Crazy Ignorant lady freaking out.

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I have to tell this story, because I'm sure it's happened to other people. Yesterday, I was flying over the same pond I always fly over, two blocks away from where I live. I'm getting ready to land, in this large woman with a dog, and w some badge around her neck, starts yelling at that I'm breaking the law, and spying on people. Then she proceeds to film me while I'm landing. I tell her "you are ignorant on drone laws, do some research, I have every right to be here, and you have no right to film me." She kept going on, and on. So I left, thinking I'd come back later, and that she would be gone.

Well, an hour later she was there, and a friend of mine was there with his p4 trying to fly as well. I asked him "is she harassing you too?" She then claimed that she was a cop, and my friend says "let me get your badge number, so I can call it in." You could then see her getting nervous after he asked this, so she tries to start her car, and it's not starting. My friend was like "I have your license plate", and she was like "this is not my car." I said "you're a cop, but don't have your own car. You're using someone else's car that won't even start."

My friend called the local police, saying that we have someone impersonating a police officer. She then says that she is from the Fraternal order of police, and starts apologizing. Not a real cop. Totally misrepresenting herself.

She then decides to call a state Marshall that is a friend of her's. He immediately has this look on his face, like WTF is my crazy friend doing bothering these guys. We basically left at that point, with the marshall telling his fake police friend that she was wrong.

It's just amazing how aggressive some people (mainly fat, lonely women with dogs) can be towards drones. I was simply flying over water within LOS. Not breaking any laws. This woman claimed I was spying on people. I tried showing her the videos, and she would not even look at them. This woman was wacko, much in the same way of that kid that got beat up at a beach in CT a few years ago.
 
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I tell her "you are ignorant on drone laws, do some research, I have every right to be here, and you have no right to film me." .

Actually, she did have every right to film you. Essentially she was doing the same thing you were doing just using a different medium. Just saying :)

Most of us at some point will have some person that has an irrational view of our hobby. It's an educational opportunity in some cases, in others you simply can't get the tinfoil hat free of their head...
 
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Interesting
I have to tell this story, because I'm sure it's happened to other people. Yesterday, I was flying over the same pond I always fly over, two blocks away from where I live. I'm getting ready to land, in this fat b--tch with a dog, and w some badge around her neck, starts yelling at that I'm breaking the law, and spying on people. Then she proceeds to film me while I'm landing. I tell her "you are ignorant on drone laws, do some research, I have every right to be here, and you have no right to film me." She kept going on, and on. So I left, thinking I'd come back later, and that she would be gone.

Well, an hour later she was there, and a friend of mine was there with his p4 trying to fly as well. I asked him "is she harassing you too?" She then claimed that she was a cop, and my friend says "let me get your badge number, so I can call it in." You could then see her getting nervous after he asked this, so she tries to start her car, and it's not starting. My friend was like "I have your license plate", and she was like "this is not my car." I said "you're a cop, but don't have your own car. You're using someone else's car that won't even start."

My friend called the local police, saying that we have someone impersonating a police officer. She then says that she is from the Fraternal order of police, and starts apologizing. Not a real cop. Totally misrepresenting herself.

She then decides to call a state Marshall that is a friend of her's. He immediately has this look on his face, like WTF is my crazy friend doing bothering these guys. We basically left at that point, with the marshall telling his fake police friend that she was wrong.

It's just amazing how aggressive some people (mainly fat, lonely women with dogs) can be towards drones. I was simply flying over water within LOS. Not breaking any laws. This woman claimed I was spying on people. I tried showing her the videos, and she would not even look at them. This woman was wacko, much in the same way of that kid that got beat up at a beach in CT a few years ago.
Interesting story but I have a question. Why did you tell her she had no right to record you. You were in public and as all drone pilots say....you have no right to expect privacy in the public eye.
 
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Interesting story but I have a question. Why did you tell her she had no right to record you. You were in public and as all drone pilots say....you have no right to expect privacy in the public eye.
Because she was interrupting me to the point where I almost crashed my drone.
 
It's your responsibility to stay focused and control the aircraft regardless what else is going on.

If her words and presence bothered you that much you should have landed and left the area. The safe operation of the aircraft is your sole responsibility paramount to everything else.

