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Public Opinions on UAV's

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Well, this morning it happened again.
There I am on a large public field happily flying my freshly calibrated H (no camera, don't fly it with camera till I know its calibrated properly).

I hear "excuse me young man, i say excuse me, hello".
A silver haired lady calls me over so I land the H and walk across with a smile.
"have you got a camera on that? are you peeking into peoples windows? is it dangerous? it is illegal to fly it here.... It is very very noisy and disturbs the peace..

Yes 5 allegations in one breath.

I then proceeded to show her the H, explain that no camera was fitted and even if it was you cannot 'peep' into peoples windows as, as she had just said it was noisy and the camera has no zoom function anyways.
Many people walk their dogs on the field so I mentioned that no-one has been killed or seriously by a drone whereas dogs on the other hand have killed several children in the UK over the past year or so.
I then showed her the drone code and the drone assist phone app which allows me to check it is safe and legal to fly, no reaction to that.
I followed it up with the letter from the UK police stating that no right to privacy exists in public in the UK.

I was polite, reasonable and courteous at all times, the net result "if you come back I will call the police".

So, knowing the police for what they are I will not be returning.

Anyone else had such experiences? I am in the UK....
 
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Doing what a bully wants is how they win and become stronger. Perhaps informing the police of your intent to fly at that location before doing so would take the wind from her sail.
 
Dont let an old lady that probably thinks all texhnology is the devil ruin it for you. Stick to your guns. If you are not breaking the law the police cant really do anything. Even if they do you can fight it and win.
 
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Yep don't not fly there again. If you don't she will think she was right and that gives her the power she thinks she has.
I ran into this when taking photos for a real estate agent the neighbor across the street came out and threatened to call cops if I flew again. I was done with the shoot by the time he came out. So I put in another battery as he walked off and took off again. 10 mins later I landed and left.
 
Yep don't not fly there again. If you don't she will think she was right and that gives her the power she thinks she has.
I ran into this when taking photos for a real estate agent the neighbor across the street came out and threatened to call cops if I flew again. I was done with the shoot by the time he came out. So I put in another battery as he walked off and took off again. 10 mins later I landed and left.
Thats what you do. Show idiots like that they are idiots.
 
Well, this morning it happened again.
There I am on a large public field happily flying my freshly calibrated H (no camera, don't fly it with camera till I know its calibrated properly).

I hear "excuse me young man, i say excuse me, hello".
A silver haired lady calls me over so I land the H and walk across with a smile.
"have you got a camera on that? are you peeking into peoples windows? is it dangerous? it is illegal to fly it here.... It is very very noisy and disturbs the peace..

Yes 5 allegations in one breath.

I then proceeded to show her the H, explain that no camera was fitted and even if it was you cannot 'peep' into peoples windows as, as she had just said it was noisy and the camera has no zoom function anyways.
Many people walk their dogs on the field so I mentioned that no-one has been killed or seriously by a drone whereas dogs on the other hand have killed several children in the UK over the past year or so.
I then showed her the drone code and the drone assist phone app which allows me to check it is safe and legal to fly, no reaction to that.
I followed it up with the letter from the UK police stating that no right to privacy exists in public in the UK.

I was polite, reasonable and courteous at all times, the net result "if you come back I will call the police".

So, knowing the police for what they are I will not be returning.

Anyone else had such experiences? I am in the UK....
If you are flying over a public field that is owned and maintained by a local council you may be in breach of the council's rules about drones...if they have rules. However, in a good proportion of cases you can get a permission to fly over council owned land on production of valid insurance (some councils may also want a safety case). If you get that permission, then, and the area is not deemed as a 'congested' area, then the old girl (or the police) can't do a thing to stop you.

And you are right in that there is no right to privacy in a public place whether it is land owned by the council or not.

However, even if the land is owned by the council and you don't have a permission there is no law stopping you from flying over it so long as you have taken off from a place not on that land.

As far as the police...they have far better things to do than chase after a UAV pilot flying safely. Although they have a duty to investigate any incidents reported to them, unless they have reason to believe you are flying dangerously, such a call will be placed well down the importance scale giving more serious reports a higher priority and so, if they turn up at all, they are likely to turn up at the site well after you have packed your stuff away and are at home drinking your cup of tea. And even if they do turn up while you are on site if they see you flying safely they are unlikely to want to get involved.

If in doubt, try and get a permission and as PatR says, let the police know beforehand about the flight.
 
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I would have done the same not worth the hassle unless it is a particular place you wanted to film. Noise is a tricky one but filming from a public place is not. Sooner or later in the UK the privacy bit will come up. I only ever get questions about how much does it cost?
 
