Some advice please…

[Flashheart]

Tonight, my wife alerted me to a thread on a community Facebook Group for my local village moaning about somebody using a drone.
After looking through the thread I was shocked at the ignorance of some people, it ranged from some people thinking they own the air space above their house, anyone with a drone is obviously spying/filming them to one person actually thinking a shotgun is the answer lol.
They think it is reasonable to seek permission before flying over their property!
Let me be clear, I have an operator ID and a flyer ID and I’m 100% flying in accordance to the CAA Drone Regulations. I only fly sub 250 in the UK. I mostly fly above the highest tree which is 35 meters high. A lot of the land around me is private, so I’ve been practising flying from my back garden with my new toy getting used to the new functions like POI and spotlight.
Initially, I was going to reply to the thread, but I know it will probably just end up causing more harm than good.
If you was in my shoes, what would you do? It’s causing quite a stir…

 

[Starz]

Had some law enforcement folks knock on my door some time ago.
The woman that complained claimed I was watching her and or her daughter while some bathing suits were in use.
The problem with said complaint was she claimed the aircraft was 50 feet above them. From her location, my takeoff point was 1800 feet away. Line of sight for transmit and receive was physically impossible on the hardware that I use. Took a bit to get the L.E. folks to grasp that concept. Had they any knowledge on how these systems work, they probably wouldn’t have knocked on my door. They have not come back since. I also told them how many other drones are out in the world and the next time they come back that they should have an arrest warrant in there hand and a good attorney.
My wife had a good laugh.

 

[thispilothere]

Had some law enforcement folks knock on my door some time ago.
The woman that complained claimed I was watching her and or her daughter while some bathing suits were in use.

That's happen to me twice. I was nice the first time and offered to show the Karen that you can barely see people as I'm flying over at 400 feet. The second time, I wasn't so nice. It ended with me telling the cop "Get off my property, servant". There hasn't been a third time.

To the OP: People tell me the same Karen in the story above often complains about me on the neighborhood FB page - I don't look at it. Honest advice, tell your wife to get off FB.

 

[Starz]

I had my fill of the Facebook game. Thank the lord for a delete app button!

 

[B52-D]

Tonight, my wife alerted me to a thread on a community Facebook Group for my local village moaning about somebody using a drone.
After looking through the thread I was shocked at the ignorance of some people, it ranged from some people thinking they own the air space above their house, anyone with a drone is obviously spying/filming them to one person actually thinking a shotgun is the answer lol.
They think it is reasonable to seek permission before flying over their property!
Let me be clear, I have an operator ID and a flyer ID and I’m 100% flying in accordance to the CAA Drone Regulations. I only fly sub 250 in the UK. I mostly fly above the highest tree which is 35 meters high. A lot of the land around me is private, so I’ve been practising flying from my back garden with my new toy getting used to the new functions like POI and spotlight.
Initially, I was going to reply to the thread, but I know it will probably just end up causing more harm than good.
If you was in my shoes, what would you do? It’s causing quite a stir…

Unfortunately for drone operators we are all challenged with this prejudice only because for the most part, the majority of the public does not know enough about drones or how they are regulated. They don’t realize that satellites provide more neighborhood picture coverage that the average drone. It will probably be this way for a long time to come.
B52-D

 

[Phantomrain.org]

My experience is that when People are Moaning , what it really means is they need more information about why that person was flying in the first place> Since you dont know what that was , you could take it upon yourself to explain why you fly your drone , Sunset, mapping, Search and Rescue Ect.

That is how I might go about it.


Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain.. Land on the Water , and Stop people from Moaning about my drone.

 

[DARKSeifer]

Drone Karens are a global phenomenon, just keep flying and you'll get used to it; as long as you are mostly within the rules of your country you will be ok.

If it's a Facebook group, just let them whine.

Back on the early 2000s the tripod was a magnet of idiots (it still is), but drones are just on another level

Most people don't care, but there's always that 1-5% that think they are the center of the universe and everything has something to do with them.

For the past 2 years I used to "hide in the bushes" when flying, but not anymore, I check the map, ensure the flight is 100% legal and just sit there, enjoy the time and if someone comes I just say that I'm a landscape photographer and I'm taking some pictures and just keep flying,

Never argue, no matter what they say, be nice, say yes to all and they'll leave.

PS: Once I was tempted to say: "Well... right now I have the truck of my car full of photography equipment, so why I would spy on you with a noisy drone and stand literally 20 meters away from you when I could just use the telephoto from 500m away without you even noticing? Yep, because you are background noise and I have better things to do." But instead I just said "Oh, no, don't mind, I'm just taking pictures of the landscape (happy face)" and kept flying like nothing, and she just left.

