What would you do in this situation?

[Yooper]

I was flying my P4P on a mission for Dronebase taking pics of a home for sale. A lady was in her yard across the street and 2 houses down. Her exact words were "if that thing falls in my yard, I am not giving it back, go fly somewhere else, it is very annoying. I indicated it would only take a few minutes to finish my job and she repeated her first comment. I quickly finished my mission and got out of there. Is there something I could of said or done differently?

 

[With The Birds]

Probably not..... If she found it annoying enough to approach you it’s unlikely you could say anything that would change her position. Not flying over her property would be a good start (assuming you were).

 

[N017RW]

So long as you were in obeyence of all applicable rules/regs there's nothing to say.
It does not sound like she was looking for conversation.
Silence would say more than anything you could verbalize.

 

[GrammatonxXXxCleric]

Yell to her: If my Phantom falls into your yard i'm not giving the yard back.... And move in......

 

[Neon Euc]

Yell to her: If my Phantom falls into your yard i'm not giving the yard back.... And move in......

PMSL [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]

 

[chatikib]

I had the same situation. Now the interesting question is, from what height I not longer fly over someones private property.

Btw, when my drone land on your property, I will first ask you friendly to give it. And if that does not work, I'll ask the police to mediate.

 

[anotherlab]

I had the same situation. Now the interesting question is, from what height I not longer fly over someones private property.

Btw, when my drone land on your property, I will first ask you friendly to give it. And if that does not work, I'll ask the police to mediate.

All that does is raise the temperature of the conversation a notch. It's like everything else with customer facing jobs. There are people that will be difficult to deal with. You state politely what you are doing and then you move on.

 

[macoman]

If that was me flying and someone said what she told you... I will keep my mouth shut and just finish my job and get the **** out of there.

 

[Newt59]

Hooper,
I think you need to be at least 75 feet AGL and preferably transitting, not hovering. Anything less is likely to create issues and mostly frowned upon.

The most I would say in this situation is, "ma'am, I am a commercially licensed pilot doing a job for a paying customer, I have no desire to invade your space or disturb you any more than is absolutely necessary. I assure you, I will leave just as soon as I have completed the job, and I apologize for any inconvenience to you.

And you ARE a commercially licensed pilot I hope.

I hear about people complaining about noise, etc. What's the difference between a pilot spending 30 minutes getting pics of some property with a drone that makes a bit of noise versus a lawncare company that shows up at 7:30 in the morning and runs a mower, and a line trimmer and leaf blower for an hour?

So that's my take on it. I'm new to drones, but have 35 years in customer service and sales. For what that's worth to you.

We ALL, as the front line of integration between the public and this incredible new technology, have a responsibility to represent ourselves and the industry in a positive manner. Please keep this in mind when faced with a challenging situation.

Good luck out there.

 

[anotherlab]

...I hear about people complaining about noise, etc. What's the difference between a pilot spending 30 minutes getting pics of some property with a drone that makes a bit of noise versus a lawncare company that shows up at 7:30 in the morning and runs a mower, and a line trimmer and leaf blower for an hour?...

Most people with yards have mowers or pay for a service. Most people don't own drones. Also, it's been determined that sound from a drone is more annoying to people than other outdoor noise.

 

[Yooper]

Newt59. Thanks for the advise and yes I am a part 107 pilot

 

[Newt59]

Yes, lawncare has become a background noise to our world. It is accepted and tolerated by most. Although my neighbor seems to have an infatuation with his leaf blower that I cannot understand...LOL.

So that is why, during this critical period in our hobby/industry, that all pilots need to represent us well. Unfortunately it seems that in this modern age we have way more attitude than intelligence and understanding in many people. The ignorance level manifests itself daily.

You have the "right fighters" that will argue that they are legal and within the realm of law and therefore untouchable. Possibly correct. But I wouldn't want to push that. I suspect a jury would be easy to persuade that "these here little demons are the spawn of satan, sent here to spy on all of us and allowing the Chinese to upload detailed images of every square inch of America far better and less expensive than any satellite program they could imagine".

You have the usual, "screw them I'm gonna do what the heck ever I want to do, who is gonna stop me?" That blow and spew and hurt us all incredibly.

And finally, you have the social media monsters as I call them. Folks that lose any semblance of civility or manners because they can be an anonymous expert online, and they look for any opportunity to correct, belittle, or attack another person, simply because they can.

Seems like there are some questions on the 107 test materials about personality types too...

So knowing the challenges we face in gaining acceptance and respect from the public at large as we seek to overcome the misconceptions, preconceptions and damages done by reckless attitudes I hope that all responsible drone pilots will invest in our future by remembering to be polite. Offering to answer questions and educate. And when you run into one of those challenging people who say things like "I'm not going to give it back if it lands in my yard", why not say, "well lets make sure that don't happen then, and by the way, would you like a nice photo of your home from my drone while I am here?"

 

[Newt59]

If that was me flying and someone said what she told you... I will keep my mouth shut and just finish my job and get the **** out of there.

No one ever got in trouble by saying too little I have heard. LOL.

 

[Yooper]

Well said

 

[FLYBOYJ]

I've done over 100 Dronebase panos and several insurance missions. When I do paying jobs I wear the corny orange vest that says "Drone Pilot," I put up small orange cones close to where I'm working and try to let anyone in close proximity who is visible know what I'm doing, so far no issues.

I would have made it clear to the woman that this isn't a hobby flight, I will not be flying anywhere near her property, and the longer she delays me, the longer I will be on station...

 

[FLYBOYJ]

 

[Just Mark]

I am looking for something similar. How / where did you get the lettering on the back???

Also, and this may sound stupid, but for those of us with a 107, are we actually "licensed" or just "certified" (since my paper from the FAA says certificate), and is there a difference? Sorry if I am splitting hairs. Just don't want to tell people I am something I am not.

 

[FLYBOYJ]

I am looking for something similar. How / where did you get the lettering on the back???

Also, and this may sound stupid, but for those of us with a 107, are we actually "licensed" or just "certified" (since my paper from the FAA says certificate), and is there a difference? Sorry if I am splitting hairs. Just don't want to tell people I am something I am not.

Same difference. The Feds like to call it a certificate. I've used both terms for 40 years

 

[FLYBOYJ]

I am looking for something similar. How / where did you get the lettering on the back???

Drone Pilot Safety Vest! Fly Without Interference & Without Needing a Pit Bull!

 

[macoman]

Drone Pilot Safety Vest! Fly Without Interference & Without Needing a Pit Bull!

That's the one I have [emoji12]