I was flying on the beach in Santa Barbara at 6:30AM. I hiked down to a part of the beach with rocks with absolutely not one person in sight in either direction. My goal that morning was to observe two items of respect (early and away). I specifically got up before most people are having their first cup of coffee and set up far away from people. I’ll have this beautiful video up this week on my YouTube channel. After 12 minutes of flight over the breakers and out over the ocean about 100 meters I landed, only to see some guy yelling something to me from the walkway behind and above me. The ocean was too loud so I motioned I couldn’t hear him. Within 2 minutes he stepped around a rock and began harassing me with swearing and accusing me of hovering over him. Honestly, I didn’t even see him, or anyone else for that matter, the whole time I was flying. I reached out my hand to introduce myself but he refused to shake my hand. I told him I like to photograph nature (also had my Nikon with me) and intentionally get up early and set up far from where people might be but he wasn’t having it. I seriously thought he was going to commence to physically assault me so I walked away while he was cussing me out. The humorous thing in this is that he didn’t realize that I had more important things to photograph (video) than someone like him.
The publicity is fueling the fire. The word "drone" is a silly word. However, it is one more word that many who have an uneventful life like to add to their vocabulary. This hobby is not in the price range of a kite. It appears that many confrontations are from those who feel they are not able to invest, so feel it is unfair for others to have their Phantom. Others are simply very angry people. Still others believe that anything with a camera must be trying to take a photo or video of them. Pathetic. But there are some situations that are provoked by careless, reckless, foolish individuals that are sadly, changing this hobby in a negative way. They are flying in areas that justifiably offend people and intrude in their space. I've been flying in parks with a camera on a Slow Stick plane since 2006. Please note that the arena is TOTALLY changed now. I now ALWAYS fear the retaliation of the public and law enforcement now. I'm sure that will never change. What can mitigate this feeling is flying totally away from everyone, which is what I tend to do.