 

[old man mavic]

@ObsidianVX ,people on Facebook will always try to be abusive ,through ignorance ,of the subject matter ,and the belief that everything they read on there is absolute fact
just because its on Facebook
and also because of the fact that they can hide behind direct interaction with others ,a few years ago, my then Facebook account was hijacked ,and some really abusive untrue things, were put on there under the auspices of being written by me,
it was something i had never experienced before ,and is why that this forum is the only place i use on the internet
dont let the rubbish put you off flying ,and if anyone does approach you ,just be polite and tell them that if they have an issue with your drone flying ,to contact the police ,
i would just add one thing, and this is not a criticism of your actions,but personally although i could fly my Mini drones over the estate where i live ,perfectly legally ,i choose not to simply because there is nothing much to see and after living here for 40 odd years ,i have seen most of it anyway
the only exception to this would be something like i did when we had the first snow of the year and i went straight up to 200 ft above my bungalow and took pics of the surrounding area very early in the morning before there were even any tyre tracks in the snow

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

it's a Facebook group, just let them whine

Truly the best advice . . . to ignore.
These ignorant people will never get it, or be happy, with many things around them.

You said in your OP, that "I was shocked at the ignorance of some people" . . . a good response if ever confronted (once they know who the drone owner is, and there might be more than you around) could be "I am shocked at the ignorance of some people".

If you really wanted to be a little more pro active, test the waters, you could get your wife to post up a few really nice drone pics, sunsets or landscape pics from the region, slightly elevated to cut out ground clutter, but ones that don't look like they've been taken by a drone, see what sort of responses they get.

If all positive as you'd expect, she could mention "oh my husband took those with his aerial camera", see what happens then.

people on Facebook will always try to be abusive ,through ignorance ,of the subject matter ,and the belief that everything they read on there is absolute fact
just because its on Facebook

Yes, it seems there are a lot of people when able to shield themselves online can get really vocal and want to be offended by just about anything.
Spreading this seems easy on these platforms / groups.

I used to use farcebook many years ago, when interstate or travelling I'd keep in touch with home, post up pics of bushwalking / 4wd adventures etc, had some great stuff there for family / friends to be part of it.
Deleted EVERYTHING, not once, but after a 2nd try, the 2nd and last time.
It's just I found myself getting too involved in making videos, editing remotely to post, getting too caught up in it.

I'm still not over that, why I don't really like mucking about too much with content on YouTube etc.
Prefer more often to just enjoy the moments when flying, bushwalking, or 4wd touring.

 

[AnzacJack]

It ended with me telling the cop "Get off my property, servant".

Im sure the officer that was just doing his job, loved being spoken to like that.

 

[thispilothere]

Im sure the officer that was just doing his job, loved being spoken to like that.

Doing his job would be telling Karen I was allowed to fly and not threatening me or saying he would shoot my drone down himself. I didn't tell the whole conversation. Believe me, he's lucky I didn't take things further.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

I didn't tell the whole conversation.

Needed as context.
If he threatened to shoot your drone down, yes I would have probably got onto someone above him (her) pretty smartly.

 

[Flashheart]

Ah, it appears that I’m not only one who has experienced the wrath of a Facebook group it seems. Some good replies, thanks for taking the time. They were still bickering away about this last night - hey-ho - I’ll never satisfy these NIMBYs.
As I suspected, the general consensus is to ignore them and carry on regardless, and I agree wholeheartedly.
I will carry on practising with my M3P and exercising my legal rights.

 

[orionshooter]

Im sure the officer that was just doing his job, loved being spoken to like that.

Im sure the officer that was just doing his job, loved being spoken to like that.

Completely agree Anzac. This interaction with a law enforcement (who simply responded to a call as required) was definitely not our finest hour. We are sometimes our own worst enemies when we don’t take the opportunity to educate or at a minimum, behave civilly.

 

[orionshooter]

Doing his job would be telling Karen I was allowed to fly and not threatening me or saying he would shoot my drone down himself. I didn't tell the whole conversation. Believe me, he's lucky I didn't take things further.

Sorry - j just don’t buy it. The allegation that a police officer came to your home and threatened to “shoot down your drone” is not merely “context” - it’s the entire story and I’m not buying any of it.

I’m especially skeptical about the fact you did not immediately report the threat to shoot your property to the officer’s superiors. Yes, I’m a little biased after spending years answering these kinds of calls but I did learn to sniff out BS.

