Well, it happened again. Ken and Karen on the beach.

[MS Coast]

We went down to the beach to shoot some winter sunset video and photos with the Mavic 3. The beach was deserted except for a couple about 100 yards down the way. I carefully avoided going anywhere near them. She was shooting photos. It wasn't long before he turned and stared at the drone and then at me and then back to the drone. And then ... Yep, he made a beeline straight for me, very purposefully. With a pit bull on a leash. He stopped about five yards away, made the dog sit, paused, and addressed me.

"Sorry, I don't mean to interrupt, but can I come look at the screen?"

I had just started a 360-degree panorama, so I welcomed him over. The next few minutes were filled with "Wow!" "How cool!" "Look at that! Amazing!" "What model is that?" "What a great perspective!" And it wasn't even a particularly interesting sunset.

He watched a few minutes and then thanked me and excused himself, saying "I know you're busy, so I'll get out of your way. Thanks so much."

Haven't had a bad interaction with a spectator yet. I hope my luck continues.

 

[Drone Views Media]

We went down to the beach to shoot some winter sunset video and photos with the Mavic 3. The beach was deserted except for a couple about 100 yards down the way. I carefully avoided going anywhere near them. She was shooting photos. It wasn't long before he turned and stared at the drone and then at me and then back to the drone. And then ... Yep, he made a beeline straight for me, very purposefully. With a pit bull on a leash. He stopped about five yards away, made the dog sit, paused, and addressed me.

"Sorry, I don't mean to interrupt, but can I come look at the screen?"

I had just started a 360-degree panorama, so I welcomed him over. The next few minutes were filled with "Wow!" "How cool!" "Look at that! Amazing!" "What model is that?" "What a great perspective!" And it wasn't even a particularly interesting sunset.

He watched a few minutes and then thanked me and excused himself, saying "I know you're busy, so I'll get out of your way. Thanks so much."

Haven't had a bad interaction with a spectator yet. I hope my luck continues.

You'll find most people are just curious, then we have the other type. They are the reason I stay the heck away from people wherever possible.

 

[Daytona500]

so why do you call it Ken and Karen names reserved for ding dats
or is that your clic bait

 

[spsphotos]

so why do you call it Ken and Karen names reserved for ding dats
or is that your clic bait

100% clickbait title.

 

[MS Coast]

so why do you call it Ken and Karen names reserved for ding dats
or is that your clic bait

f you read the post looking for a self-righteous and defensive tale of conflict, anger, and commotion, I can see where you might be disappointed. I've never had a bad experience with people while flying a drone.

As for the selection of names, you'll have to consult their parents. (I'll bet that his momma still calls him Kenny.)

I couldn't recall the dog's name.

 

[shb]

If I had know the content, I wouldn't of bothered reading it.

 

[moldorf]

You'll find most people are just curious, then we have the other type. They are the reason I stay the heck away from people wherever possible.

I stay the heck away from lots of people too, but the reason isn't droning, the reason is in-laws

 

[GFields]

Out of several hundred jobs, I have only two confrontations. One, while doing a land survey a pot grower was upset that I might have filmed his activity. I explained my FAA conditionals and the legality of the flight and if he continued to cuss me and threaten me, I would just call the police (of course he didn't want that for obvious reasons lol).

The other one was during a roof inspection of an apartment building and a guy accused me of being a "peeping tom" (If I were, I wouldn't care to look in on him ) I showed him the flight path, and a few images I had (of the roof) and he quickly understood and then begin to ask how he might get into the business. Most of my work is in Commerical and Residential Real Estate and no one seems to notice.

Stay safe!

 

[mobilehomer]

It is GOOD to hear about non-aggressive interactions! I have had several, all were actually fun.

 

[FLDave]

Another disrespectful title!

 

[mobilehomer]

Another disrespectful title!

My name IS Ken, I feel no disrespect whatsoever.

 

[GFields]

Please stay on topic folks

 

[karlblessing]

Last time I took some stranger out to show them how I do some things he ended up buying my old mini 2.

 

[Talldiver]

If I had know the content, I wouldn't of bothered reading it.

X2

 

[KennethH]

We went down to the beach to shoot some winter sunset video and photos with the Mavic 3. The beach was deserted except for a couple about 100 yards down the way. I carefully avoided going anywhere near them. She was shooting photos. It wasn't long before he turned and stared at the drone and then at me and then back to the drone. And then ... Yep, he made a beeline straight for me, very purposefully. With a pit bull on a leash. He stopped about five yards away, made the dog sit, paused, and addressed me.

