Are there published pilot assault statistics?

[vincent228]

As the owner of 3 phantom 4 pros (not v2.0), with a 107, and all of this hype of remote ID, I have options. (A) Shut down all business I do. (B) upgrade my perfectly running (but currently worthless) drone fleet (C) Spend a ton of money on new equipment to make some bean counter at the FAA happy. I dont know about you, but I can count on 50 hands and feet, hiw many times some karen, Kevin or Cop has bothered me for following 107 to the letter. And many times the Karens and Kevins have just about gotten physical. And after the Kevin cops (that would be ones that dont know FAA law, and side with the complainer) show up, its not good for the pilot. So why Remote ID? And why does every Karen and Kevin get to physically find you on an app??? Why dont they just paint a target on your back? Maybe they can make it mandatory to put a deer suit complete with antlers, and say we can only fly in the woods, wearing the required suit, during hunting season? It seems to me, they are just finding a way to thin out the herd. Yes! I am whining. It makes no sense. I will see red, jump up and down, and still take it up the wazoo! But I am an American. And that makes me a oerson that says “Why”?! Im looking for statistics. Im willing to bet, dollars to donuts, there are a lot less reasons to have remote id, and more pilots that get assaulted doing nothing wrong, without putting an electronic flag tight on top of your own person, so it nakes the harassment easier. Again, I ask why???

 

[Harleydude]

I'm just going to conduct business as usual. Only one of my drones works in an "official environment" where compliance may be necessary. So I will probably try to figure out a compliance strategy for that drone. For the remaining drones and facets of drone work, it's status quo for me.

I go out of my way to launch from places that are public, but hidden from public view, like side streets and cul-de-sacs. Clearly, I do this to avoid dealing with Karens and other ignoramuses who think they have some kind of legal leg to stand on to order me to stop flying. I'm always friendly, accommodating and transparent, so I've honestly had only two encounters that I would call "contentious." The LAST THING I need to BROADCAST my location to every Tom, **** and Harry who considers himself a "neighborhood monitor" conducting a "public service" to keep his neighborhood "safe" from our "spy drones." So, yeah, I ain't doing that. If the Karens want to find me, they're going to have to do it the old fashioned way.

I think it will be easy for us older guys with legacy equipment to plead ignorance. The older I get, the less I care about the next generation's penchant for micromanaging every facet of my life.

40+ years of RC flying. Not a single injury. And other than my own equipment, zero damage. In the industry we call that a "perfect safety record." I know, I know....that doesn't count or matter. In a world that makes zero sense, forcing those with a perfect safety record into another layer of compliance makes sense.

D

 

[ribjig]

> I can count on 50 hands and feet, hiw many times some karen, Kevin or Cop has bothered me for following 107

What part of Murica are you in??
Here in Miami Beach, never.
Only once since 2017 questioned by cop when I
took off & landed on same street as elementary school.
If I was in red state I might hand out printed page & tell
people to ask me any further questions after reading.
(I might also ?white lie? & say it is against the law to
distract a pilot operating a flying "aircraft", that they
can only talk to me after landing...

 

[Harleydude]

> I can count on 50 hands and feet, hiw many times some karen, Kevin or Cop has bothered me for following 107

Hehe....that's pretty funny. Sorry you have to go through that, but maybe I can give you some pointers to alleviate that burden.

What part of Murica are you in??

The Southwest. Specifically, Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Here in Miami Beach, never.

Soooooo....you can count on 50 hands and 50 how many times you've been bothered???? OR....you've never been bothered??? I'm confused.

Only once since 2017 questioned by cop when I
took off & landed on same street as elementary school.

Soooooo....you've only been bothered once since 2017???....and you can count that on 50 hands and 50 feet??? Very confusing.

If I was in red state I might hand out printed page & tell
people to ask me any further questions after reading.
(I might also ?white lie? & say it is against the law to
distract a pilot operating a flying "aircraft", that they
can only talk to me after landing...

I simply launch from less public areas (like side streets and/or cul-de-sacs). And I wear my bright green dork vest, which makes me APPEAR "official." I don't have any of that weird syntax "Step back!! I'm a 107 pilot!!! blah, blah, blah. Just a plain, bright green dork vest does the trick.

D

 

[MapMaker53]

As for me, especially when flying in public... Bright orange hi-viz vest, white hard hat, and orange safety cones cordoning off the nearby launch & landing area. No one, not even the police, have ever questioned me doing my job.

 

[Nightstalker1]

I don’t know about the other remote IDs but the beacon has a privacy setting in that when you turn it on private, these apps, you add to your phone to locate you don’t work. but I will tell you that the FAA software and the police equipment in northwest Florida does work. The guys in my area were helpful and assisted me in checking out my beacon. Follow the rules and fly safe. Just check out northwest Florida sectional charts, and see what I have to go through to just fly. At times, it’s like trying to fly in into minefield. But FUN!

 

[Harleydude]

As for me, especially when flying in public... Bright orange hi-viz vest, white hard hat, and orange safety cones cordoning off the nearby launch & landing area. No one, not even the police, have ever questioned me doing my job.

I utilize the vest, but wearing a hard-hat while flying would be a real drag. Ironically, I always have a hard-hat with me just in case we launch from a construction zone (which is something I've only done once in 10+ years of pro flying). I don't use cones, either. I won't say that the police have never bothered me, but we HAVE had some nice conversations. I'm okay with that.

D

 

[captainmilehigh]

Never been bothered either. Most LEO's are just curious and ask questions about 'how fast' and 'how high' and cost to own one.

 

[jephoto]

I shoot for an outfit that does school websites and fly around Chicago public schools for every job. Probably have done 70 schools since 2018.
Never had an issue. A couple of times there have been local cops nearby and they were just interested in the process and enjoyed me sharing what was going on on the screen.

