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The "creepy" feeling of being watched by a drone

When you register your drone, they provide regulations. Stay under 400FT, dont fly over or around people. Blahh blahhh blahh......
For you that keep saying there are "no laws" are misinformed. Just because it is called a regulation and not a law, doesnt mean it wont be at a cost of a fine of worse. Every person has the right to a certain amount of privacy when on their own property. EVEN More if they have a privacy fence around it. If you choose to look at them by standing on a ladder or flying your camera over them IS violating their expected privacy. Play that "no right to expect privacy in public" card as long as you can. But, it will eventually come back to bite you. Because you are sadly mistaken how very little "public" actually exists.

Fish bag or slot limits are regulations not laws, break them and get caught, there is consequences.

Better yet, here is a cut and paste from law.com;


regulations
n. rules and administrative codes issued by governmental agencies at all levels, municipal, county, state and federal. Although they are not laws, regulations have the force of law, since they are adopted under authority granted by statutes, and often include penalties for violations. One problem is that regulations are not generally included in volumes containing state statutes or federal laws but often must be obtained from the agency or located in volumes in law libraries and not widely distributed. The regulation-making process involves hearings, publication in governmental journals which supposedly give public notice, and adoption by the agency. The process is best known to industries and special interests concerned with the subject matter, but only occasionally to the general public. Federal regulations are adopted in the manner designated in the Administrative Procedure Act (A.P.A.) and states usually have similar procedures.
 
Wytnyt: I just nominated you for the next episode of ''Hoarders".... LOL.

I'm the same way, you never know when you'll need something. I may take up metal detecting again, hopefully the $1000 collection still works...

I just got back into reloading (California Laws forced me into it) and I hadn't had that Dillion 550b out for over 25 years. Thank goodness I kept it. Using it like crazy all over again.

Sometimes it works out, and you will use that item again.
 
...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...


Mark

After I bought my Mavic, I became acutely aware of the sensitivity some people have against invasion of privacy, whether real, or imagined. My first exposure to FPV flying came from watching YouTube videos posted by the Black Sheep Squadron, who are at times possibly not the best examples of responsible flying, but when I began examining these forums, it became clear that adherence to AMA/FAA rules is critical if we wish to avoid disruptive laws.

My former home was surrounded by heliports (hospital, ranches, and one private airport), all just within the 5-mile boundaries, which required calling each one before a flight, which I usually restricted to below 100 ft, and only straight above my property. I also kept "test flights" below my fence line, to avoid upsetting my neighbors, but I still had to call all of the heliports.

Now, I live so close to an airport (less than 1/2 mile) that I will not even try to fly around the yard, so flying my Tello drones indoors is my only avenue for "thrill" flying, unless I want to drive 30 miles away from Houston, or go to an AMA registered air park. Funny, though, that the AMA model-plane air parks also exist well within the 5-mile boundaries of multiple heliports, but I have yet so see someone call in their activities for notification or permission. I suppose these have some kind of agreement with the nearby airports and helipads?

Regardless, despite the laws and rules, if I am flying legally under "hobby rules", but someone expresses concern about their privacy, right or wrong, I comply willingly, presenting a non-combative attitude, land the quad, and get ready to pack it up. On quite a few occasions, one the quad was down, the people who expressed their concern became disarmed, and curious. This is when I will show them photos or videos, and explain the facts about responsible flying, and that their safety and privacy trumps my desire to fly, every time. Plus, I am required to avoid flying over people under any circumstances, so I would probably have had to ground the quad anyway. Fortunately, I have not had to deal with totally unreasonable/radical people as many on these forums have.

Commercial flights are different, requiring a lot of preparation to shoot real-estate sessions. For these, I am wearing my FAA vest, and have signs with my company logo and verbiage explaining the nature of the shoot, proof of permission to fly at the ready, and an admonition not to disturb the pilot during the flight. Under these circumstances, I am not so compliant to trivial concerns, and I do not ground my quad unless unscheduled people or vehicles enter the property, something goes wrong with the equipment, or someone of authority shows up (who usually examine my registration, license, and permits, and then tell the complainer that I am in compliance, and that the "drone" will be gone very shortly). And since, permits or not, I will never fly over another property without permission just to get a shot, I keep a stabilized camera with a wide-angle lens to mount on a 30' pole for shots that are too tight to capture with the quad because adjacent property is too close to my subject.

Flying over peoples' heads at 300 or 400 feet is not much safer than flying three inches above them; I saw one YouTube video where a Phantom lost power while flying around 60 feet over the edge of a ball game field, well away from the main crowd, and came down hard, hitting an isolated woman squarely on the head. I don't think the outcome would have been any better if the quad had fallen from 400 feet.

My neighborhood flights were restricted to a zone immediately above my property, at under 100 feet, which is still risky, because despite the reliability of DJI products, "things" still happen, and I don't want to risk hurting anyone at worst, or facing the liability of property damage.
 
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He's just excited and knows you are a fellow drone owner and having some fun. After a couple times he will stop. I wouldn't take it so seriously....
 
