A neighbor in our association recently got a Mavic Pro Platinum. He saw me flying mine in front of our house about a month ago, he stopped and we had a nice conversation about the Mavic's feature's, etc. About a week ago he told me he finally got one.
Three days later I'm out front talking to my neighbors across the street and I hear the sound of a Mavic overhead. At first it was about 100 feet up. I quickly realized it belonged to the neighbor up the street so I waved hello. That's when he dropped the altitude to maybe 30 feet and just hovered there, camera pointed at the four of us. After about 30 seconds of it hovering there I waved to him again and the Mavic flew away.
The next day I was washing my car in front of my house. Sure enough, here comes his Mavic again. He again dropped it to about 30 feet above the street and hovered there pointing the camera at me and what I was doing. I again waved and he flew off.
Even though I know this pilot, he wasn't standing near me at the time. His house is a quarter-mile away. I very much got that creepy feeling of being watched by a drone. It was just too close.
What this guy did is not something I'd EVER do. I would NEVER drop my Mavic to such a low altitude near people I'm not standing with at the time. When I fly around our neighborhood my Mavic is at a minimum altitude of 300 feet and more frequently clear up at 400 feet. It's just bad manners to fly so low, even above people you know.
I'm not mad at the guy. But I am disappointed. When we had our long conversation about the Mavic we also talked about drone etiquette and I emphasized I'm a big believer in following the AMA rules. He agreed those things sounded reasonable. But I get the feeling he hasn't bothered to spend much time reading and educating himself. I wonder if he's even registered himself with the FAA yet.
I hope I'm wrong. I hope it's simply a case of a new pilot that was anxious to show off his toy to a fellow done pilot and such low altitude visits won't happen anymore. And I sure as heck hope he's not doing the same thing anywhere else within our association.
I'm friends with our association president. I emailed her to let her know that we have at least one more drone pilot in the association (flying the same model drone as mine). If this guy is doing anything to make any other association members feel creepy I sure don't want them thinking it was me.
I will talk to him the next time I see him. I'll let him know that it feels creepy (even though I know him) and tell him I hope he's not doing the same thing anywhere else.
In the meantime, I think I better put a skin on my Mavic so my drone looks decidedly different than his.
Mark
Three days later I'm out front talking to my neighbors across the street and I hear the sound of a Mavic overhead. At first it was about 100 feet up. I quickly realized it belonged to the neighbor up the street so I waved hello. That's when he dropped the altitude to maybe 30 feet and just hovered there, camera pointed at the four of us. After about 30 seconds of it hovering there I waved to him again and the Mavic flew away.
The next day I was washing my car in front of my house. Sure enough, here comes his Mavic again. He again dropped it to about 30 feet above the street and hovered there pointing the camera at me and what I was doing. I again waved and he flew off.
Even though I know this pilot, he wasn't standing near me at the time. His house is a quarter-mile away. I very much got that creepy feeling of being watched by a drone. It was just too close.
What this guy did is not something I'd EVER do. I would NEVER drop my Mavic to such a low altitude near people I'm not standing with at the time. When I fly around our neighborhood my Mavic is at a minimum altitude of 300 feet and more frequently clear up at 400 feet. It's just bad manners to fly so low, even above people you know.
I'm not mad at the guy. But I am disappointed. When we had our long conversation about the Mavic we also talked about drone etiquette and I emphasized I'm a big believer in following the AMA rules. He agreed those things sounded reasonable. But I get the feeling he hasn't bothered to spend much time reading and educating himself. I wonder if he's even registered himself with the FAA yet.
I hope I'm wrong. I hope it's simply a case of a new pilot that was anxious to show off his toy to a fellow done pilot and such low altitude visits won't happen anymore. And I sure as heck hope he's not doing the same thing anywhere else within our association.
I'm friends with our association president. I emailed her to let her know that we have at least one more drone pilot in the association (flying the same model drone as mine). If this guy is doing anything to make any other association members feel creepy I sure don't want them thinking it was me.
I will talk to him the next time I see him. I'll let him know that it feels creepy (even though I know him) and tell him I hope he's not doing the same thing anywhere else.
In the meantime, I think I better put a skin on my Mavic so my drone looks decidedly different than his.
Mark