As stated above her filming you is perfectly fine and exactly what you were doing to others. We have to play by the same rules we expect others to play by. We can't change them to fit our own agenda/needs.
 
losmdoesn't post: 917980 said:
Because she was interrupting me to the point where I almost crashed my drone.
That answer doesn't fly with me. Unless she was in your face stopping you from flying properly, you have no argument. This is when you ignore the distraction . I'm not siding with her actions but you are not presenting your case well.
 
I second what BigA107 says above about "It is your sole responsibility to control the aircraft as pilot in command." I believe there is also some reference to this in most FAA pilot tests as well, maybe the drone one too. I was surprised to see some pilot's psychology questions in the online test posted here too.

Street photographers go through this stuff a lot. There was a recent incident in the desert (Hesperia, CA I think?) where a newspaper photographer riled up a woman in a park who had then had her friends go and beat the guy up and threw his camera into the lake. Camera was later fished out of the lake and they manged to get the images.

I have a bad feeling the public will become more incensed against drone fliers overall. News reports on the 29th paint all sorts of licensing issues as well as the evil drone fliers in the CA wildfires who ground the aerial firefighters for 30 minute intervals.

Until they become commonplace delivering goods like Amazon, Rx drugs, pizzas, etc. then maybe the public will calm down. Now it seems like "See a drone and shoot it down." or let's go harass the pilot flying it.
 
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Why do people keep flying in their neighborhood and expect anything but problems?

Others have written what I would have RE: your statement about filming you.
She can film you all she wants on public street. That video may end up on YouTube and she may be complaining about you the same way you are complaining about her right now.

If you claim she was a distraction, that's a different argument.
And others have addressed that as well.
If you cannot land immediately, take your drone up and let it hover until you can move or deal with the situation at hand for a minute.

Ignorant you say?
Sure. Good on you if you tried to at least show her the video to assuage her fears.

But in my opinion prevention goes a long way: this is not the first time this is has posted on the forums.

Here are couple of search where the drone operator always feels like they have been victimized and that they are misunderstood by the rest of the world.

Here is a forum search on the word "crzay"
Search Results for Query: crazy | DJI Phantom Drone Forum

and this one is for "harrass" (which should also catch "harrassed")
Search Results for Query: harrass | DJI Phantom Drone Forum
 
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It's your responsibility to stay focused and control the aircraft regardless what else is going on.

If her words and presence bothered you that much you should have landed and left the area. The safe operation of the aircraft is your sole responsibility paramount to everything else.

As stated above her filming you is perfectly fine and exactly what you were doing to others. We have to play by the same rules we expect others to play by. We can't change them to fit our own agenda/needs.
she was essentially in my face. I brought the aircraft down safely, and landed. I followed the right procedure.
 
Why do people keep flying in their neighborhood and expect anything but problems?

Others have written what I would have RE: your statement about filming you.
She can film you all she wants on public street. That video may end up on YouTube and she may be complaining about you the same way you are complaining about her right now.

If you claim she was a distraction, that's a different argument.
And others have addressed that as well.
If you cannot land immediately, take your drone up and let it hover until you can move or deal with the situation at hand for a minute.

Ignorant you say?
Sure. Good on you if you tried to at least show her the video to assuage her fears.

But in my opinion prevention goes a long way: this is not the first time this is has posted on the forums.

Here are couple of search where the drone operator always feels like they have been victimized and that they are misunderstood by the rest of the world.

Here is a forum search on the word "crzay"
Search Results for Query: crazy | DJI Phantom Drone Forum

and this one is for "harrass" (which should also catch "harrassed")
Search Results for Query: harrass | DJI Phantom Drone Forum
Hmm. I was flying over water, away from people. This was just some crazy lady, that should have minded her own business.
 
Hmm. I was flying over water, away from people. This was just some crazy lady, that should have minded her own business.

I am trying to get you to realize it's all a matter of perspective.
You might have been the crazy one in her eyes.

Are you saying that there is no situation you'd confront the "offender" if you witnessed something two blocks from your home (which is where you were flying I believe)?

This time it was you with a drone.
What if you spotted someone parked for 4-5 hours every week on your block, a person in a tinted car you don't know? Will you mind your own business?
What if your neighbor's kid liked to zip up and down the street in his car/ motorcycle (loud exhaust)?
Will you mind your own business too?

There are so many "legal" things people can do to push your buttons.
You pushed hers. That's all.

The wording, tone, attitude is all second to the fact that flying exposes you to other people.
There will be confrontations and interactions. It's just a matter of time.