Its funny people absolutely lose their **** over a recreational drone not realizing they look like a black dot on the screen from 200 feet up. People truly believe drones have 60x zoom and x-ray vision.

If people are this concerned about privacy how come they are not out in the streets protesting the Patriot Act? How about the ability for government to activate their cell phones camera and microphone without them knowing and even with the phone being powered off? How about the government being able to record and save all of their private phone conversations???

Seems people love .gov spying on them but if its a recreational drone flying around they immediately go into hysterics
 
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Its funny people absolutely lose their **** over a recreational drone not realizing they look like a black dot on the screen from 200 feet up. People truly believe drones have 60x zoom and x-ray vision.

If people are this concerned about privacy how come they are not out in the streets protesting the Patriot Act? How about the ability for government to activate their cell phones camera and microphone without them knowing and even with the phone being powered off? How about the government being able to record and save all of their private phone conversations???

Seems people love .gov spying on them but if its a recreational drone flying around they immediately go into hysterics

It's not .gov you need to worry about, it's .com. Google Earth / Maps is the mother ship of drone footage. Few know that they use drones or manned aircraft to capture low altitude images so they can do the fancy 3-D thing. Google Maps / Earth shows all my doors and windows . No way a satellite can catch that.
 
After I bought my Mavic, I became acutely aware of the sensitivity some people have against invasion of privacy, whether real, or imagined. My first exposure to FPV flying came from watching YouTube videos posted by the Black Sheep Squadron, who are at times possibly not the best examples of responsible flying, but when I began examining these forums, it became clear that adherence to AMA/FAA rules is critical if we wish to avoid disruptive laws.

My former home was surrounded by heliports (hospital, ranches, and one private airport), all just within the 5-mile boundaries, which required calling each one before a flight, which I usually restricted to below 100 ft, and only straight above my property. I also kept "test flights" below my fence line, to avoid upsetting my neighbors, but I still had to call all of the heliports.

Now, I live so close to an airport (less than 1/2 mile) that I will not even try to fly around the yard, so flying my Tello drones indoors is my only avenue for "thrill" flying, unless I want to drive 30 miles away from Houston, or go to an AMA registered air park. Funny, though, that the AMA model-plane air parks also exist well within the 5-mile boundaries of multiple heliports, but I have yet so see someone call in their activities for notification or permission. I suppose these have some kind of agreement with the nearby airports and helipads?

Regardless, despite the laws and rules, if I am flying legally under "hobby rules", but someone expresses concern about their privacy, right or wrong, I comply willingly, presenting a non-combative attitude, land the quad, and get ready to pack it up. On quite a few occasions, one the quad was down, the people who expressed their concern became disarmed, and curious. This is when I will show them photos or videos, and explain the facts about responsible flying, and that their safety and privacy trumps my desire to fly, every time. Plus, I am required to avoid flying over people under any circumstances, so I would probably have had to ground the quad anyway. Fortunately, I have not had to deal with totally unreasonable/radical people as many on these forums have.

Commercial flights are different, requiring a lot of preparation to shoot real-estate sessions. For these, I am wearing my FAA vest, and have signs with my company logo and verbiage explaining the nature of the shoot, proof of permission to fly at the ready, and an admonition not to disturb the pilot during the flight. Under these circumstances, I am not so compliant to trivial concerns, and I do not ground my quad unless unscheduled people or vehicles enter the property, something goes wrong with the equipment, or someone of authority shows up (who usually examine my registration, license, and permits, and then tell the complainer that I am in compliance, and that the "drone" will be gone very shortly). And since, permits or not, I will never fly over another property without permission just to get a shot, I keep a stabilized camera with a wide-angle lens to mount on a 30' pole for shots that are too tight to capture with the quad because adjacent property is too close to my subject.

Flying over peoples' heads at 300 or 400 feet is not much safer than flying three inches above them; I saw one YouTube video where a Phantom lost power while flying around 60 feet over the edge of a ball game field, well away from the main crowd, and came down hard, hitting an isolated woman squarely on the head. I don't think the outcome would have been any better if the quad had fallen from 400 feet.

My neighborhood flights were restricted to a zone immediately above my property, at under 100 feet, which is still risky, because despite the reliability of DJI products, "things" still happen, and I don't want to risk hurting anyone at worst, or facing the liability of property damage.
Wow.
 
I’m not so creeped out about who is flying around...but find the sound annoying for some reason. I love to fly but easily get annoyed at others flying drones overhead repeatedly...feels like a big mosquito buzzing around my head.
 
As others have said, it's his new super toy that he's showing off.

He's effectively showing you that he's gone and bought one after your conversation.

Throw a rock at it next time and, when he comes fo pick the pieces up, say you forgot to mention that if you get too close to people with it, that's what will happen :)

Only joking......

Speak to him and tell him if he invades your privacy again, you'll throw a rock at it.
"thats funny right there, I don't care who you are". :)
 
I live in Australia. There is a company that every 3 months flies aerial phogography of all the built up areas and sells the results to local government etc. They use it to track unlicensed pools, sheds etc.

In my work i also used it.

If you are worried about drones you should be worridd about this sort of photography. You can just about read the print on the books sunbathers are reading in their yards.
 

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