Was I trolling?

[CafeRacer]

Hi guys. Well I've been flying (safely) up and down my street for almost 5 months now with no incident, besides the occasional neighbor kids coming to talk about it. Never over houses or even above 30 feet, and never in one place for more then a few seconds. Well, today my neighbor about 6 houses down across the street ran down to me as if her house was on fire screaming at the top of her lungs, "Is there a camera on there!!!?" I really thought something was wrong when I first seen her running down the street, I immediately hand caught my bird and went walking over to see what was wrong. I live in Texas so it's already 98 with the heat index over 100 so by the time this lady got to me, which by the way is a very heavy woman, she was red and looked like she was going to pass out. Immediately started yelling at me saying its against the law to tape her house. I immediately was on the defensive just by her attitude towards me, I assured her that I was not filming her house. She then said she was calling the police for invasion of privacy. I just calmly turned and walked into my house. Now again, I HAVE NEVER filmed her house or even spent more then 5 seconds in front of her house, I literally flew past it at around 8 feet off the ground. I have heard and have seen many videos of people losing their minds when it comes to drones. I guess my question is "Was I invading her privacy?" I'm sure at any point while writing this a cop will soon be knocking at my door. I have seen videos of people filming a police station and being told they could do so, I can't imagine I am going to get in trouble but just a little curious what the exact law is pertaining to privacy. Now I know flying in a suburban area prob wasn't the best idea, and not to justify it, but I was literally no more then 10 feet up, flying safely and in no way whatsoever endangering anyone or anything. Does anyone else fly around their house or up and down the street, or is this a horrible idea? Thank you all for any advice or comments, I appreciate any info I could get on this matter.
-Matt


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[Mark The Droner]

The lady's a fruitcake. Good luck. Let us know how it turns out.

 

[Trackman1]

Should have got out your cell phone and said. NO. But I'm taping you now.
Then you would have a good video to post.

 

[BigAl07]

Even though there is NO expectation of privacy you don't want to "pee where you sleep". Since it's in your neighborhood you might want to try and make nice since you and your family probably plan to stay in the neighborhood a while.

I'd offer to show her the real capabilities of the camera on the aircraft and use it as a teaching moment. You can use facts and diplomacy to over come the MASSIVE disservice the news media has done to our industry.

 

[henick]

And failing diplomatic action, if the police show up and threaten you with disturbing the peace or some other bogus charge simply inform the officer that it is completely legal for you to fly your toy and that you are willing to provide flight logs and video to the courts to prove that you were doing nothing harmful and that if he returns to threaten you again that you will be informing his professional standards department. Have a good day and close the door. You won't see him again. I have done it already and that was 6 months ago. No police have bothered me again.

 

[Susruth]

Dont fly over houses .. Or elses property. At least till drone phobia among people dies down

 

[RedHotPoker]

It will only grow as the hobby grows. Just Nip it in the bud. Ha

RedHotPoker

 

[DesignFlaw06]

You've got your log, you've got your footage. You're fine.

Tell her that if you going to use your quad to spy on someone, it would be someone much better looking than her!

 

[henick]

Honestly I'm usually a pretty nice guy I've even let some shiny eyed kid fly it once. I always try to be respectful and show people if they want to see but am getting really annoyed by some of the negative response. I had 2 people come up to me angrily in June alone. One young guy that looked like a criminal said a bunch of stuff about the camera as he was walking away from me but when I stopped flying and asked him what he said he wouldn't come over and say it lol and the other some crazy large woman who spoke almost unintelligible broken English. Not sure what her problem was I didn't really understand her. I want to fly my stupid helicopter leave me alone. Jeez.

I always record flights for that reason. Not much people can say if you have video. Frig em.

 

[Digdat0]

8 months of flying and I've only had good interactions. Often, its soccer moms who's kids are interested in "whats that flying thingie" or middle aged men approaching asking more details because they want one. I've had security and police wave at me, I smile and wave at them. I show everyone the aircraft, tablet, RC, etc. (after its powered down). But, I don't let anyone else fly it. I'm open, transparent and kind. If people don't want me there, i would not engage, politely thank them and find a different place to fly. If my neighbor, I would do what BigAl07 said

 

[henick]

Oh I've had 95% by volume great interaction. It's a very small percentage of encounter. Can't please everyone I guess.

