Last week I met a guy who is the friend of a friend. We were out for dinner and during the conversation I happened to mention that I had a drone. The guy almost started jumping up and down like a little puppy when I showed him a couple of photos I had taken. This guy is almost 50 years old, going on 12.
He talked me into going to his house the next day to show him how my drone flew. I got there, got it all set up and ready to go. However, my screen said that I was in a restricted area - private airport - and said that I would fly at my own risk. The "OK" or "Agree" button was greyed out. It was then that I remembered I saw a small airstrip that is used for Cessnas on the way to his house. I actually let out a sigh of relief not long after I packed everything up because a helicopter flew by at possibly lower or at least as high as my drone would have been if I was able to fly it. Kudos to DJI for including this fantastic safety feature in their products.
Th guy almost started to cry when I told him I couldn't fly because of being so close to the airstrip. But it didn't change his mind about getting a drone. His comment was that he knew someone who would be able to override the software. His plan is to sit on his back deck and fly all over his neighborhood, checking out his friend's house which is about 3 km away from his house. All this and a long list of other long distance flights he's going to make - all from his back deck.
All I told him was that his plans would be extremely dangerous. I told him that he would be playing with people's lives. But I don't think I scared him. I'm almost positive that he'll try very hard to come through with what he plans to do with a drone. I gave him a strong warning and that's all I could do.
I 'm sure that there's a lot more guys like him out there who are very immature, and on the brink of being out of their minds. People like these shouldn't be allowed to drive a bicycle let alone fly a drone. Scary.
He talked me into going to his house the next day to show him how my drone flew. I got there, got it all set up and ready to go. However, my screen said that I was in a restricted area - private airport - and said that I would fly at my own risk. The "OK" or "Agree" button was greyed out. It was then that I remembered I saw a small airstrip that is used for Cessnas on the way to his house. I actually let out a sigh of relief not long after I packed everything up because a helicopter flew by at possibly lower or at least as high as my drone would have been if I was able to fly it. Kudos to DJI for including this fantastic safety feature in their products.
Th guy almost started to cry when I told him I couldn't fly because of being so close to the airstrip. But it didn't change his mind about getting a drone. His comment was that he knew someone who would be able to override the software. His plan is to sit on his back deck and fly all over his neighborhood, checking out his friend's house which is about 3 km away from his house. All this and a long list of other long distance flights he's going to make - all from his back deck.
All I told him was that his plans would be extremely dangerous. I told him that he would be playing with people's lives. But I don't think I scared him. I'm almost positive that he'll try very hard to come through with what he plans to do with a drone. I gave him a strong warning and that's all I could do.
I 'm sure that there's a lot more guys like him out there who are very immature, and on the brink of being out of their minds. People like these shouldn't be allowed to drive a bicycle let alone fly a drone. Scary.
