Run-in with Neighbor

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I was out at a Maker Faire all day yesterday so today was the first chance I've had to try out the new flight modes on my P3P. I set up an orbit around my house, radius of about 80 feet, altitude of 80 feet. Mostly through the orbit my doorbell rings. I land the drone and go to the front door - nobody there. So I go back in the house and a few minutes later my doorbell rings several times followed by some loud bangs on the door.

I open the door and its an elderly woman from down the street along with her dog. She immediately angrily says "My name is <redacted>, I live down the street and I would APPRECIATE it if you would NOT fly your drone ANYWHERE near my house!" I say, "Hello. Where do you live?" She tells me and it's 5 houses down from me, not near where I was doing to orbit.

I explained to her that I was just trying out an orbit of my house but otherwise I always fly up to 300-400 feet before flying out with the drone (we live off of a golf course and I want to play nice with the course so I always try to keep the drone at a high altitude to minimize noise) and that anything near her house would be at altitude and just as it passes by.

"Why do you even DO THAT?!" she asks me. I tell her I don't understand. "Fly those things." I tell her that it's for fun, that it doesn't harm anything, and that I'm keeping it within the legal limits. "Why don't you drive off to somewhere in the country to do that?" to which I reply, "Well, this is my house, and I like to fly from here, but I'm not bothering you. I'm not hovering over your home. I'm not flying it low over your home. I'm not targeting your home with photos and video. And I'm doing everything legally."

At this point she just gets mad and says, "LOOK, I am going to have to ask you to RESPECT MY WISHES as a homeowner and MY PRIVACY."

Now a bit of an aside: this neighbor has a dog - a mid-size dog. And they have this habit of letting their dog run free when they go for walks, so this dog is often running through our back yard. And this dog, while generally nice, has a habit of jumping up on kids, including my young daughters, one of which it jumped on last summer until I had to yank it off as the owner was several houses away down the street.

So I tell the lady, "Fine, in that case, I am going to have to ask YOU to keep your dog from running through our yard from now on."

"Fine." she says. And I close the door on her. I'm curious what will happen from here.
 
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That was interesting, a person comes to you trying to be reasonable in an unreasonable situation expecting their wishes to be "respected"

There is an obvious answer but we must be nice to the elderly.
For me I'd make her some scones and deliver them at her door and have a sit down with her with a cup of tea and explain there are things to be scared about and things that aren't scary at all.

Good to get on with the next-doors, as they say.
She has an uninformed fear making reaction that she is scared about, have to fix that really.
 
So basically you agreed to not fly near your home anymore? Why would you do that? Just tell people you're abiding the law and that if they have a problem with it to report it to the police. Thankfully we always have flight logs on the P3 to backup our claims.
 
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Tell her to get off your property! If she has any problem, call the cops and they can settle the situation. And you have the video to prove you are not invading her privacy!
 
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So basically you agreed to not fly near your home anymore? Why would you do that? Just tell people you're abiding the law and that if they have a problem with it to report it to the police. Thankfully we always have flight logs on the P3 to backup our claims.

I did not, at least I don't see it that way. I told her I don't fly at low altitude targeting her home, which I don't. I just found it very hypocritical that she complains about having a drone anywhere near her property while she and her husband have no problem letting their dog run loose through other people's property.

Her husband I see out all the time with his dog - this is my first time ever speaking with her (after 3 years living here - what an introduction) so I will likely stop and talk with him the next time I see him to reiterate that I'm not in any way "targeting" or flying near their home.
 
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Steveeds' advice is good. Fear is often based on the unknown, so education is the remedy. You can even offer to show her how your bird works.
 
The only thing I would be concerned with is, do you have a HOA? She could cause problems with the HOA,,no I don't see how they could legally tell you not to fly in your neighborhood,,but I also don't understand how some HOA's can tell you what plants you can have in your yard..
 
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I had two encounters today (gotta say I live in Germany though, people are less paranoid here).... Both were friendly and interested, I was on a bench next to a public street, and people use that a lot to walk their dogs or just be out themselves. One was an elderly couple, and they were very interested, and the other was an elder lady with a dog, and she was very friendly, too. Curious, but not at all like gtfooh...

S.
 
Cut to the chase. Ask her to contact the police if she thinks it's illegal. Have the police come out and tell her it's fine. Done. She won't be back.
 
Old people can be a nightmare.
Last year I set up a tripod to take some photos at our local marina at dusk. There were a load of old people passing. They just stopped to watch. I don't know what they were expecting?. Maybe they thought I had prior warning of aliens landing or maybe Krakatoa erupting!!!
Very off .putting to say the least
 
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The only thing I would be concerned with is, do you have a HOA? She could cause problems with the HOA,,no I don't see how they could legally tell you not to fly in your neighborhood,,but I also don't understand how some HOA's can tell you what plants you can have in your yard..