 

[Wibble]

Why are you flying so low? It is asking for trouble. Bang it up to 150' and she wouldn't have said anything. Possibly!!!

 

[flyNfrank]

The police were at my house 3 times last year. And then I helped locate a missing person and the sheriff and I spoke a few times and yesterday he had his Lieutenant and a Deputy detective's come and spend a couple hours at my house in helping them buy a thermo imaging drone.

So...they were at my house 3 times last year because of one jacked up neighbor that lives behind my house. But now I think I will train the team out of my back yard since it opens up to a field. Can't wait to get 3-4 aircraft up in the air at the same time.

 

[bluer101]

I had a neighbor down the street about 1/3 mile away come to my house. He accused me of flying in his back yard a week before. He claimed I was below his fence line (6 foot fence) filming. I said I was flying up that way but was never below 110 feet. I said from my house to his is would be nearly impossible to do that with trees blocking LOS, would lose signal. I even told him I would grab my iPad to show him the flight data.

All he kept saying was if it comes down there he was going to take action, lol. So to this day I still fly down there.

 

[Mark The Droner]

This is one of the many reasons I love Flytrex. Telemetry of all flights are instantly publicly accessible and don't lie.

 

[snerd]

There is really only 2 solutions........................

1. Keep flying in the neighborhood and risk further encounters with angry neighbors

2. Stop flying in the neighborhood

It's totally up to you.

 

[Digdat0]

This is one of the many reasons I love Flytrex. Telemetry of all flights are instantly publicly accessible and don't lie.

do you pay a monthly fee for flytrex?

 

[henick]

I fly in my neighborhood lots. It's a family sub division. I've had probably 3 wives tell me their husbands are now drone shopping along with a 70 year old man on the next street that stopped me walking one day and actually knew prices and info so I knew he was serious about buying. I'd say they're about to hate a lot more than me real soon.

It's inevitable. I don't really care who doesn't like me especially if it isn't justified lol. Who cares about the nut jobs I say. I am happy to have introduced so many people. I'll have people to fly with soon

 

[skipilot1]

Hi guys. Well I've been flying (safely) up and down my street for almost 5 months now with no incident, besides the occasional neighbor kids coming to talk about it. Never over houses or even above 30 feet, and never in one place for more then a few seconds. Well, today my neighbor about 6 houses down across the street ran down to me as if her house was on fire screaming at the top of her lungs, "Is there a camera on there!!!?" I really thought something was wrong when I first seen her running down the street, I immediately hand caught my bird and went walking over to see what was wrong. I live in Texas so it's already 98 with the heat index over 100 so by the time this lady got to me, which by the way is a very heavy woman, she was red and looked like she was going to pass out. Immediately started yelling at me saying its against the law to tape her house. I immediately was on the defensive just by her attitude towards me, I assured her that I was not filming her house. She then said she was calling the police for invasion of privacy. I just calmly turned and walked into my house. Now again, I HAVE NEVER filmed her house or even spent more then 5 seconds in front of her house, I literally flew past it at around 8 feet off the ground. I have heard and have seen many videos of people losing their minds when it comes to drones. I guess my question is "Was I invading her privacy?" I'm sure at any point while writing this a cop will soon be knocking at my door. I have seen videos of people filming a police station and being told they could do so, I can't imagine I am going to get in trouble but just a little curious what the exact law is pertaining to privacy. Now I know flying in a suburban area prob wasn't the best idea, and not to justify it, but I was literally no more then 10 feet up, flying safely and in no way whatsoever endangering anyone or anything. Does anyone else fly around their house or up and down the street, or is this a horrible idea? Thank you all for any advice or comments, I appreciate any info I could get on this matter.
-Matt


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app

You absolutely are not invading her privacy. You have an absolute right to be in a public space (street, sidewalk, park) and look, take pictures, use video or even binoculars. You might consider flying a lot higher than 10 feet. I have people on my street who are very friendly and inquisitive. Only one has jokingly asked if I was flying over her back yard. I have assured her that I never fly at less than 200 feet over any house and I would suggest you doing the same. Being in the right is not always the best answer. Being reasonable and getting along with other reasonable people is.

 

[Quadcopterpilot]

What you are doing is illegal and the FAA can charge you.
You cannot fly in populated area's, over roadways, in school yards, over business, over hospitals, etc......unless you have FAA clearance as a commercial business.
You are contributing to the bad name this hobby is getting.