I sort of see it this way; the more places we can fly and let people chase us away from the less places we will have left to fly. I watched this happen over time with regular RC. We used to be able to fly on weekends at schools. No more. We used to be able to fly at open parks. No more. We used to be able to fly off open public land. No more. People complained about model airplane noise while they revved their Harley's and loud exhaust cars, played loud stereos, and ran lawn equipment. We were chased away, they stayed. Now RC planes and helis are relegated to a few small patches far from the public. We let it happen by not resisting. Do we learn from history or repeat it?
 
I'm currently having a conversation with the owners of a quarry not too far away from me to get a permission to fly it. It is private land and, normally, I would expect to be prevented from flying there...at least from taking off on their land. But they are engaging with me and some emails have been going back & forth. The moral is that on land that you normally would expect not to be allowed to fly your drone, it is far from a given that you will be stopped from doing so if you've managed to obtain a permission.

Permissions is the key. If you are flying legally in all other respects, then there's **** all anyone can do about it if you have a permission.
 
Yeah, that noise thing really irks me. With all of the sources of noise in most urban and suburban settings, I'm blown away by a noise complaint from an electric drone which may be slightly disturbing (as in possibly a dentist drill) for 15 minutes at a stretch at most, let alone when flying at altitude. Back in the Nitro days, I get it, but with today's brushless motors? Where are those people when someone floors it in their car or truck with glass packs or Harley's taking off? Mind you, I'm not at all complaining about a good sounding engine, but noise from the drone? I have boats running by my place all summer, most have through hull exhaust which you can feel throughout the house all day and well into the evening. To me, the noise is just one more thing in a litany of things a would be complainer can pull out of their ars- trying to tell you what to do.

Anywho, most sound ordinances have a db limit which I'm sure all drones would pass with flying colors.

I've said it before here and I'll say it again, George Carlin was spot on when he said "All you need to know about the world is that it consists of a bunch of f---ers trying to tell another bunch of f---ers what to do."
 
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Yeah, that noise thing really irks me. With all of the sources of noise in most urban and suburban settings, I'm blown away by a noise complaint from an electric drone which may be slightly disturbing (as in possibly a dentist drill) for 15 minutes at a stretch at most, let alone when flying at altitude. Back in the Nitro days, I get it, but with today's brushless motors? Where are those people when someone floors it in their car or truck with glass packs or Harley's taking off? Mind you, I'm not at all complaining about a good sounding engine, but noise from the drone? I have boats running by my place all summer, most have through hull exhaust which you can feel throughout the house all day and well into the evening. To me, the noise is just one more thing in a litany of things a would be complainer can pull out of their ars- trying to tell you what to do.

Anywho, most sound ordinances have a db limit which I'm sure all drones would pass with flying colors.

I've said it before here and I'll say it again, George Carlin was spot on when he said "All you need to know about the world is that it consists of a bunch of f---ers trying to tell another bunch of f---ers what to do."
Thing is that the Typhoon H is one of the quieter drones...certainly when compared to the Phantom range. It was one of the first things that struck me on my first flight with the H having previously only flown Phantoms.

I've found that once I'm a few hundred feet out, or a few hundred feet high I can hardly hear it and certainly quieter than cars a couple of hundred feet away.

No, it's all down to the public's perception: If it's a drone then find something to hate about it. Forget that a drone's actual impact (if flown sensibly) is far less than most other things that are taken for granted.
 
I have always tried to be very considerate in public spaces - I don't want to spoil someone else's leisure time and try to use local Facebook groups to share the positive images, but most people I've come across whilst flying have been pleasant and interested.
 
...<snip>... most people I've come across whilst flying have been pleasant and interested.
Same here. In all my flying I've only ever had two negative encounters, interestingly both times were while I was flying my Phantom. I've had no negative encounters at all while flying the H...maybe because it looks less like a toy, or it is quieter? I dunno.

I've had some witty comments, though. Once I was flying a Phantom on moorland miles away from anywhere and a group of hikers appeared out of no-where and came over to me. One of the jokers asked me, in a serious way, if I was going to fly it over a prison. The nearest prison to where I was standing was probably 20 miles away.
 
Thing is that the Typhoon H is one of the quieter drones...certainly when compared to the Phantom range. It was one of the first things that struck me on my first flight with the H having previously only flown Phantoms.

I've found that once I'm a few hundred feet out, or a few hundred feet high I can hardly hear it and certainly quieter than cars a couple of hundred feet away.

