Please read. Threatened while flying my drone!

That's insane. He could KILL YOU OR YOUR FAMILY. I would move heaven and earth to recover a bullet from that tree and INSIST that law enforcement conduct a proper investigation, match bullet to barrel, etc. I don't think you are lying, but dang, I hope that's not all true...smh
It's all true but I don't know which tree I live in a holler full of trees it's a good thing they help stopped the bullets it was very scary, the police did talk to him and he stopped for a month or so! Guess next time he starts I'll call the police and get them down here again! I've never been to battle but I know how bullets flying over your head sounds like now!
 
It's all true but I don't know which tree I live in a holler full of trees it's a good thing they help stopped the bullets it was very scary, the police did talk to him and he stopped for a month or so! Guess next time he starts I'll call the police and get them down here again! I've never been to battle but I know how bullets flying over your head sounds like now!
I hate that sound of bullets whizzing buy.
Remember the Hatfields and the McCoy's Feud started over a pig. People think that they were ignorant hillbillies. Hatfield was a judge with ties to Washington. Oh yeah. He was from West Virginia.
 
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Wasting law enforcements time? Really sir? I was verbally threated with bodily harm. I did nothing wrong. Read the post again.

Law enforcement is exactly the right thing to do . That is what your tax dollars are for and this situation is exactly why they have a job . Before I grew up , I preferred to handle all of my disagreements toe to toe . Lets be honest , we all did .

In younger years that would result in law enforcement being called . I have since learned to pick my battles .
When you know that law enforcement will be called anyway , I prefer to have them on my side as opposed to them having me in there jail .

It is also good to have these types of situations on record showing you as the mature level headed male .
That goes a long way in a judges eyes .

Good Call
 
appease
verb (used with object), ao·peased,ap·peas·ing
Definition: to yield or concede to thebelligerent demands of a person in a conciliatory effort,sometimes at the expense of justice or other principles.


Usually ends up leaving the appeaser less safe and the appeased emboldened to continue or increase their behavior. THAT’S the lesson I learned long ago. Stand up people!
 
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W
One relevant comment, and one experience.

Usually when people are concerned about drones it is because they fear something. Perhaps in this case the daughter feared something, and the neighbor was protecting the interests of his daughter. Typical fears are around privacy (including snooping), having physical harm from a drone out of control, the irritation of noise (compared to what, a lawn mower or chainsaw?). So if not in this case, you might want to find a way to address any concerns.

While engaging law enforcement when there is an extreme response may be prudent, I had a different experience with law enforcement. I was doing a practice run for taking pictures, and standing on the pedestrian portion of a bridge. It was a weekday morning, and there were not people around. While the aircraft was near the end of my practice run, a sheriff deputy stopped his patrol car and came out of it shouting at me. He came up very close to me (less than 6 inches) and shouted at me that I should look at him when he was talking with me. I told him I was unable, but if he would standby, I could talk with him and answer any questions after I recovered the aircraft. This wasn't good enough for him, and I was unable to figure out why he was so agitated. His shouting continued, and he ordered me to look at him, which I did momentarily. Now I was getting aggravated. Again I told him give me just a couple of minutes and the aircraft will land. At that point he put his hands on my left arm. I wanted to continue to fly the aircraft, but I also didn't want to be considered as resisting arrest. I asked him if he was arresting me, and what the charge was. He said he wanted me to stop flying and look at him. I said I could not and that if he continued without good cause he was violating 14 CFR 91, by interfering with crew of an aircraft. He let go, walked 50 feet away and made a cellphone call.

I landed the aircraft, and shut down my equipment, and walked over to him as he was finishing his phone call. His tone was a little different, and he started in on my being disrespectful. I tried to explain that I needed to pay attention to what I was doing, and if it wasn't an emergency, and he could wait two minutes, the flight would have been over. We parted after he told me that he didn't want to see me there again, and if he did there would be consequences.

When he left, I started charging the batteries, and made a call to the zone station and talked with the commanding officer on duty. Turns out that he was somewhat familiar with drone operation, and he later revealed that he was studying for a 107 certificate. He was familiar with the deputy who talked with me, and said that he would be addressing this "internally" which almost sounded official.

I have avoided that location, and in the two years since then have not had any such similar encounter. I have been unable to determine the deputy's concern.
Why you need to avoid a particular area just because a "sheriff" told you so? Where you doing something illegal?
If not ,law enforcement or not, he can go visit his mother...
 
W

Why you need to avoid a particular area just because a "sheriff" told you so? Where you doing something illegal?
If not ,law enforcement or not, he can go visit his mother...

Well, there is a backstory, which I will in the interest of full disclosure share. Presumably the county has a "no-drone" policy in county parks. I was not in the park, and I was flying down a navigable waterway situated between the parks. So to be clear, I was not in the park, nor was the drone over the park (although I don't think the county has jurisdiction, except on the ground). The deputy never brought that issue up however.

