Experiences dealing with complaints?

[SteveMann]

I would just offer to delete the video if it was just for personal use.

Why let the ******* win?

 

[SteveMann]

I've only had one curious onlooker approach me. I held the controller in front of him and told him to use the right stick and fly around a bit.
I expect to see him joining the forums soon.

 

[Fplvert]

I've only had one curious onlooker approach me. I held the controller in front of him and told him to use the right stick and fly around a bit.
I expect to see him joining the forums soon.

+1 SteveMann.

Sometimes a question can defuse a confrontation. In this case I would ask the property owner if he would shoot a manned aircraft?

 

[JDNC]

Bottom line... In the US one doesn't have to show any irate landowner a damned thing unless they want to. I know a juvenile might be intimidated by an angry adult that's demanding to see what has been recorded and have to handle the situation differently.

I'm not advising anyone not to resolve the problem in a civil way. I believe it should be a civil conversation. I just don't think anyone raising hell with me when I'm on my own property, is going to demand anything from me for long. If he or she approaches me and communicates his/her concerns in a civil way I'll probably offer to show them what and how I record with my drone. Bottom line, I don't have to show them crap, or even give them the time of day unless I want to.

My .02 worth, now I feel better!

 

[J.James]

So my flight comes to and end and I'm packing up when a man appears (the landowner of the private plot) who insists that I've been flying over his land, says I'm lucky he didn't shoot my phantom down with his shotgun and demands to see what footage I have.

First off I would of advised him how lucky he was that he didn't even try to shoot at your drone unless he actually likes prison or wants to lose his rights to own firearms ever again after he gets a felony firearms infractions or a few on his record. some thing like that. Tho He probably does have some thing illegal going on considering he has some thing on his property that caused him to be so panicked and sketched out that any one might of seen it.


I would of told him to go f him self and that your not going to stand that and even discuss right or wrong with a person that is not only got some thing he must know is criminal to be having on his property that he needs to hide but Id also consider any one even saying any thing about a gun as a personal threat. esp if he is some mentally unstable that he would even condider shooting any thing he does not know how it belongs to or if its even maybe a cop or goverment drone in an effort to hide his illegal activity or thing its then its not a big leap to assume he could also be just as willing and capable of harming any one he falsely thinks might of all so see what ever it is he feels he needs to keep so hidden from prying eyes. Being I'm sure if he shot any ones drone down out of fear of the drone discovering what ever it is he must be so worried about hiding it would seem that unless he also eliminates the person flying it to be able to ensure there are no witness or any one that could and would more then likely get the cops involved.

All I can say is hes lucky It was not me he tried that with because he would of been one sorry sob soon after.

 

[pilsburypie]

When flying I think I'm more worried about bothering other people then most fliers are. But I just started flying a month ago. I think in that situation I'd take a moment to explain the situation with the anticipation that we'd better understand each other and part as friends. However, if the person just wanted to be a **** about it, I'd explain drones could be flown over the property without permission and I could take all the photos and video I wanted. I'd think n point out that I'd still like to respect his requests. If he threatened to shoot the drone I'd probably ask him to confirm that he was going to use a gun to damage my property and offer to call the police to investigate that threat.

If some one is going to threaten property damage with a gun then discussion and a meeting of the minds is a lost cause.

I'd not loose any sleep over the interaction. Some people just don't know how to play well with others.

This..... first be reasonable and attempt to diffuse the situation. Sometimes this will work - everyone is now happy. But unfortunately the world is full of dicks and he probably is the sort that would create a stink about anything, drone or no drone. It's then your choice how to proceed because he is going away mad anyhow. Be calm and firm as above, inform him that what he was suggesting he was going to do is illegal and tell him you can call the police..... or you could turn his unreasonable behaviour back on him and be unreasonable back. Depends what sort of person you are and how your day has been!

Anyway, these confrontations are rare. I've never been confronted and if I was would use the mentioned methodology.

 

[packetlos]

I wouldn't have offered to delete any footage or shown him it, even if he owns the land he cannot stop you from flying over it. And like others have said he would have lost his shotgun licence PDQ if he starts trying to shot other peoples property out of the air.

I was flying a couple of weekends ago in a public place and could see a council CCTV camera following me, so gave it a friendly wave.

When I was leaving a police car came down the road heading towards where I had been and immediately did a 3 point turn so I knew he wanted to talk to me. He had to put on the blues and twos to catch me up as he took so long to turn around.

They just wanted to know what I was up to, well duh I was being watched, you know what I was doing!

They didn't ask to see any footage etc, in fact we spent longer talking about how the phantom works etc as he was genuinely interested.

