Why People Hate Drones

[dewster]

It’s crazy. You’ll be out in the middle of a desert and some nut will walk up saying your spying on them.

 

[Afremont]

I've only had one person come up to me sporting an attitude. I was flying at a 43 acre, county owned, flood detention pond that also masquerades as a "reforestation area" and public jogging trail. She approached me and promptly announced that I needed to register it. I calmly told her I already did and that it had the number on it.

She asked a bunch of prying questions like a judicial prosecutor. Like where and when I fly it, why I bought it and what I planned to do with it. In the interest of not escalating her apparent paranoia, I answered them all, but also subtly informed her that I knew the arcane and oppresive Texas "privacy" rules and that no amount of crying, or skyscreaming, was going to change the fact that I can fly it without her written permission. I also showed her how little you can see with the onboard camera at distance. That seemed to make her feel a little better. The girl that was with her was the complete opposite, she was interested in what it could do and how hard it was to fly. She thought it was really neat and was expressing how she wished she had one to use on vacation trips.

I've seen the local PD watching me from a distance, but haven't had any trouble from them. Though the detention pond is located in my local city limits (small town), it actually belongs to the county so the local PD doesn't really have any jurisdiction over it since it's basically a county public park. So far, the local oppressive government hasn't instituted any "drone" laws, but the state has done a pretty good job creating some bizarre privacy laws. I have to be careful with what I do with any images captured from an altitude higher than 8'. I'm also not allowed to film criminal activity, or I could be the one prosecuted. Hopefully the FAA will eventually nullify all the state and local regulations that have been instituted around the US. But I digress...

 

[irpnetgb]

Some interactions I've seen on the interwebs are quite funny. People telling pilots they can't fly UAV's over their property because it's illegal, even though they have no control of the airspace (except the military and certain government establishments like airports). The other was a guy who said that if a drone crashed/landed on his property he would smash it up or not give it back. When he was told it would be criminal damage or theft he looked surprised! I used to work in the door supervisor/bouncer industry. There's always that one who has a <relation name> who is a lawyer and they think they know the law better than anyone because of said relative.

 

[Clipper707]

It’s crazy. You’ll be out in the middle of a desert and some nut will walk up saying your spying on them.

I always reassure them I'm not spying on them, just using my drone to steal their PIN numbers.

 

[Afremont]

My personal favorite hate threat is those that are going to shoot them down. Yes, shooting into the air at an official aircraft, in a populated area, without consideration of where bullets are going to land, is a completely rational response. SMH

 

[Thomas B]

I’ve been approached once. The gentleman introduced himself as a lawyer and identified his home in a subdivision about a mile away... guess he followed my ARC2s to find me as I was at about 250ft altitude.
Anyway, I was capturing sunset images and flew, not hovered or paused, over his property to get the perspective I wanted. I just showed him my images as well as letting him look at my CS monitor screen to see that it was not like satellite surveillance and that nothing but horizon pics were on my SD card. He was impressed and we then had a long conversation about him getting a drone. Ended up very pleasant and he was satisfied that I wasn’t invading his privacy.

 

[Myha]

I can tell you right now that I'm gonna pretty much hate all delivery drones, like Google's. Google’s Wing has landed the FAA’s first approval for drone delivery

I don't care to see this crap cluttering up the skies (or hear them) delivering other crap to members of our already too materialist society. I dunno, maybe it won't be as bad as I'm thinking it will be...

You hit the nail on the head with your comment about delivery drones. This is probably the single most genuine reason for increasing regulations - Why? The government, no matter which country you reside in, will eventually want to sell off air space below 400 feet just as they sell off parts of the electromagnetic spectrum to mobile phone service providers. It all comes down to money at the end of the day.

 

[Dizzy1971]

It’s funny,I was having some friends over last weekend for lunch and the husband of our friend asked me if I was still flying my drone much and I said that indeed I would be once I have it registered under the new regulations in Canada. He stated quite plainly to me that the reason the feds have made new rules was purely because of privacy concerns. I was kinda surprised that he thought so actually.
I told him that from where I’m sitting, it has nothing to do with having to protect anyone’s privacy. It’s the perception of a privacy issue that causes uneducated citizens to think privacy was the reason for more regulation. What am I getting at? Well I’m getting at the point that people (the majority) don’t own quads,so many attribute abilities to these machines that the machines actually don’t have....like spying in neighbours windows silently at night. Media and especially government departments,do very little to get facts out there. If somebody was hovering their Mavic outside my window,close enough to get a picture of the inside of my house...while I was right there close enough to be photographed, I would KNOW it!
People who don’t know and don’t care to educate themselves about “drone” capabilities will make up their own narrative. In 2019, sadly for most of us,the PERCEPTION is the reality and once minds are made up it’s crazy how difficult it is to change them. I also mentioned to my friends husband that 3 cops were disciplined from a chopper unit in our province not that long ago, for using the FLIR capabilities of the choppers to peer into people’s bedrooms at night just for entertainment. Yeah,true story. My Mavic has nothing close to THAT capability.

 

[Dizzy1971]

You hit the nail on the head with your comment about delivery drones. This is probably the single most genuine reason for increasing regulations - Why? The government, no matter which country you reside in, will eventually want to sell off air space below 400 feet just as they sell off parts of the electromagnetic spectrum to mobile phone service providers. It all comes down to money at the end of the day.

Yes I have no doubt that you’re spot on with that thought.