Personally, I would recommend you read the threads I posted the search results to and the huge amount of comments to them. You will learn and shape up a proper opinion about "what to do".
 
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I am trying to get you to realize it's all a matter of perspective.
You might have been the crazy one in her eyes.

Are you saying that there is no situation you'd confront the "offender" if you witnessed something two blocks from your home (which is where you were flying I believe)?]
Guarantee you that this woman is not from this neighborhood.



[QUOTE="The wording, tone, attitude is all second to the fact that flying exposes you to other people.
There will be confrontations and interactions. It's just a matter of time.

Personally, I would recommend you read the threads I posted the search results to and the huge amount of comments to them. You will learn and shape up a proper opinion about "what to do".[/QUOTE]
I tried in the beginning to reason with this woman, but in the end she was nuts. Impersonating a police officer. Trying to tell me that I can't fly there when I can in a neighborhood she's not from.
 
It's unfortunate.

A drone operator has such more to lose in those confrontations.
You are "working" and unable to divide and stretch your attention so you are exposed.

There are "really crazy" people out there.
They may hit and damage your drone, assault you, damage your car while you are distracted, they may call the cops and an ignorant LEO may be sent out (you end up arrested and left having to prove you were within your right).... there is a myriad of possible scenarios.


This is a great example to show once more that if you are flying a drone, be prepared for anything.
It comes with the territory.


Which by the way just gave me an idea:
if you are standing by your car when flying, put a GoPro on a suction cup inside your car and position it to point in your direction.
If anything happens to you etc. you will have invaluable footage to use.
Personally, I carry a voice-activated recorder on my person to document conversations if I end up having one with anyone. So often... after I go home and listen to them a day or day later, the event is not like I remembered it in my head at all!!!
The mind is tricky. And that is why witness testimony is the least reliable.
 
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It's unfortunate.

A drone operator has such more to lose in those confrontations.
You are "working" and unable to divide and stretch your attention so you are exposed.

There are "really crazy" people out there.
They may hit and damage your drone, assault you, damage your car while you are distracted, they may call the cops and an ignorant LEO may be sent out (you end up arrested and left having to prove you were within your right).... there is a myriad of possible scenarios.


This is a great example to show once more that if you are flying a drone, be prepared for anything.
It comes with the territory.


Which by the way just gave me an idea:
if you are standing by your car when flying, put a GoPro on a suction cup inside your car and position it to point in your direction.
If anything happens to you etc. you will have invaluable footage to use.
Personally, I carry a voice-activated recorder on my person to document conversations if I end up having one with anyone. So often... after I go home and listen to them a day or day later, the event is not like I remembered it in my head at all!!!
The mind is tricky. And that is why witness testimony is the least reliable.
This lady reminds of that youtube video of a teen getting assaulted in CT, not too far from where I'm at. He had the go pro camera on his drone on the whole time recording audio and everything. Next time, I might just give the silent treatment and land immediately.
 
:thumbup:

You know how accidents on the road can happen and your driving and your being on the road sort of constitutes a de facto acceptance of such risks, whether you are aware of it or not?
Something bad can happen through no fault of yours at all.

I view drone flying the same way. I have been flying for a few years and I am so acutely aware of the risks now as opposed to when I unboxed my P2 for the first time.

People on here have gotten in fights and verbal confrontations while trying to capture footage of a sunset.... it's really a little silly and not worth it in my opinion.
A father thinking you were flying over his property to record footage of his family can walk up to you and stab you, shoot you, no warning...
Dramatic but the point is that anything is possible.

These days, I try and travel to fly. The experience for me is more rewarding if driven by a purpose.
It doesn't eliminate the risks but when you are in very nice locations, you don't run into the average people as much.

Forum members rarely mention video editing in these confrontation threads.
Capturing footage is only half the battle. Then you have to produce something worth watching.
People rarely ever do.
If you went back and looked at the footage captured, it'd be akin to the 8mm footage you would have captured from some inane event: maybe you'll play it back once but it's really not worth getting upset over it or taking any conscious risk to your safety or that of your drone.
 
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This lady reminds of that youtube video of a teen getting assaulted in CT, not too far from where I'm at. He had the go pro camera on his drone on the whole time recording audio and everything. Next time, I might just give the silent treatment and land immediately.
Side note... that "kid" is the same one who strapped a pistol on a drone last year and made the national news once again.
 
Incredible.

Karma?
 

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