fly itself home. i asked her if her car could do that? she said No how does it work, i explained the whole GPS thing in as basic terms as i could.
Like most people i talk to they actually have no idea of the technology that is in a drone they believe drones are completely manually operated and that all drones are like cheap toy drones which their kids have had, and crashed twenty times into the house walls,
Here privacy issues really do rarely get mentioned but the misconception between a 50 GBP drone that kids use and a 1300 GBP Mavic, are the main culprit of drone haters here.
if showing them does not work, and they still want to argue, then i land the drone and lets argue..
i explained that she was on video more times per day in the UK than the soap operas on TV. Then she brought up the drone falling from the sky (i was in open fields) so i hit RTH put the controller down and told her to watch the drone fly itself home. i asked her if her car could do that? she said No how does it work, i explained the whole GPS thing in as basic terms as i could.
Like most people i talk to they actually have no idea of the technology that is in a drone they believe drones are completely manually operated and that all drones are like cheap toy drones which their kids have had, and crashed twenty times into the house walls,
Here privacy issues really do rarely get mentioned but the misconception between a 50 GBP drone that kids use and a 1300 GBP Mavic, are the main culprit of drone haters here.
if showing them does not work, and they still want to argue, then i land the drone and lets argue..
similar experience, mine was above my yard (in my airspace), when neighbor claimed "...can you not fly that thing over my property". I landed to indicate it is not over their airspace until she turned away.
what else can we do? fly it later when the protesters are not looking. They only have an issue because they can see the UAV and believe their natural born right is violated.
some people are confrontational and it is difficult to keep them happy.
I pull up straight above 30m or more so people don't see the machine and for the most part don't hear it either.
also turn off the front red lights
similar experience, mine was above my yard (in my airspace), when neighbor claimed "...can you not fly that thing over my property". I landed to indicate it is not over their airspace until she turned away.
what else can we do? fly it later when the protesters are not looking. They only have an issue because they can see the UAV and believe their natural born right is violated.
some people are confrontational and it is difficult to keep them happy.
I pull up straight above 30m or more so people don't see the machine and for the most part don't hear it either.
also turn off the front red lights
Same in the US. People are being watched from the minute they leave their house until they return home and even then some who live in condo's, apts and gated communities are being watched virtually 24/7. They feel safe but have zero personal privacy. People in apts and condo buildings are being watched by other people in other buildings with binoculars and telescopes. This is why I just laugh..
Like a few other posters, my patience with people is growing a bit thin but for the near term I will try and take the higher road.
bmarvin2222
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I appreciate your stance and believe it myself... but we can't always be afraid of people digging their heels in... frankly, if they confront us and we simply pack up and give in, that will also cause them to dig their heels in and embolden them for the next poor pilot. I think if we keep our anger in check and simply engage them and try to educate them on what we are actually doing and what the drone can actually see... we might win them over. And if I can't win them over, then at least I took a stand for myself and this hobby. That I can live with.
There are irresponsible, disruptive and ill intended individuals born every other day, and I fully understand where the couple is coming from. As long as the pilot do not try using his flying m/c to invade privacies, disrupt or cause distress on others, turning the other cheek seems the best option to such "threat".
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