Neighbor threatened to kill me for flying my phantom...

Occasionally I'll encounter someone who is angry or upset/disturbed with my UAV flying. For these instances I invite them to sit down and share some imitation crab meat I keep on hand. This usually lowers their temper or encourages them to move along. :)
Let me guess............... it's your neighbors? I'll say it again, flying in the 'hood is just inviting negative reactions from your neighbors. Go to the park, a field, a river or lake, a farm, hell, anywhere but where you're going to piss off the neighbors.
 
Let me guess............... it's your neighbors? I'll say it again, flying in the 'hood is just inviting negative reactions from your neighbors. Go to the park, a field, a river or lake, a farm, hell, anywhere but where you're going to piss off the neighbors.

Haha nah. And I totally agree. I don't fly in residential areas anyways, and I'm definitely not going to fly my UAV up to 100' from somebody's farm house. I value my privacy too much, and therefore I strive to "do unto others".
 
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Ok as you can see I don't post much in hear.. The OP stated somewhere in this thread that he had been flying for 10 years. As a Pilot who has been flying for over 20 years and have one of the FAA blue cards to show for it. Under FAR 91.8 (I think it's changed to a different number now after 911). It was a $$$$$ fine and 3 years Federal time for harassing intimating a Pilot in the performance of his duties. At this time with the new drone rules in effect it would carry much more weight in Court.

The only problem I see is the OP was not flying under the current rules. 150' is too close to a house unless you are taking off or landing. (wink wink) It still does not give anyone the right to pull a gun on you though.

PS I'm from UA (Upper Alabama);)
49 U.S. Code § 46504 - Interference with flight crew members and attendants

And there was nothing in the OP description of his flight that violated any rules.
 
I am currently in the process of filing a restraining order and the city is pursuing a felony/misdemeanor against one of my neighbors that I have never met before, before they approached me, brandished a weapon, and threatened to kill me for flying my phantom too close to their house. You would think I live in a dangerous neighborhood, but it is quite the opposite in one of the most expensive zip codes (socal).

I am posting this here as a warning. When the incident happened, I was with a few friends. Had I been alone, who knows what could have transpired.

I am not advocating carrying weapons, but I would suggest that you think about protecting yourself every time you fly.

I hesitated in posting this because I didn't want to worry anyone, but I convinced myself that I would want to know, so I am sharing.

Here are a few details of the incident for those that are curious:

Taking off from directly in front of my condo. It is a crowded neighborhood, housing with hardly any yards, in a small-hills area. I am flying looking at brush and open land, some of the only open land near my condo, at about the middle of a hill, on top of which is a house. I am at approximately 60-80 feet in the air (AGL), much lower than the height of the house. I then start to go straight up at about 3-5mph to a height of about 300 feet. During this I pass by the house on the hill at about 30-50 yards from the closest side of the house (the house was at about 100-120ft). Once at that height, I hit the RTH function to show my friends how it can, well, RTH. As it gets above us and starts to descend, a pickup truck pulls up with a man and a woman getting out. They start approaching us spouting nonsense about taking video through their windows. Privacy this, illegal that, "you cannot fly over residential!", etc. After a few minutes of back and forth, they say they are going to call the police. I invited them to and welcomed them to stay and wait. This was mostly a discussion with the wife. They were an older couple, late 50's early 60's. While this was happening the husband had pulled out a steak knife and had it in his hands. He was a safe distance away at this point, but it was borderline time to run in the other direction. Shortly later, they started walking back to their truck and the husband pulled the truck closer to my condo attempting to run over the drone with his car. He aggressively sped up and nearly ran over my girlfriend who picked up the drone because she saw what he was going to be doing. He then veered at her, and she had to duck between cars. I was too far away to do anything about the drone sitting on the ground at the time, but I am thankful she had enough foresight and courage to do all of this without really being in much danger. It was more a show of aggression from the husband driving the truck.

