Do you get hounded by questions?

[mfarris2]

Well as soon as I can set my walker aside and figure out this contraption that has type writer keys on it with a TV attached,....I will give that young whipper snapper a piece of my mind. And his parents too as they raised a rude and obviously ignorant child. For now,....I will leave it at this. I was born in the 50s. I will out fly him with any toy or vehicle of his choice. I also would be ashamed at driving such a modest vehicle. Leave those of that class for "the help."
Oh,....and before you become tired answering questions,....think back. When you first heard the word drone, chopper, remote aircraft, stealth, RTH,..or a million other advances in practicality or technology,...did you ask anyone any questions? Or were you just born knowing it all and looking down your nose at the people whom paved the way for the next generation of advances.

 

[Uncle Stumpy]

The comment about his car pretty much sums it up. He wants to be noticed and admired for his possessions that the average person cannot attain. So he would welcome questions about the car because he feels it validates his position in society, and feels disrespected when someone shows more interest in the drone than the car. It has less to do with age, and more to do with maturity.

I thought the same thing about the car too.

 

[Roflans99]

ROFLANS (Retired Old Fella Learning Amazing New Stuff)[emoji16]

 

[Uncle Stumpy]

Well as soon as I can set my walker aside and figure out this contraption that has type writer keys on it with a TV attached,....I will give that young whipper snapper a piece of my mind. And his parents too as they raised a rude and obviously ignorant child. For now,....I will leave it at this. I was born in the 50s. I will out fly him with any toy or vehicle of his choice. I also would be ashamed at driving such a modest vehicle. Leave those of that class for "the help."
Oh,....and before you become tired answering questions,....think back. When you first heard the word drone, chopper, remote aircraft, stealth, RTH,..or a million other advances in practicality or technology,...did you ask anyone any questions? Or were you just born knowing it all and looking down your nose at the people whom paved the way for the next generation of advances.

It sounds to me like this kid has big earrings, nose piercings and a long beard and man bun hair do.
5 bucks says his mommy and daddy bought him the car. We should just ignore him.

 

[mfarris2]

I wouldn't waste a nickel taking that bet. I would be a sure loser. Agreed on ignoring him.

 

[aburkefl]

When I first started flying quads, I almost always took off and landed manually. Then, I discovered time and time again there were spectators and they (a) wanted to know what it was, how it worked, etc and (b) little kids wanted to run over and touch it. Ouch!

So I practiced and got more adept at hand-catching. Virtually every adult with a child seems to understand those little whirly things can't be good for their children, but, often, the children react faster than their parents!

One of my good friends flies R/C planes. One day we were flying in the park and a van drove up, stopped and disgorged half a dozen children. My friend smiled, looked my way and said, "Electric, about 10 minutes and about as far as you can safely see." I asked what that meant and he said, "Those are the answers to the most commonly asked questions."

He was spot on. The other piece that's kind of funny in a way - today's technology is often not cheap, but consumers seem to have gotten used to it - how much did your latest iPhone cost? But when they discover my Phantom 3 was $1,500 (with extra batteries) and the planes we fly cost anywhere from $100 to $500, they think that's a lot of money. Maybe it's because they just see them as toys!

Art - N4PJ
Leesburg, FL

 

[Ing Zimmerman]

1940
I am sorry but I am to old to comment here.

 

[53-63-6f-74-74]

I am sorry but I am to old to comment here.
Approaching 80.

80!! You must be "hounding" folks asking questions about how the light bulb works.

 

[David_Cambridge]

All,

Another data point in the flogging.

74 years old, 7 years retired.

In the last year, have flown my P34K 110 successful times, completed 2 4K experimental films from the aerial footage, written software to create very targeted video special effects, designed electronic systems for synchronizing audio and video sub-systems, and logged many hours at sea sailing with friends.

I very much enjoy drawing casual observers into the P3's capabilities and sophisticated systems, comparing its systems with the systems in the Tesla highest end vehicles. The P3 wins.

 

[John Decker]

1950s here. I constructed planes from sheets and spars of balsa wood as a kid - and servos etc. Dope was something else then (could still get you high I suppose).
The questions he complains about being asked - wouldn't he have asked the same ones when he bought his quad?
And no, I don't know the difference between an iPhone 5 and 7. There are more important things in life than to obsess over things like that. Or cars.
I like being older, it gives you a sense of perspective.

 

[GeorgeMoses]

Almost every time I go fly my drone in a public area, like a beach with tourists, I always get hounded down with questions from old people in their 40-60s, like old fashioned people who aren't up to date in technology. Ya it's cool they're amazed by it, but some of them think how can something like this be possible. Many of them doubt it and ask me stuff like what happens if it loses signal will it just crash. I tell them just comes back with GPS coordinates. I get the people born in the 60s-70s think something like this isn't possible, so anytime they see a drone they're like amazed by it.

Some people I have decent conversations with, like one old dude told me how he flew RC planes and showed me a video. But most the time I just feel like I get hounded down with questions than have engaging conversations with most these curious people. They just ask question after question rather than create a conversation.

Most younger people who are millennial and use smart phones are accustomed to drones. Especially when you go to a nerd convention then nobody really thinks much of your drone. It's always little kids or old people who are amazed by it or have tons of questions about the drone.

So many of them think it's hard to fly it, or think it would just suddenly crash or lose signal. But even with all the times I did lose signal, I usually don't have to worry since I know it will just come home. I trust this device and have so much faith in DJI that I don't really worry about losing the drone, even when signal goes out.