 

[Andrey320]

Just had my first encounter on Saturday. Was filming a really nice pond with statues, fountains, waterfalls, koi, turtles, etc (video coming soon!). During the filming I noticed a security guard peak over some stairs. This was before 7 am so no one was there. After I was done, a guy unloading a truck asked me a bunch of questions and was really amazed with the Phantom. Then the security guard came up and said (with a smirk tone), "You were only filming the pond, right?". I thought about it for a second (knowing that I could say, "Why? Am I not allowed to film other things?") and said, "Yes, just the pond." The end.

 

[Monte55]

Just tell people the camera broke the first week after you got it and never bothered to fix it.

 

[creativedogmedia]

Love seeing how many "badasses" there are on here. You're flying a drone, for crying out loud...Get to your spot, fly what you are going to fly, get in your car and leave. If people come up to you, educate them. If they want to be jerks about it, walk away. It's actually very simple.

 

[pilsburypie]

Love seeing how many "badasses" there are on here. You're flying a drone, for crying out loud...Get to your spot, fly what you are going to fly, get in your car and leave. If people come up to you, educate them. If they want to be jerks about it, walk away. It's actually very simple.

The internet is a funny place with all of us "hiding" behind keyboards. The badass tough guys are often the exact opposite!

 

[knuckles]

 

[Ezookiel]

I now have a very effective weapon in my favour - printed Hi-Vis vests with "CASA Certified UAV Pilot" (I am certified) and "Ground Crew" on them, and some folding traffic cones to mark out an area where I'm flying from. So far no one has crossed the mental barrier those create. They make you look so official that if I want to chat to any onlookers I have to take the controller and screen over to them. They all stay behind the witches hats. Use psychology against them and "hide in full sight" so to speak.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[GadgetGuy]

A fisherman hooked a nearby hovering Inspire 1, with an illegal overhead cast from a public fishing pier a few days ago, and the news made the fisherman out to be some kind of a hero!
http://fox5sandiego.com/2015/08/10/fisherman-hooks-drone-flying-over-crystal-pier/
The drone owner got his revenge, though!
Check out the video he created from the footage!

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

Almost 2.5 million views!

 

[Ezookiel]

Now he has the fisherman's name, bringing charges for attempted destruction of property would be my next step.
He can afford an Inspire 1 at just age 19, I'm sure the rich parents will fund the lawsuit as well

 

[GadgetGuy]

Fortunately, the Inspire 1 just emptied the fisherman's reel of line and the line broke, and the annoyed pilot landed the craft safely immediately after. The fisherman should be criminally prosecuted for overhead casting from a public fishing pier, attempted crashing of an aircraft, vandalism, and the reckless endangerment of the people on the pier, had he been successful in crashing the Inspire 1 onto the pier, by reeling it in!

 

[DreamsHD]

and the news made the fisherman out to be some kind of a hero!
[

I saw on the news "fisherman manages to reel in drone"

 

[GadgetGuy]

I saw on the news "fisherman manages to reel in drone"

Actually, the Inspire 1 props likely cut the line as soon as it got taut, after winding it up around the rotor. All the fisherman needed to do was throw his line over three foot wide top of the Inspire 1 to have the props on top snag the line. From the video, the distance was probably no more than 25 feet away. It took no talent. Just boneheaded stupidity.

 

[Altanore]

Flying in the neighborhood I used to live in, I've mostly had positive reactions from people. People waving from their yards and what not and asking questions about it. I did however have one minor incident where someone was not impressed to see it.

I was actually in the air hovering above my house for awhile taking some shots of the bad weather that was coming. After a little while I decided to point the camera down to see if anyone was watching it from below and sure enough a dad and his son were. So I thought I'd give them a closer look and fly it down the street a bit. I was in my backyard so they couldn't see me yet. Ended up having people waving a little ways down the street and then I flew it back home only to see that the dad and his son were walking down the street to follow it. When I went to the front yard to hand catch it, the first thing he said was something like "Spying on people with that are ya?" and I just said what I really was doing with it. Then he said he was uneasy seeing it in the air given he used to be in the military. Then it ended at that.

When you fly one of these things, you have risks that you have to accept. One being losing your expensive investment and then dealing with people who are mainly just uneducated regarding these devices. I'd be more worried about the satellites spying on you than a loud quadcopter.

 

[GadgetGuy]

I had to explain to a neighbor this evening at my front door, that a 20mm ultra wide angle lens with a 94° FOV attached to a noisy quadcopter is not capable of invading anyone's "privacy" without their being fully aware of its presence. Anyone could get a better photo with a cell phone on the sly. Ironically, it was he who was surreptitiously photographing my drone with his cell phone while he was outside, in front of his house, on the street, bringing in a trash can, as I later saw on the video, when I tried to figure out where he might have even been, while the P3P was arousing his ire, when I was flying back home from a remote shoot.