Furthermore, in the larger county parks, I have contact the superintendent, and they have explicitly told me I could fly there, but asked that I not do what might be construed to be surveillance on specific individuals, and that I not fly over the beaches. No problem, from my perspective.

The deputy did not have a problem with me operating a drone, or at least failed to say so if he did. His big beef was that I didn't drop what I was doing and look at him while he was talking with me. I figure maybe his teenager was giving him a hard time or something like that, and I was just getting the downhill stream. But the commanding officer who I talked with seemed to immediately be able to tell me who the officer was, and indicated that they had other complaints, and they would handle things internally. Since then I have not had any adverse interactions with any deputies, or any other law enforcement for that matter.

When we have someone irritated with drone flying, whether a deputy, or a neighbor, or even someone at some public place, I think it is best to deescalate the situation. Obvious there are lots of scenarios where I might be less inclined to do so, but normally the gains for escalation are minimal, and we only have so much time to run around and fly our drones. So I would rather maximize the fun time.
 
4/15/2019 Update: So I talked to the gentlemen yesterday. First time I've had the opportunity meet him and to introduce myself.
He is concerned his daughter is frightened of the drone sound. I told him that I would fly away from his home and gave his daughter a starter drone to fly around in his pool area. All in all it went very well. I hope to put this incident behind us.

Thank you for all the comments.

Gregg
 
4/15/2019 Update: So I talked to the gentlemen yesterday. First time I've had the opportunity meet him and to introduce myself.
He is concerned his daughter is frightened of the drone sound. I told him that I would fly away from his home and gave his daughter a starter drone to fly around in his pool area. All in all it went very well. I hope to put this incident behind us.

Thank you for all the comments.

Gregg

Very well played.
 
Very well played.
4/15/2019 Update: So I talked to the gentlemen yesterday. First time I've had the opportunity meet him and to introduce myself.
He is concerned his daughter is frightened of the drone sound. I told him that I would fly away from his home and gave his daughter a starter drone to fly around in his pool area. All in all it went very well. I hope to put this incident behind us.

Thank you for all the comments.

Gregg
Very very nice outcome. I can't imagine it being better!!!
 
If you're bothering people in your neighborhood, then the easy answer is to fly elsewhere (away from people).

That's not necessarily addressing his core problem. If we followed this suggestion and instead just set off to fly "away" from a local abuser in a more remote/regional location - whats stopping the next person doing the same thing who unfairly accuses the operator of of flying over his land or taking video or photos over private property? This is an avoidance strategy and never a good approach with the lingering feeling or a future incident with the person in question..

FYI OP, I think you adequately addressed the altercation by involving law enforcement. They won't do "paperwork" but you now have a local enforcement agency aware of you, your compliance, your neighbours idle threats and willingness to work with his daughter...and for all you know, he's making up that stuff about it "possible endangering or hurting her". He could just be one of the many paranoid drone haters that live in our world today.

As long as you were compliant and flying within the rules as you said you were, there's no problem. I do understand it leaving a bad taste on your mouth and still "under the influence" of a potential violent and nasty threat...maybe drop a note in his letterbox about Part 107, your compliance and that you value the rights of your own and others, especially safety and that if he has any concerns, should calmly approach you. Just an idea, take or leave.

EDIT: Glad to see your resolution further below. Always a good idea to reach out to others on places like this so you're incorporating many other opinions before taking action.

Good luck.
RoOSTA
 
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That's not necessarily addressing his core problem. If we followed this suggestion and instead just set off to fly "away" from a local abuser in a more remote/regional location - whats stopping the next person doing the same thing who unfairly accuses the operator of of flying over his land or taking video or photos over private property? This is an avoidance strategy and never a good approach with the lingering feeling or a future incident with the person in question..

FYI OP, I think you adequately addressed the altercation by involving law enforcement. They won't do "paperwork" but you now have a local enforcement agency aware of you, your compliance, your neighbours idle threats and willingness to work with his daughter...and for all you know, he's making up that stuff about it "possible endangering or hurting her". He could just be one of the many paranoid drone haters that live in our world today.

As long as you were compliant and flying within the rules as you said you were, there's no problem. I do understand it leaving a bad taste on your mouth and still "under the influence" of a potential violent and nasty threat...maybe drop a note in his letterbox about Part 107, your compliance and that you value the rights of your own and others, especially safety and that if he has any concerns, should calmly approach you. Just an idea, take or leave.

EDIT: Glad to see your resolution further below. Always a good idea to reach out to others on places like this so you're incorporating many other opinions before taking action.

Good luck.
RoOSTA
Thank you sir, well said. I'm trying to do what's right. This really bothered me and my wife for a number of reasons. I trust the olive branch to this gentlemen will suffice. Again than you for your thoughts.
 
