First angry woman

[Michael Parks]

I'd just been testing out drone deploy in the park across the road from where I live. This is Lake Claremont, Perth, Western Australia . It used to be a nine hole golf course with a 9 hole par three course which is now being redeveloped. That's where I was taking off from. There is a path around the lake which is used by cyclists, runners, walkers etc etc....it was 5pm and not very busy at all.

I had done the drone deploy test which was not near anyone at all. I then decided to do a circuit of the lake which involved crossing over the path. I was flying at around 35/40m high

As I was landing this woman started yelling at me, telling me I was flying illegally...she knew all the rules and said I couldn't fly over the path where people were walking.

Was she right"

According to the C.A.S.A rules it's pretty ambiguous - it states that you can't fly over heavily populated parks, which this was not.

Check out the vid and the casa provided rules and let me know what you think???

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

Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[dtviewer]

If you've made it this far in life and thats the first angry woman you've encountered I'd say you've been pretty lucky!

 

[Auusie_P3S_pilot]

As long as were no closer than 30mts to the path then you are fine.

 

[mcphipps]

Heavily populated? I saw two people on a soccer field.....? I don't think you did anything to have a grumpy old woman get after you...lol

 

[LordEvil]

Tell her to eat a Sneakers!

 

[dtviewer]

Tell her to eat a Sneakers!

Or a snickers?

 

[Satellite Aerial View]

Hi Michael Parks, I have only just seen your entry, I am based in Sydney and fly all over the place and have not come across any angry people only very interested.
Someone like you encountered I would love to tell her to get a life and it seems to me she knows the regulations and as studied them to just have a go at someone,
these sort of people have a psychological problem and feel the need to have a go at anything and one should really feel very sorry for them.
If you have done everything within the law (which you have) then just ignore her.
We will always be faced with idiots in this world so I just dismiss them and keep moving.
Cheers, JV

 

[eclipse]

Likewise, I am in Sydney. I try to avoid flying anywhere with people, but that can be hard in a big city like Sydney. When people do end up coming by when I'm flying, I've only had people interested in the drone, asking questions like how far it can fly, etc. Probably about a dozen interactions so far. Nothing negative yet.

Here's the legal definition of 'populous area' from the Civil Aviation Safety Regulations 1998 – still quite vague:

For this Part, an area is a populous area in relation to the operation of an unmanned aircraft or rocket if the area has a sufficient density of population for some aspect of the operation, or some event that might happen during the operation (in particular, a fault in, or failure of, the aircraft or rocket) to pose an unreasonable risk to the life, safety or property of somebody who is in the area but is not connected with the operation.

You can read the full regulations here: Civil Aviation Safety Regulations 1998

Part 101 is the section relevant to drones.