Do we stop another pilot

[MedicFL1]

Yesterday, at a local park filled with children, a man laid down a Phantom 4.
First of all he didn't know how to secure his phone to the controller, it literally was just sitting on the holder.
Second, his antennas were pointed straight out.
That's when I stepped in. This was a seriously unsafe situation and I Stopped him there.
I showed him how to lift the tabs to secure his phone and explained how the antennas worked and repositioned them for him.
I left it at that and walked away. As a Paramedic and Phantom 4 / Inspire 1 Pro pilot I was flawed at his complete lack of knowledge.
"I just wanted to take pictures of my grand kids" Was his statement.
I felt I did enough to at least keep it safe for the moment, but his kind put us all in danger.
Should I have gone further in my instructions or stopped him from flying completely?
Note: Before I purchased mine I researched and read manuals as well as YouTube video intros. Does anyone else?

 

[tcope]

Just another case of someone not reading the directions included along with the Phantom and certainly not the online manual.

If he did not crash lose it that day, I'd say it will happen in the next flight or two.

 

[MedicFL1]

Just another case of someone not reading the directions included along with the Phantom and certainly not the online manual.

If he did not crash lose it that day, I'd say it will happen in the next flight or two.

But this being a small park, filled. It took everything I had in me not to intervene and stop him from flying. Telling him to learn first.
I too was there with my children. But I put my "outrage" in check.

 

[Bckmstr]

classic case of Ron White ie...." Can't Fix Stupid"

 

[Bckmstr]

But this being a small park, filled. It took everything I had in me not to intervene and stop him from flying. Telling him to learn first.
I too was there with my children. But I put my "outrage" in check.

nicely handled , my hats off to ya

 

[AWD]

Medic,

Good job. Handled about as well as you could at the time.

AD

 

[Mr. Salty]

How exactly would you have stopped him from flying? Take his drone and run away with it?

There's a fine line between offering help to someone who's inexperienced and assault.

I think you handled the situation correctly without escalating things unnecessarily.

 

[BigAl07]

I agree with Mr. Salty. You handled it very well but remember if you take it any further and stop him from flying in any way you're not helping yourself or the community.

I always carry business cards and offer to give one-on-one lessons in a less crowded and safer environment. This has given me lots of extra income over the years.

 

[gosports1]

i am at the bottom of this message and it goes from reading Horizonal to Vertical..This has been going on for over 3 week's this Normal

 

[jwmcgrath]

Agreed with those that said you can't stop him from flying… You really can't. It was good of you to step in, and the only thing you could've done any further was emphasize how dangerous flying over children could be if he was uncomfortable with it, and maybe ask him a few questions that would make him realize how inexperienced he is.

That's scary. I hope he learns quickly, without any danger to anyone. He certainly doesn't help our cause.

 

[blackcrusader]

Yup you saw someone who probably should not be flying near kids. I would have advised him to go to a field where there are no people and learn to fly his craft first so he knew how to fly. When I've had people come up to see my drone I am happy to show them how the sticks control the drone when I have brought it back to home point. First reaction I always get is wow it's so stable. They thought they are difficult to fly. I showed them how the drone will just hover in place even in the wind with no stick control. I do not think we need to get stroppy when grandpa wants to take pics. I would have offered to show him how to fly the drone and put him with the kids and taken pics using his drone.

 

[Vodcoffie]

4th option
No, don't stop him but explain proper protocol and safe practices on flying.

 

[jmc67]

You handled the situation correctly but I wouldn't go further from preventing him from flying. I would notify the authorities only if I felt he was flying in a way that would endanger those at the park.

 

[dwallersv]

Yesterday, at a local park filled with children, a man laid down a Phantom 4.
First of all he didn't know how to secure his phone to the controller, it literally was just sitting on the holder.
Second, his antennas were pointed straight out.
That's when I stepped in. This was a seriously unsafe situation and I Stopped him there.
I showed him how to lift the tabs to secure his phone and explained how the antennas worked and repositioned them for him.
I left it at that and walked away. As a Paramedic and Phantom 4 / Inspire 1 Pro pilot I was flawed at his complete lack of knowledge.
"I just wanted to take pictures of my grand kids" Was his statement.
I felt I did enough to at least keep it safe for the moment, but his kind put us all in danger.
Should I have gone further in my instructions or stopped him from flying completely?
Note: Before I purchased mine I researched and read manuals as well as YouTube video intros. Does anyone else?

The question is a bit too broad, but I answered "yes" given the specific scenario you presented.

My more detailed answer: "Yes" if the operation puts people at risk in violation of the rules. "No" if the only issue is threat of damaging property as a consequence of violating the rules/guidelines.

 

[dwallersv]

But this being a small park, filled. It took everything I had in me not to intervene and stop him from flying. Telling him to learn first.
I too was there with my children. But I put my "outrage" in check.

I disappointed that you decided to stay out of it. The irony is, as a Paramedic, you WOULD have been the first First Responder on the scene when he spazzed out and plowed the thing into some kid on the monkey bars trying to film his grandkids.

I take a much more "drone police" view to this, and am not popular here for this view. I don't care. Human beings are far more important than someone's hobby.

Under the circumstances you've described, I would have told him in a friendly way that the FAA rules prohibit him from flying over the people in the park. It's that simple.

If he ignored my advice, I'd escalate to threatening to call the police. If he took off anyway, I'd record the whole thing with my cell phone. If he did fly over the people in the park, I'd carry through on my threat, and call the police.

But that's it. My "drone police" behavior is narrowly limited to one, and only one thing: Violating the rule flying over people.

 

[DanMan32]

FYI DJI documentation does show to have the antennas straight out when the craft is above you but up when it is out from you. Just consider the radial pattern and that makes sense.

 

[AyeYo]

It's tough because you can't really stop anyone from doing anything. You could have offered to teach him to fly, but that might have just made him defensive. I think you did well. It's mostly DJI's fault for marketing these as fool-proof, automated toys, and not as something that could kill someone. Modern flight controllers have opened the RC aircraft hobby to both boneheads and well-meaning, but clueless people. Back in the day, getting an RC aircraft in the air took hours or months of practice and training. Now anyone can immediately put a 5lb aircraft in the sky and be a danger to the public, usually without even knowing it.

 

[JMFinch]

It sounds like he accepted your help with the controller. He would probably appreciate even more help. I would have asked him to wait until I did not have the grandkids so we could meet at a safe location to go over the rules and teach him how to fly. But that's me.

 

[pe9999]

OP should tell the drone owner that flying over people is a FAA safety issue

 

[natvtrader]

LMAO some of these replies and the original post have me laughing. You all act like you started out being pros at flying your phantom. Maybe instead of stepping in trying to be a hard *** when you see people doing something wrong how about you try being helpful? It does sound like the OP did attempt to be helpful but to say you thought about stopping him? It is hard to say what would happen if someone told me to stop flying my phantom but I am sure it wouldn't end well. And as far as the drone police record all you want and do what you will but your tactics sound pretty funny.

Doesn't the phantom 4 have obstacle avoidance? So could he really fly into a crowd of people?