I did have one incident with a Chicago cop down by the lakefront on a summer afternoon once. Usually when I’m flying down there, it’s dusk or dawn, and never an issue at that time. It was 1:00 in the afternoon, and at first he was a little prickly about it, but I explained what I was doing and told him how I was doing everything possible to not have it fly over or near people And explained that I was Part 107 , did this for my job, and once he realized I knew what I was doing and was behaving safely he backed off

 

[MapMaker53]

I utilize the vest, but wearing a hard-hat while flying would be a real drag. Ironically, I always have a hard-hat with me just in case we launch from a construction zone (which is something I've only done once in 10+ years of pro flying). I don't use cones, either. I won't say that the police have never bothered me, but we HAVE had some nice conversations. I'm okay with that.

D

I agree about the hard hat. But I often fly sites that require a hard hat, vest, safety glasses AND steel-toe boots. Not fun in 90 degree summer heat. The worst was a site in Virginia where I chose to wear a full Tyvek suit in 96 degree weather (boots duct tape sealed to my pants) because the place happened to be the center of the tick universe. I hate ticks.

But in cooler weather I consider the hard hat a must. Only someone conducting official business would be wearing a hard hat, and it conveys a message to on-lookers that I am working for a municipality or company -- so don't bother me.

 

[Harleydude]

I agree about the hard hat. But I often fly sites that require a hard hat, vest, safety glasses AND steel-toe boots. Not fun in 90 degree summer heat. The worst was a site in Virginia where I chose to wear a full Tyvek suit in 96 degree weather (boots duct tape sealed to my pants) because the place happened to be the center of the tick universe. I hate ticks.

But in cooler weather I consider the hard hat a must. Only someone conducting official business would be wearing a hard hat, and it conveys a message to on-lookers that I am working for a municipality or company -- so don't bother me.

Why not just launch offsite? I did a shoot (mapping) over some native-owned land that had a compliancy list as long as your arm to get past the gate. So I just launched outside the gate. They never knew I was there. I wore my dork vest (AKA: The invisibility cloak), sandals and shorts. Good times.

D

 

[BigL]

In response to the OP’s original question, I have no intentions of publishing statistics where I, as a pilot, have had to assault other individuals in order to complete my mission.

 

[Harleydude]

In response to the OP’s original question, I have no intentions of publishing statistics where I, as a pilot, have had to assault other individuals in order to complete my mission.

Good thinking!

D

 

[MapMaker53]

Why not just launch offsite?

I would have flown from the roadway if it was feasible. But this was a massive, mostly wooded, 460+ acre site in Virginia. My old PV+2 with wifi would never have handled any distance challenge. The work had to be onsite and in various locations. Was one of my first assignments.

 

[Harleydude]

I would have flown from the roadway if it was feasible. But this was a massive, mostly wooded, 460+ acre site in Virginia. My old PV+2 with wifi would never have handled any distance challenge. The work had to be onsite and in various locations. Was one of my first assignments.

Ahhhh...okay. I'm familiar with the distance capabilities of the P4P (which I imagine is on par with the P4P V2). It doesn't do well over long distances when it loses line of site. And trees definitely attenuate the signal. For a job like that I would look for a tall hill in the center of the site. Barring that, yeah, I imagine you had to launch from several locations.

Kind of related...

I recently started mapping with the M300 RTK (not really using the RTK part). I have to say that the range is pretty amazing. I'm going to assume it's using the same Tx/Rx as the Inspire 3, which has been praised for it's strong signal on-set over long distances.

With the M300, I can go a mile out with the controller sitting upright in the bed of a pickup and receive 100% signal with 99% telemetry. To get that kind of range out of the P4P I have to have line of sight and a passive parabolic antenna reflector, and I must be diligent aiming the thing...AND elevate the controller to like 8' off the ground. It was a real challenge.

A caveat of the M300 is that, despite being told that I'm receiving 99% telemetry signal, I will get "low telemetry signal" error messages from the controller (not my software). So I've learned to not trust the software too much in that regard.

One huge advantage is because of the sheer size of the M300, maintaining line-of-sight even a mile out is not that difficult. Anyway....just jabbering now....good times....

D

 

[WV. Rootman]

I'm just going to conduct business as usual. Only one of my drones works in an "official environment" where compliance may be necessary. So I will probably try to figure out a compliance strategy for that drone. For the remaining drones and facets of drone work, it's status quo for me.

I go out of my way to launch from places that are public, but hidden from public view, like side streets and cul-de-sacs. Clearly, I do this to avoid dealing with Karens and other ignoramuses who think they have some kind of legal leg to stand on to order me to stop flying. I'm always friendly, accommodating and transparent, so I've honestly had only two encounters that I would call "contentious." The LAST THING I need to BROADCAST my location to every Tom, **** and Harry who considers himself a "neighborhood monitor" conducting a "public service" to keep his neighborhood "safe" from our "spy drones." So, yeah, I ain't doing that. If the Karens want to find me, they're going to have to do it the old fashioned way.

I think it will be easy for us older guys with legacy equipment to plead ignorance. The older I get, the less I care about the next generation's penchant for micromanaging every facet of my life.

40+ years of RC flying. Not a single injury. And other than my own equipment, zero damage. In the industry we call that a "perfect safety record." I know, I know....that doesn't count or matter. In a world that makes zero sense, forcing those with a perfect safety record into another layer of compliance makes sense.

D

I love your posts. You just don't play the game right. Now be nice a play along. Lol.
I'm older than you and that is my sentiment. I live by the Stealth rule. Few people have ever seen my drones take off, besides know where they land.
Let's find something to get excited about. Lol. Much ado about nothing.