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That's not necessarily addressing his core problem. If we followed this suggestion and instead just set off to fly "away" from a local abuser in a more remote/regional location - whats stopping the next person doing the same thing who unfairly accuses the operator of of flying over his land or taking video or photos over private property? This is an avoidance strategy and never a good approach with the lingering feeling or a future incident with the person in question.
Unfortunately, it's not always possible to force an unreasonable person to reason like you do (thus solving the core problem). If someone refuses to be reasonable (or is unable to be reasonable), you can either continue to inconvenience yourself (by dealing with the person's actions) or choose to avoid the person. Here's to hoping the neighbor is really more reasonable than how the OP painted him in the first post above.
 
Threatening to "shoot down a drone" is a an act of terroristic threatening and if reported to the FAA will be investigated and reported to the FBI... my contact at the FAA here in Hawaii told me a story just like this... and the FBI paid him a visit. No further complaints. AT 300ft it is barely noticeable and far less noisy than a weedwacker or lawn mower... It is the "perceived" notion that you can watch them taking showers or a dump that freak out most of these people... Because of the military use of UAV's the word "drone" has such negative connotations for a lot of folks. Good luck brah...
I use to live in HI (active duty), I would love to see some of your work of the isle's, please!
 
I haven't read all of the replies (in fact, I have only read a few of them).

But if someone accosts me, the first thing I tell them is this:

"If you suspect I am doing something illegal, then by all means, please call the police."

Since I am a licensed SUAS pilot and I am pretty aware of the rules, I would much rather have them call the cops on me then have them SUSPECT I am up to something no good.
 
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I haven't read all of the replies (in fact, I have only read a few of them).

But if someone accosts me, the first thing I tell them is this:

"If you suspect I am doing something illegal, then by all means, please call the police."

Since I am a licensed SUAS pilot and I am pretty aware of the rules, I would much rather have them call the cops on me then have them SUSPECT I am up to something no good.

4/15/2019 Update: So I talked to the gentlemen yesterday. First time I've had the opportunity meet him and to introduce myself.
He is concerned his daughter is frightened of the drone sound. I told him that I would fly away from his home and gave his daughter a starter drone to fly around in his pool area. All in all it went very well. I hope to put this incident behind us.

Thank you for all the comments.

Gregg
 
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Glad to hear it was resolved.

I often fly in areas with houses nearby and I try to introduce myself first to the neighbors and tell them what I am up to, and let them know it will sound like a weed whacker or a bunch of bees swarming for a few minutes. That seems to help.
 
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Glad to hear it was resolved.

I often fly in areas with houses nearby and I try to introduce myself first to the neighbors and tell them what I am up to, and let them know it will sound like a weed whacker or a bunch of bees swarming for a few minutes. That seems to help.

4/15/2019 Update: So I talked to the gentlemen yesterday. First time I've had the opportunity meet him and to introduce myself.
He is concerned his daughter is frightened of the drone sound. I told him that I would fly away from his home and gave his daughter a starter drone to fly around in his pool area. All in all it went very well. I hope to put this incident behind us.

Thank you for all the comments.

Gregg
 
I've had a neighbor who has done work at my home just yesterday get very angry and threaten me. He was screaming at me f you, i'll shoot that thing down.... and on and on he went. He never came on my property, just carried on from his home, very vulgarly, which is two home from mine, about 1 acre away.

I called law enforcement, told him what just happened. I invited him (sheriff) in to look at my flight logs which clearly indicate I was at 150 feet and flying in LOS the whole time, and not above his home constantly as he thought.

He (sheriff) went to the gentlemen's home and told him I was in complete compliance with part 107 and was doing nothing nefarious or wrong. The neighbor informed him it was "scaring" his daughter and that he would take necessary actions against me if it continued. The officer told him to bring his daughter over to my home and check out the drone and would not in anyway hurt her. He also suggested my neighbor brush up on the rules of drone flying before making allegations against me. I'm trusting he wont hurt us now the law enforcement is aware.

First and foremost I fly by the 107 rules. I don't fly early in the morning or during supper time. I don't fly on Sunday so neighbors don't have to see or hear the machine. I usually fly above 300 ft to eliminate noise and sound. I try to be a good neighbor. I've never had a cross word with him until a few days ago.

This has really impacted and bothered me and wife. I'm concerned if I go to speak to him he will want to get into a physical confrontation. I'm not about that. I just want to know how I can fly and not bother him or anyone else (never has any issues with anyone else) in my neighborhood and enjoy the sport that I love.

Any advice?

4/15/2019 Update: So I talked to the gentlemen yesterday. First time I've had the opportunity meet to him and to introduce myself.
He is concerned his daughter is frightened of the drone sound. I told him that I would fly away from his home and gave his daughter a starter drone to fly around in his pool area. All in all it went very well. I hope to put this incident behind us.

Thank you for all the comments.

Gregg
 

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