And as the grand finale, as they are backing out of my condo complex, I am at the entrance to the condo complex standing next to the drivers side door, and he reaches in the glove box, pulls out a gun, and says to his wife, "why don't we just kill him?". At this point she was erratic trying to get her husband to leave, covering the gun with her jacket and pulling his arm down. I could tell she was horrified that he was doing it, and at that point, they left and we immediately called the police.

As you can imagine, their story of what happened didn't match mine at all. Luckily I had half a dozen witnesses to the entire thing, otherwise I might be just someone pissed off at the justice system stuck in a he said she said situation. Instead, he is facing a possible felony/misdimeanor and restraining order.

The scariest thing about this is, I wasn't even aware that I had done anything even remotely wrong. When it all started to go down, I was in complete shock that someone was even remotely upset, let alone wanting to kill me. I felt as if I was a safe distance away from all houses when I was flying. With over 10 years of flying under my belt, I have a good idea of what a safe distance is.

So the lesson is, take special care, try to diffuse the situation, and always protect yourself. I hope I am the only person this ever happens to.
In the states u guys have to band guns... its crazy... it seames easier and more acceptable to buy a gun than a drone over there ..
 
it seames easier and more acceptable to buy a gun than a drone over there ..

I hope you realize the absurdity of that statement. Gun laws in the U.S. are not as lax as the media would like you to believe. (And the few places there are few restriction are the most peaceful and civil places). In most states (certainly the more populous ones), a license is needed to own a handgun. Gun purchasers are required to pass background check.

Even if a drone license scheme is implemented, it will still be infinitely easier to own and operate a Phantom than to own and operate a gun. Which is odd, because flying your Phantom is NOT a right specifically enumerated in the U.S. Constitution, while the right to keep and bear arms IS.

If the OPs story is even close to the truth, the person will have their gun license revoked. No "trial" or "conviction" is necessary for that. If the local court/sheriff who issued the license think the story bears a resemblance to the truth, the license can and will be pulled. They will no longer be allowed to own a handgun. CA laws are very strict.

Judging from the story as told, the call should be to ban cars. The person's driving stood to cause more bodily harm than anything he actually did with the pistol. But of course the popular narrative is cars=good and gun=bad.

The mainstream media paints a picture that is far from the reality.
 
It's kind of crazy that we live in a country where the government is on the one hand busily trying to ban relatively harmless guns which so far have killed nobody, and on the other hand hasn't fully regulated drones, which could potentially kill hundreds of people at a time

lol lol drones, which could potentially kill hundreds of people at a time... wow your jokeing right?????? Or are you just totally crazy?
 
Whoever ressurected this thread, why? Why do people respond to old threads???

Please note, this is NOT a discussion of gun rights. Any posts about gun rights that have no bearing on the topic of the thread will be deleted as per the community guidelines:

13. Discussions about politics, weaponry and religion are permitted only in association with the topic of this forum or in the “off-topic” section and will be closed or removed if they become disruptive.
 
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Sometimes I wonder if later in the future with the rise of drone use, maybe the haters will eventually die off and everybody will be flying drones and everybody will love them. Government may still be regulating them but neighbors won't be killing each other.

Here's to hoping:

Person 1: "Hey neighbor, I just got a drone."
Person 2: "Oh yea? Me too. Let's fly."
Person 3: " Howdy neighbors, whacha doing?"
Person 1: "Flying drones."
Person 3: "Hold up, I'll go get mine."
Person 4: "Hey neighbors. Noticed your drones. May I join?"
Person 3: "Hell yea."
 
Sometimes I wonder if later in the future with the rise of drone use, maybe the haters will eventually die off and everybody will be flying drones and everybody will love them. Government may still be regulating them but neighbors won't be killing each other.

Here's to hoping:

Person 1: "Hey neighbor, I just got a drone."
Person 2: "Oh yea? Me too. Let's fly."
Person 3: " Howdy neighbors, whacha doing?"
Person 1: "Flying drones."
Person 3: "Hold up, I'll go get mine."
Person 4: "Hey neighbors. Noticed your drones. May I join?"
Person 3: "Hell yea."


Maybe we'll take our drones to the local drone field and play drone laser tag with them... The possibilities in the future could be endless.
 
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