"Sorry, I don't mean to interrupt, but can I come look at the screen?"

I had just started a 360-degree panorama, so I welcomed him over. The next few minutes were filled with "Wow!" "How cool!" "Look at that! Amazing!" "What model is that?" "What a great perspective!" And it wasn't even a particularly interesting sunset.

He watched a few minutes and then thanked me and excused himself, saying "I know you're busy, so I'll get out of your way. Thanks so much."

Haven't had a bad interaction with a spectator yet. I hope my luck continues.

Were their names really Ken and Karen, or is that because you expected them to complain about your possibly recording them? My wife disputes my saying that I've heard "Ken" used as a name for a MAN who complains. Of course I would take exception to that stereotype. You may have made a new convert.

 

[KennethH]

so why do you call it Ken and Karen names reserved for ding dats
or is that your clic bait

Thanks a lot,
Ken

 

[Ty Pilot]

I think the OP was making a point to suggest that hostile interactions between pilots and strangers (which are talked about a lot on this forum), are not the norm, and are in fact; far less frequent than some of these threads may suggest.

I have to agree. I've been flying for a long time and most folks just have a innate curiosity, and those interactions are quite agreeable. If you have not had a negative interaction however, that does not mean they don't exist. Just because you haven't been struck by lightening doesn't mean it doesn't exist; perhaps you've been lucky or perhaps you don't live where there is frequent lightening.

While flying drones, I have had one negative reaction with a stranger, and was at a neighbors house when he had a negative reaction for flying over someone else's house. So 2 incidents in nine or ten years of drone flying. Rare, but they do happen.

 

[Yaros]

and are in fact; far less frequent than some of these threads may suggest.

I think it all depends on which country you're flying in.
I have flown in Spain, Ukraine, and France.
Spain was the place I had the most negative experience while flying, especially Mallorca. People there don't know much about drones, and are scared of them, or me invading their privacy. I'm sure you have seen some of my other posts regarding this topic where I described it more in detail.

 

[Felix le Chat]

It is GOOD to hear about non-aggressive interactions! I have had several, all were actually fun.

Agreed. If I'm honest, I'd say that perhaps 90% of people who have expressed an intense interest in what's being flown and why have done so out of genuine curiosity - so that's 90% positive... but the 10% that are less than positive have been a real pain in the fundamental orifice, which is why they are a lot more memorable. Luckily, I've always worked with people from a P.R. perspective (you never know who your next client might be) and operate the "polite-in: even more polite-out" rule, but experience shows that when someone is hell-bent on having a confrontation, it doesn't matter how polite or reasonable (or right) you are.

Perfect example: flying a heritage shoot of a 17th century manor house built by a lake. Borderline I.A. FRZ. TOAL: public parkland on the opposite side of the lake with no moratoria or by-law restrictions. Applied for clearance from ATC for set date and times. Received clearance prior to flight. Undertook controlled shoot of house and surrounding landscape and ended up with a dogwalker shouting the odds for five minutes solid and phoning the police even though informed in a totally reasonable manner that it was a legit deployment. Couldn't (or wouldn't because of his crappy attitude) pause or abort the flight - needed to complete the shoot before cut-off time so after the initial reasonable effort at interaction: I realized I was banging my head off a brick wall and phased him out to concentrate on what I was doing. Cue two squad cars... (luckily the one was an Airport Police Rover Unit who were 100% reasonable, checked flight permissions and cross-referenced with the duty desk) the other police car that Starsky & Hutched round the corner was full of burly PCSO's fired-up to jump all over the criminal who had been reported to them. Airport Police buffered the situation and told the PCSO's to wind their necks in. In this case: the trouble stemmed from someone who had decided that something he objected to and couldn't stop the instant he wanted it to stop had to be illegal.

 

[guzewski]

The only remotely negative interaction I had was with a school principal, while I was flying my Mini 2 in a large park adjacent to the school. The drone was no where near the school, flying at the opposite end of the park, but I was sitting on a bench closer to the school. The principal said there were no cameras allowed near the school, to protect the kids. I understand that, and faced the drone towards the school and showed her the image. The kids looked like a bunch of tiny dots in the playground. At that time there were a bunch of cars idling by the school, presumably waiting for their charges. I mentioned that some camera phones have a huge zoom and maybe that's something they should be worried about. She said there was nothing that could be done about that, but I had to bring my drone in. I don't think she had a legal leg to stand on but I complied anyway. The whole thing was quite civilized but I need a better way to defend my interests under such conditions. Other than that, all my interactions have been the "Oh wow, that is SO cool!" type.