Neighbor Flying Drone Over My house

[HereToLearn2]

Greetings Drone Enthusiasts!

Im hoping to get some clarity and direction from responsible drone owners.

My neighbor has been harassing me and my small HOA community in a multitude of ways, from trespassing on to our properties, dumping landfill debris in our yards, constantly calling the sheriff for noise (which they have told him we are not doing anything wrong) to cutting down our protected mangroves. We have had to install NO TRESPASSING signs and we have now put up a fence which has enraged him. The police have had to speak to him and conveyed to him that he will be arrested if he continues to trespass.

When Im outside on my land, there have been several instances where his drone follows me around my land. He has a drone business (or is trying to). Ive asked him to please stop. He refuses. When I set any boundary with him it infuriates him and he retaliates by then blocking our community gate entry keypad or harass any contractors that enter into our community. Or yelling at me when I enter my community. His house is the first house outside our gate.

I just want to be left alone. He is now resorting to using this drone to harass us now that we have put up our fence. He has followed my other neighbors around their yard as well. They are elderly and very intimidated by him. Im told I do not own my airspace. Is there anything additionally I can do to get him to stop flying in my yard? or into our small private community? Does the NO TRESPASSING sings not apply to drones? Tampa Bay has many beautiful areas to fly a drone, from sprawling beaches to jungly native areas.

I should clarify, this is a new neighbor who bought in the last year. Everyone was peacefully coexisting until he moved in to the neighborhood.

Thanks for any direction you can provide.

 

[bmwbob]

Film any intimidating action and show the police.

 

[Thomas B]

While I do not condone the actions with drone flight that you cite, FAA has full and sole control of the U.S. airspace from the ground up. You should make your complaint to them as the do not monitor this website.

Let law enforcement handle it as taking down a drone is potentially the legal equivalent of shooting down an aircraft.

 

[Meta4]

Thanks for any direction you can provide.

It sounds like he's just going to be trouble with or without the drone.
His appointment with the sheriff is getting closer.

If the drone is up high and safe just ignore it.
If it's down really low and close and annoying, a broom would put the drone out of action.
Just don't try to grab it if the props are spinning.

 

[HereToLearn2]

Great ideas and direction! Thx everyone Happy Flying!

 

[eaglesurfing]

Always be prepared to video (with audio) every interaction with him but you do not own the air space.
He wants your attention so go out of your way not to give it to him.
His time is running out.
We had a neighbor like that and enough people had enough complaints against him that the judge gave him a choice, stay out of the neighbor hood or go to prison.
They sold the house and now we have great neighbors.

 

[maelstrom]

Great ideas and direction! Thx everyone Happy Flying!

You may also want to tell your neighbour that he's probably breaking privacy laws in Florida:

Statutes & Constitution :View Statutes : Online Sunshine

 

[DBT_Drone]

I know this might be expensive, but I would lawyer up......meaning hire a lawyer and see if a cease and desist order for harassment is possible.

 

[Flycaster]

And the HOA is doing what?
I know they are pretty much usleless with the important stuff, but will jump on you if you plant the wrong type of plant in the wrong location. Been there, and left 'em...

Best advice is like earlier said, pop out you phone and start recording/documenting the "events", and especially if some other neighbor/home owner get the vid of him with the controller in his grubby little mitts.....

Then give the vid files to local police...

 

[Dogpilot]

As folks mentioned, recording helps. It is absolutely amazing what people will say or do even when you inform them they are being recorded. Remember, what happens on video records both sides of a conversation, so be careful what you say or do. If the person is operating directly over you or in a threatening manner, yes call law enforcement and call the FAA. They charge them with $10,000 per violation.
Here are the FAA rules about operations:

Operating Requirements
Just as there are rules of the road when driving a car, there are rules of the sky when operating a drone.

• Always avoid manned aircraft.
• Never operate in a careless or reckless manner.
• Keep your drone within sight. If you use First Person View or similar technology, you must have a visual observer always keep your drone within unaided sight (for example, no binoculars).
• You cannot be a pilot or visual observer for more than one drone operation at a time.
• Do not fly a drone over people unless they are directly participating in the operation.
• Do not operate your drone from a moving vehicle or aircraft unless you are flying your drone over a sparsely populated area and it does not involve the transportation of property for compensation or hire.

 

[rehkram]

This guy is, in my mind, clearly mentally ill. I mean, if he'd lived adjacent to your patch for years, and it was developed out from under him, that I could understand.

While obviously not agreeing with that kind of resulting activity it would at least point to some kind of motivation. But you and your neighbors were there for years before he arrived. Jeesh, I'd be mad as hell.

Whatever, I think you need to be a wee bit careful with this character. I'll skip the 'Florida Man' jokes.

 

[spudster]

Florida has Protection Courts. You do not need a lawyer to file for a Personal Protective Order or TRO. Just make sure you document with times, dates, audios and videos of everything he has done then you can file for a TRO using that as proof. The judge could prohibit him from having any kind of personal contact including using his drone to harass you.

 

[Robert Prior]

Always be prepared to video (with audio) every interaction with him

Florida is a two party state for recording communications. IANAL, but I think that means you have to inform him you are recording the conversation, which sounds like it would provoke him further.

How close is the drone, both horizontal distance and altitude?

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

And the HOA is doing what?
I know they are pretty much usleless with the important stuff, but will jump on you if you plant the wrong type of plant in the wrong location. Been there, and left 'em...

Best advice is like earlier said, pop out you phone and start recording/documenting the "events", and especially if some other neighbor/home owner get the vid of him with the controller in his grubby little mitts.....

Then give the vid files to local police...