I’m going to shut up now as this whole thread is starting to remind me of why so many of us left the FB cesspool.

 

[thispilothere]

Sorry - j just don’t buy it. The allegation that a police officer came to your home and threatened to “shoot down your drone” is not merely “context” - it’s the entire story and I’m not buying any of it.

I’m especially skeptical about the fact you did not immediately report the threat to shoot your property to the officer’s superiors. Yes, I’m a little biased after spending years answering these kinds of calls but I did learn to sniff out BS.

I’m going to shut up now as this whole thread is starting to remind me of why so many of us left the FB cesspool.

I don't care what you believe.

 

[Hermey]

I notice that wherever we have rights, freedoms and liberties, there often seems to be "news" that comes out, which almost appears calculated to stir people up to oppose those rights, freedoms, liberties. It is as if someone behind the scenes somewhere were saying to their small group of powerful cohorts, "Gee, I don't like this particular freedom or right that the people have, what can we do about it? Oh I have an idea...let's put out some news stories about _______ which will motivate some people to start opposing those rights and freedoms....and some will file complaints, and the police will come out and we can thus use them to harass, intimidate and clamp down on people asserting their rights and freedoms....."

Makes me wonder.

Anyhow, my own orientation, to keep things simple and avoid stress, (and because I've had a drone appear over my own neighborhood and my feeling about it at the time was...it felt invasive) is that I generally don't fly in residential areas...but...I am fortunate in that I live in a region with many alternative options for areas to fly. Not everyone has that.

 

[orionshooter]

I notice that wherever we have rights, freedoms and liberties, there often seems to be "news" that comes out, which almost appears calculated to stir people up to oppose those rights, freedoms, liberties. It is as if someone behind the scenes somewhere were saying to their small group of powerful cohorts, "Gee, I don't like this particular freedom or right that the people have, what can we do about it? Oh I have an idea...let's put out some news stories about _______ which will motivate some people to start opposing those rights and freedoms....and some will file complaints, and the police will come out and we can thus use them to harass, intimidate and clamp down on people asserting their rights and freedoms....."

Makes me wonder.

Anyhow, my own orientation, to keep things simple and avoid stress, (and because I've had a drone appear over my own neighborhood and my feeling about it at the time was...it felt invasive) is that I generally don't fly in residential areas...but...I am fortunate in that I live in a region with many alternative options for areas to fly. Not everyone has that.

Best post on the topic yet.

 

[wardtom084]

Had some law enforcement folks knock on my door some time ago.
The woman that complained claimed I was watching her and or her daughter while some bathing suits were in use.
The problem with said complaint was she claimed the aircraft was 50 feet above them. From her location, my takeoff point was 1800 feet away. Line of sight for transmit and receive was physically impossible on the hardware that I use. Took a bit to get the L.E. folks to grasp that concept. Had they any knowledge on how these systems work, they probably wouldn’t have knocked on my door. They have not come back since. I also told them how many other drones are out in the world and the next time they come back that they should have an arrest warrant in there hand and a good attorney.
My wife had a good laugh.

And....this is where you use AirData to show them where YOU HAVE NOT BEEN.

 

[Fizzbang]

Tonight, my wife alerted me to a thread on a community Facebook Group for my local village moaning about somebody using a drone.
After looking through the thread I was shocked at the ignorance of some people, it ranged from some people thinking they own the air space above their house, anyone with a drone is obviously spying/filming them to one person actually thinking a shotgun is the answer lol.
They think it is reasonable to seek permission before flying over their property!
Let me be clear, I have an operator ID and a flyer ID and I’m 100% flying in accordance to the CAA Drone Regulations. I only fly sub 250 in the UK. I mostly fly above the highest tree which is 35 meters high. A lot of the land around me is private, so I’ve been practising flying from my back garden with my new toy getting used to the new functions like POI and spotlight.
Initially, I was going to reply to the thread, but I know it will probably just end up causing more harm than good.
If you was in my shoes, what would you do? It’s causing quite a stir…

There was a similar post a couple of years ago about a drone near my village. I was tempted to respond but ignored it because; it was not my drone and the claims seemed too extreme. I continue to fly my drones on land all around my village and I have never received bad comment from anyone I have encountered. As far as I am aware my drones have not caused any concern to others.

To expand a little we do get; hot air ballons; sky divers; objects from sky divers (watches etc); all of which fall to earth in and around but I have never seen a Facebook post about those.