 

[Thomas B]

It’s funny,I was having some friends over last weekend for lunch and the husband of our friend asked me if I was still flying my drone much and I said that indeed I would be once I have it registered under the new regulations in Canada. He stated quite plainly to me that the reason the feds have made new rules was purely because of privacy concerns. I was kinda surprised that he thought so actually.
I told him that from where I’m sitting, it has nothing to do with having to protect anyone’s privacy. It’s the perception of a privacy issue that causes uneducated citizens to think privacy was the reason for more regulation. What am I getting at? Well I’m getting at the point that people (the majority) don’t own quads,so many attribute abilities to these machines that the machines actually don’t have....like spying in neighbours windows silently at night. Media and especially government departments,do very little to get facts out there. If somebody was hovering their Mavic outside my window,close enough to get a picture of the inside of my house...while I was right there close enough to be photographed, I would KNOW it!
People who don’t know and don’t care to educate themselves about “drone” capabilities will make up their own narrative. In 2019, sadly for most of us,the PERCEPTION is the reality and once minds are made up it’s crazy how difficult it is to change them. I also mentioned to my friends husband that 3 cops were disciplined from a chopper unit in our province not that long ago, for using the FLIR capabilities of the choppers to peer into people’s bedrooms at night just for entertainment. Yeah,true story. My Mavic has nothing close to THAT capability.

You’ll never convince him... his perception was likely formed after several drinks with friends who imagined why people fly drones... chalk it up to ignorance and lay cards or something.

 

[Bruce Lythe]

I bought my drone in Asia. There it's known as a flycam. I tell anyone who asks (in the UK) I am using a flycam to do nature photography. Everyone seems happy with that. First answer is I am doing nature photography. 1 in 10 of such questions (and I do get asked often and have great chats - must remember to put drone in hover if it's in autonomous mode when gentleman approaches) lead on to the specific question of what sort of camera is it. I say it's a DJI Mavic Flycam. Never had ANY hassles

 

[Tom-Air]

I have a neighbor that hates my UAV’s. He has actually called the police on me and I have never crossed his property line and out of respect I don’t even point in his direction. He like all others wears a tin foil hat. We sat down for a talk the other night about other things and finally showed him the actual capabilities of the UAV and he understands them better now. Education is what the public needs. Everyone thinks we are flying a device that can zoom in on a gnat at 300000 feet

Have you seen -

 

[dronerdave]

Well they did a drill saying a drone took down a blackhawk. Not saying it can't happen but it just adds fuel to the fire:

Emergency Crews Train for Helicopter Emergency Scenario at Sutter Roseville

ROSEVILLE — What would happen if a Black Hawk helicopter crashed into Sutter Roseville Medical Center? A training exercise was held Wednesday to prepare emergency crews for that exact scenari…

fox40.com

Why say a drone? It could be reported as a mechanical problem which would probably be more likely.

 

[Olav van Gerven]

Basicly the same reasons why they don't like imigrants, gays, or other people: They don't know anything about them, believe in propaganda, are afraid they can't control what happens if meeting one, and/or are not willing to inform themself.

Unfortunatly, there are dronepiltos that simply confirm peoples fears by irresponsible pilots (not in this forum, here everybody is reasonable and fly within the rules and regulations, I mean "the others"). There is only one way to take away their fears: Show them there is nothing to be afraid for by flying resposnsible.

 

[Olav van Gerven]

I have a neighbor that hates my UAV’s. He has actually called the police on me and I have never crossed his property line and out of respect I don’t even point in his direction. He like all others wears a tin foil hat. We sat down for a talk the other night about other things and finally showed him the actual capabilities of the UAV and he understands them better now. Education is what the public needs. Everyone thinks we are flying a device that can zoom in on a gnat at 300000 feet

Don't tell me that your dronecamera can't look through the walls to watch whatever he wants to keep hidden.

 

[MavicFT1P]

Who says people 'hate' drones?
I think People are curious about drones.

I know what im told people might think about drones by the news, but moreso
than the news by the Paranoid Drone Police on MP's who regurgitate or exaserbate it.

I've never been approached by someone while flying since 2016.
And I have a freakin awesome personality. No way anyone would find me creepy

I have delusions the Government is studying me and my humble drone to find ways to
Curtail them. But that's the persian Rugs speaking.

 

[45er]

I live out in the country. The closest neighbor is a young family whose house is about 350 yards from mine. When I got my drone, I called the young wife and explained that they might occasionally hear the drone fly over, but not to worry, it will be at least 100 feet up and at that height, it's hard to recognize people, much less what they're wearing (or not wearing). She was fine with that and I offered to send her some nice pictures of their home site. I think common courtesy will win out most of the time.

 

[FASTFJR]

Most people are scared of what they don't understand.

 

[old man mavic]

i always wear my hi vis vest with drone pilot printed on the back,i have found that if you show people that you are not hiding the fact that you are flying a drone then you are already ahead of the game, people are by nature suspicious of something they know nothing about, or should i say what they believe a drone is about because of bad media reporting,in some 2 years or so of drone ownership i have never had any problems with members of the public or park rangers where i fly, i find that the best approach is to speak to them before you fly show them you follow the drone code and have insurance, and then if someone objects to you flying, when they complain to park workers they will back you up and tell them that they are happy for you to fly there, i know because it has happened to me once, a member of the public went to the ranger post,and told them he was unhappy i was flying there, and after speaking to the rangers the person involved actually had a very pleasant chat with me, and was happy and apologised for complaining about me, we shook hands and he left saying that he would consider purchasing a drone after he realised what a good hobby it was.

 

[fastracer]

One of the main problems is that the “general public“ and the media view us as a group of flyers not individual flyers so when one of those individuals decide to be stupid and go harass someone enemy or film a maned aircraft the “general public” and the media will see us as a whole and just see drones, drone pilots, and easy ways to condemn us all. And even if it is the maned aircrafts making the mistakes the media will always say drone hits plane at high speed and never plane his drone, even if the plane was below 400 ft!!! We are always going to be the ones who get blamed until action is taken.