No HOA. It's actually very odd that we don't have one given we live in a mildly isolated street ending in a cul-de-sac, but none was ever created. So no problems there.

I had two encounters today (gotta say I live in Germany though, people are less paranoid here).... Both were friendly and interested, I was on a bench next to a public street, and people use that a lot to walk their dogs or just be out themselves. One was an elderly couple, and they were very interested, and the other was an elder lady with a dog, and she was very friendly, too. Curious, but not at all like gtfooh...

For the most part that has been my experience too. I was showing some friends the other day while our kids played at a part and some people were saying "I've never seen one of those in person." So it would be someone down the street who is the first person to have a problem with it.

Cut to the chase. Ask her to contact the police if she thinks it's illegal. Have the police come out and tell her it's fine. Done. She won't be back.

LOL - I hope it doesn't come to that.

I was doing some reading this weekend on the state of drone laws where I live in Iowa, and it looks like we are somewhat progressive on it. Basically the legislative recommendation is not to preemptively regulate as it could harm the emerging technology, likening it to fears early on regarding camera phones and the Internet which have largely been more beneficial than detrimental and could have been harmed via restrictive law. They also take the stance that existing laws would be sufficient in any criminal issues - i.e. citing flying at eye level height in a yard could be considered trespassing, taking video for sexual gratification without permission already is covered by law covers using it like a "peeping tom", and there are already stalking and harassment laws in case an issue there. None of which apply in this case.
 
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Torch her house while she's asleep.

It's always the quick simple answer that cuts to the chase of the situation, I can't think of why I didn't say it, oops yes I can :)
 
I was out at a Maker Faire all day yesterday so today was the first chance I've had to try out the new flight modes on my P3P. I set up an orbit around my house, radius of about 80 feet, altitude of 80 feet. Mostly through the orbit my doorbell rings. I land the drone and go to the front door - nobody there. So I go back in the house and a few minutes later my doorbell rings several times followed by some loud bangs on the door.

I open the door and its an elderly woman from down the street along with her dog. She immediately angrily says "My name is <redacted>, I live down the street and I would APPRECIATE it if you would NOT fly your drone ANYWHERE near my house!" I say, "Hello. Where do you live?" She tells me and it's 5 houses down from me, not near where I was doing to orbit.

I explained to her that I was just trying out an orbit of my house but otherwise I always fly up to 300-400 feet before flying out with the drone (we live off of a golf course and I want to play nice with the course so I always try to keep the drone at a high altitude to minimize noise) and that anything near her house would be at altitude and just as it passes by.

"Why do you even DO THAT?!" she asks me. I tell her I don't understand. "Fly those things." I tell her that it's for fun, that it doesn't harm anything, and that I'm keeping it within the legal limits. "Why don't you drive off to somewhere in the country to do that?" to which I reply, "Well, this is my house, and I like to fly from here, but I'm not bothering you. I'm not hovering over your home. I'm not flying it low over your home. I'm not targeting your home with photos and video. And I'm doing everything legally."

At this point she just gets mad and says, "LOOK, I am going to have to ask you to RESPECT MY WISHES as a homeowner and MY PRIVACY."

Now a bit of an aside: this neighbor has a dog - a mid-size dog. And they have this habit of letting their dog run free when they go for walks, so this dog is often running through our back yard. And this dog, while generally nice, has a habit of jumping up on kids, including my young daughters, one of which it jumped on last summer until I had to yank it off as the owner was several houses away down the street.

So I tell the lady, "Fine, in that case, I am going to have to ask YOU to keep your dog from running through our yard from now on."

"Fine." she says. And I close the door on her. I'm curious what will happen from here.
LETS SEE YOU COME TO MY FRONT DOOR AND START YELLING!! At ME. My property really! HERE'S WHATS GOING TO HAPPEN. HOLD ON MAM.....door opens up and SHE WOULD BE LOOKING DOWN THE BARREL OF A SHOT GUN!
 
I had some old folk ask me in a park what I was doing. They were quite annoyed about the fact that the sky in local park would 'soon be full of these things spoiling the views'. So I went over and showed them the picture in the screen, and explained that I use the heli for aerial videos and the occasional picture. I then brought the quad in (it was doing a POI), landed it and showed them the YouTube videos that I make. After that, they seemed reasonably impressed (well, they were old people!) and left happy. And I got back to filming.

No point in falling out with anyone, they'll just start talking about you and get other people's backs up too. The folks I met had started to believe all media stuff about spying.
 

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