No, it's all down to the public's perception: If it's a drone then find something to hate about it. Forget that a drone's actual impact (if flown sensibly) is far less than most other things that are taken for granted.
... And at that we aren't even mentioning those little racing drones! Talk about noise! Some lads were flying them in the park last weekend. It was interesting to watch those things moving at an insane speep but I was blown away by the racket they make when they hit the gas.
 
It's too bad the industry adopted the drone moniker. Maybe quads, hexes, FPV's or other but not drones. Most of what the public thinks regarding drones is either a military target, a weaponized military version, or something a voyeur uses to spy on others. I've actually put my H away for a bit and have gone back to my heli's for my flying fix. Unfortunately any RC flying thing, whether, powered parachute, blimp, plane, heli, EDF, you name it is now classified as a UAS aka drone by the general public. I was once flying a small heli, was approached and asked, "What kind of drone is that?" o_O
 
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... And at that we aren't even mentioning those little racing drones! Talk about noise! Some lads were flying them in the park last weekend. It was interesting to watch those things moving at an insane speep but I was blown away by the racket they make when they hit the gas.
I was flying a Phantom from the top of a hill over a valley a month or so ago and was just bringing it into land when I young lad, maybe early 20s, pulled up in his car and started taking great interest in the drone...so I gave him one of my business cards. It turned out, though, that he was out on the prowl looking for a good place to fly his drone and he spotted me flying one of mine. So, after a quick chat (and after I'd landed) he asked me if I minded if he launched his...I sad no, go ahead.
Then he pulled this small racing drone out of his back-pack, set it up, put FPV goggles on, and I dived for cover. It was INSANE. I didn't know they could do THAT. So loud too!

Although it was interesting to watch I did feel a bit unsafe being in the same area. Indeed, I felt had to duck on at least two occasions (he was showing off). In the end he crashed it and it smashed to bits. So I can appreciate some members of the public getting up in arms about those things being flown like that (at the end of the day he was flying it somewhat unsafely). If I felt unsafe imagine what other members of the public would make of it.
 
I was flying a Phantom from the top of a hill over a valley a month or so ago and was just bringing it into land when I young lad, maybe early 20s, pulled up in his car and started taking great interest in the drone...so I gave him one of my business cards. It turned out, though, that he was out on the prowl looking for a good place to fly his drone and he spotted me flying one of mine. So, after a quick chat (and after I'd landed) he asked me if I minded if he launched his...I sad no, go ahead.
Then he pulled this small racing drone out of his back-pack, set it up, put FPV goggles on, and I dived for cover. It was INSANE. I didn't know they could do THAT. So loud too!

Although it was interesting to watch I did feel a bit unsafe being in the same area. Indeed, I felt had to duck on at least two occasions (he was showing off). In the end he crashed it and it smashed to bits. So I can appreciate some members of the public getting up in arms about those things being flown like that (at the end of the day he was flying it somewhat unsafely). If I felt unsafe imagine what other members of the public would make of it.

Yes watching those little brats rip through the air I immagine they would do serious damage if they hit you doing 60mph
 
Public opinion is sadly shaped by outrageous non-sense like this BBC "news" report;

" A near-miss involving a passenger jet and more than one drone has been reported in the UK for the first time.
The incident happened over east London as an Airbus A320 was approaching Heathrow Airport last November.

A report by the UK Airprox Board (UKAB) found the incident had "compromised the safety of the aircraft".
One pilot also said there would have been a "significant risk of collision" if the jet had been on a different approach path.
The plane was flying at 5,500ft on 20 November when its crew spotted two white, orb-shaped drones nearby.
The pilots "remained in constant visual contact" with the gadgets, which are estimated to have got as close as 500m to the aircraft, according to the report.......
..."

They claim the 2 drones were white and over 2m in size with four prongs.

bbc.co.uk/news/uk-39747042

Final approach speed for an A320 is appx 145knts (166mph / 74 metres per second ).

I am certain draconian laws will be passed to make recreational flying all but impossible, much like the recent Canadian knee-jerk drone laws. I have not had a bad reaction yet, but I tend to shy away from flying near anyone. There is also a lot of misinformation in the media regarding what is legal rather than advised by the CAA.
 
It's too bad the industry adopted the drone moniker. Maybe quads, hexes, FPV's or other but not drones. Most of what the public thinks regarding drones is either a military target, a weaponized military version, or something a voyeur uses to spy on others." o_O

Exactly. Whenever someone (ill-informed) calls one of my multi-rotors/UAV's a 'drone', I correct them straight away. I really hate that word. Yet another reason to cast a negative eye on the misinformed media.
In my mind, a drone is something that is used by the military. End of story.
 
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