But seriously these are my list of questions

-Q:How far does this thing go
-How fast does it go
-Do you need license
-How is the battery life
-What happens when you lose signal
-What happens if you crash
-What are the laws
-What if you hit a plane/helicopter

I'm not really an expert, I just fly it for fun. But all these old people think you must be some kind of special person to operate these things. Even though now they're super cheap and a decent one can be obtained for less than $1000. To the point that anyone can just go on the internet and buy one. I don't really know how it works but I can go buy a used one on Craigslist and it usually just works. I just picked up a used Phantom 4 for $710 that came with 3 batteries, or 2 extra batteries since all drones should have 1 battery.

I drive a $80k limited edition orange M3 and for some reason the $700 drone gets a lot more attention and questions than my car.

I'm 74 years old and I fly my Phantom 3 Pro all the time. You're right about the questions. Almost makes you want to print up a small handout to give them with all the answers to the questions you listed. LOL

 

[ryantrax]

If you don't want to answer questions wear one of these LOL:

I personally don't mind answering questions and educating the community, I just ask people to please wait until I land and I'll answer all their question, the individuals that are really interested will usually stand by quietly and wait, others will normally walk away after a minute or so.

 

[EyeSkyDrone]

I always get hounded down with questions from old people in their 40-60s, like old fashioned people who aren't up to date in technology.

You're kidding me... right? I'm one of those "old people" you are talking about; 66 next month. I fly a P4 and I'm also a FAA certified SUAS pilot. I own a 27" iMac 5K w/ dual monitors , iPhone6, iPad, iPad mini, MacBook Pro, Canon EOS M3, GoPro Hero4, and an Epson 3880 17" Professional printer. I've had many youngsters and well as people of all ages ask me questions about my drone and I'm more than willing to answer them; and glad to do it.

 

[ryantrax]

You're kidding me... right? I'm one of those "old people" you are talking about; 66 next month. I fly a P4 and I'm also a FAA certified SUAS pilot. I own a 27" iMac 5K w/ dual monitors , iPhone6, iPad, iPad mini, MacBook Pro, Canon EOS M3, GoPro Hero4, and an Epson 3880 17" Professional printer. I've had many youngsters and well as people of all ages ask me questions about my drone and I'm more than willing to answer them; and glad to do it.

I agree, I don't think age has anything to do with it, I'm verging on 40 and can hang with the youngest of them I get questions from all ages too, a majority of them are actually young teenagers in my case.

 

[eastwestdrones]

This is pretty funny, but the backlash is funnier. Yep, I'm 54 and a total techie. And I have also run into many people with questions. Who wouldn't - these things are awesome! I think the best move is to just patiently answer the questions. If you don't want to be asked questions, don't fly near people!

We have a reasonably big PR problem as an industry and the more people we educate the sooner we'll have fewer ridiculous restrictive regulations being shoved on us by people who don't understand.

 

[Ing Zimmerman]

80!! You must be "hounding" folks asking questions about how the light bulb works.

Nope don't like those techy things like 'light bulb' still with candels.

 

[wmralls]

I am guessing there is some point to this rather meandering and personally insulting post. Perhaps your need was simply to vent to an audience that is probably 99.9% dedicated to improving the world of Phantom Pilots rather than complaining over idiotic decisions. To help you out a bit I would suggest you stick to playing with yourself in dark closets where you and your drone can live happily ever after.

 

[Chuck1906]

Almost every time I fly I get asked questions. The other day I got up at "O dark early" to shoot the sunrise and some other stuff and at 5:45am it was so quiet and so peaceful and nobody was around asking me 50 million questions! LOL! So choosing the time of day helps if you getting bothered with curious people asking questions. Location away from the tourists and nosey, and curious people also helps too. If I am going to be flying some place where there are or will be people present, I will position myself so I am not a sitting duck in plain view. Its kinda funny watching them trying to figure out where the person is that is flying the drone! LOL! If someone does come up to me, I politely tell them my 100% focus is flying my drone and I can't really talk to them until I safely land it. If I have a VO (Visual Observer) with me then that is there job to answer the questions that way I can stay focused on flying. Usually they will understand. Most just want to see what my camera is showing. They always ask the same questions too: Does that have a camera on it? How high can it go? How far can you fly it? How long does the battery last? Then others come up and want to see what it looks like up close and they mention they never saw a drone in person before which I find hard to believe when stores like Best Buy have them on display

 

[GMack]

Wonder if social media sites did not exist if this hobby would flourish better?

Seems there are too many reports worldwide that trickle down to local bureaucrats who then decide they need to write laws in the guise of safety, privacy, making money via permits, or just making a name for themselves and that spreads like wildfire as with banning drones from wherever due to something "they read on the internet."

If the car appeared about the time of the internet and social media, it too may have gotten banned as "It ran over someone and killed them, and it is a worldwide issue."

Aside, I wonder if the younger crowd of millennials who are online 24/7 may care less about drones and privacy than the oldsters appear too. Everything they do is online or recorded in their house via Echo, Alexa, their phones, etc. so they may care less and likely pose for the overflying drone without much concern about privacy or trespassing.

Never been asked a question by general public yet. By a badge, yes.

 

[Mark J Colbert]

I was born in 1964 and am a USAF veteran. I used to hate it when our squadron, the 336th Rocketeers, would send one of our jets (F-15E) to an airshow somewhere and someone would have to stand around, usually in the heat and/or humidity for most of the day, and answer questions from old people: What's it like to break the sound barrier? Can you really put a 500 lb smart bomb through someone's front door in zero visibility weather? What do you see on the 4 screens? You have controls Too? Can you fly the jet? You can just imagine how irritating that would be - All. Day. Long. No, not really - it was extremely cool and I loved it. Just like I love answering questions about my P4P for people.