This ^^

If he's outside the gate of the HOA, then that body needs to tell people in the community to document every poor use of his drone(s), keeping a record of date, time, record video / photograph if desired, some idea of distance, problem activity (refer rules), and times spent harassing.

This idiot trying to start a drone biz, hope if he's doing the wrong thing that police and FAA take time to deny him any professional involvement in the drone industry.

Check with police on privacy regulations in your district / state, I think they deal with privacy violations.
If he's flying low, buzzing people, flying way beyond VLOS (visual line of sight) then with evidence, that would be handled by the FAA.

FAA drone rules here . . .

Getting Started

If he's violating any of the rules (not sure FAA actually enforces "Respect privacy") then keep the records to let HOA give the entire complaint to FAA, say after a month of records.

A few of the key complainants could do this, if the HOA is useless, or only meets rarely etc.

Good luck, thankfully most drone operators are responsible and have few mental health issues.

 

[rehkram]

We had a situation a while back, I won't go into the details other than it was an unwanted drifter on our property. My wife was concerned enough to call the cops.

A police car arrived and the sheriff's deputy had a quiet word with the person, then hung around chatting with us for about an hour. That was just enough of an informal 'show of force' to send the right message. We've had no problems since.

There are no guarantees though; we were thankful that the cop we got was very cool and diplomatic throughout the whole visit.

 

[spsphotos]

It sounds like he's just going to be trouble with or without the drone.
His appointment with the sheriff is getting closer.

If the drone is up high and safe just ignore it.
If it's down really low and close and annoying, a broom would put the drone out of action.
Just don't try to grab it if the props are spinning.

DO NOT FOLLOW THIS PERSONS ADVICE AND ATTEMPT TO DISABLE THE DRONE WITH A BROOM OR ANY OTHER DEVICE!!!!! You would be the one arrested as any attempt to disable an aircraft (and yes, drones are aircraft) is a felony. Report this person to the FAA. Report him to the police and KEEP doing so. Harassment is harassment does not matter if he uses a drone or not. What about your HOA? What do they have to say? I would think him dumping trash, messing with the gate pad, and many of the things you describe would be in violation of some HOA rules.

 

[cgmaxed]

Greetings Drone Enthusiasts!

Im hoping to get some clarity and direction from responsible drone owners.

My neighbor has been harassing me and my small HOA community in a multitude of ways, from trespassing on to our properties, dumping landfill debris in our yards, constantly calling the sheriff for noise (which they have told him we are not doing anything wrong) to cutting down our protected mangroves. We have had to install NO TRESPASSING signs and we have now put up a fence which has enraged him. The police have had to speak to him and conveyed to him that he will be arrested if he continues to trespass.

When Im outside on my land, there have been several instances where his drone follows me around my land. He has a drone business (or is trying to). Ive asked him to please stop. He refuses. When I set any boundary with him it infuriates him and he retaliates by then blocking our community gate entry keypad or harass any contractors that enter into our community. Or yelling at me when I enter my community. His house is the first house outside our gate.

I just want to be left alone. He is now resorting to using this drone to harass us now that we have put up our fence. He has followed my other neighbors around their yard as well. They are elderly and very intimidated by him. Im told I do not own my airspace. Is there anything additionally I can do to get him to stop flying in my yard? or into our small private community? Does the NO TRESPASSING sings not apply to drones? Tampa Bay has many beautiful areas to fly a drone, from sprawling beaches to jungly native areas.

I should clarify, this is a new neighbor who bought in the last year. Everyone was peacefully coexisting until he moved in to the neighborhood.

Thanks for any direction you can provide.

Film the drone of course. Then the police can act. They still can charge him with, voyerism, invasion of privacy, disturbing the peace, and even trespassing (if he turn his camera on). If you and other get it on film, sooner or later the police could potentially get a warrant to seize the drone and grab any video and pics he may have inside the drone on an SD card, That is unless he took it out. Voyerism, invasion of privacy, disturbing the peace are always things the police can charge a drone pilot with.

In Florida, for example, Criminal Code § 934.50 forbids using drones for surveillance in violation of another person's reasonable expectation of privacy. In Arkansas, AR Code § 5-60-103 forbids using drones to invade privacy and gather information. In California, Civil Code § 1708.8 forbids entering airspace to record another person "in a manner that is offensive to a reasonable person."

FOR A LOT MORE WAYS TO HAVE HIM PROSECUTED SEE THIS LINK:

What to Do When Your Neighbor Has a Drone

Drones can not only be loud, but contain cameras and telephoto lenses. Find out what the law says you can do if you see that your neighbor is flying a drone over you

www.nolo.com

 

[hiflyer201]

your neighbor must have a severe lack of imagination. I can't imagine what kind of enjoyment he could be having with that type of behavior. I'm sure he'll tire of it soon.
If he's on this forum I have a message for him..Stop being a ****!

 

[GFields]

It saddens me to hear of your harassment. You have received good advice about video recording everything. Hope everything works out for you. Get your neighbors to help you in filing a complaint with the HOA and law enforcement.

 

[spamgnome]

DO NOT FOLLOW THIS PERSONS ADVICE AND ATTEMPT TO DISABLE THE DRONE WITH A BROOM OR ANY OTHER DEVICE!!!!! You would be the one arrested as any attempt to disable an aircraft (and yes, drones are aircraft) is a felony. Report this person to the FAA. Report him to the police and KEEP doing so. Harassment is harassment does not matter if he uses a drone or not. What about your HOA? What do they have to say? I would think him dumping trash, messing with the gate pad, and many of the things you describe would be in violation of some HOA rules.

If the drone is within a broom handles length, I would feel more than justified in whacking at it.