First flight - then 8 Greek Cops came !!!

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:roll: The first flight was out of the box for me... I did take my time to read all manuals thoroughly before hand. Charged everything up and calibrated the compass in situ I was in the Olympic Stadium grounds in Athens Greece. Ran the FPV through my iPhone and waited for the greens to become constant and good and took off. Was very windy today so I took off behind a small demountable ticket office unused to shield the wind.
Flew up nice and easy in GPS mode. Especially from what I read from you guys its the most stable for a new flier. I have attached standard prop guards and like you guys and youtube videos state spraying the forward facing ones bright orange is a must do (glad I had it all set up first this way). Anyway it flew super easy. FPV was good... first flight battery was near 8 minutes, but I didn't want to risk it so landed. Changed battery and took off again... wind was huge now so it was fighting hard to even keep any course so I landed waiting for the wind to die and took off again...
Then I see four motor bikes surround me and 8 cops start speaking to me. I land. (one of the cops has an MP5) the rest pistols. 'Umm whats the problem?' i ask, they say ' you cannot film here, you have camera and we have secret facilities inside the stadium grounds' they then asked me to come back to the police station. I gave them my Australian ID and tell them I was using the FPV app (which disengaged second flight on its own anyway) and was not recording. I was polite but firm with them because the Greeks (Im half Greek so I can complain) like to set double standard rules... don't fly a quad but the complex is fallen down and people actually drive their cars through the complex illegally 24/7.
Anyway long and short I drive to the police station my fc40 in my boot, one cop motorcycle in front one behind. They then bring me to their 'officer in charge' a lieutenant who looked 15 years old. (Its about now I should say that I am recently honourably discharged injured Detective Sergeant and Acting Inspector from Sydney with 17 years Police duty myself) Long and short I explain not only my intentions (to test the quad first time) but also that their paranoia is laughable and they should learn the terms 'police discretion'. They were good 'kids' and all shook my hand and left me with their boss. I asked him his age and he said 22. And made a point of being proud of his rank. I told him he needs some good years on the street and to earn being a 'real cop' and we discussed the crisis in Greece at the present time. I then left and again shook his hand. They were all nice people... paranoid re nothing and needed to increase their own decision making and common sense to their work.
My synopsis is that there is a definite stigma attached to the quad/drone perception. I have flown my Blade 120sr helicopter in the same area many times with no reaction (Oh and I had a pen camera attached some flights). I hope this does not occur too often. I love all flying machines, my father being a former commercial pilot and me even having my PPL for a period of time also years ago. The fc40 combines my passion for photography and flight and besides the 'police malakia' it was a dream to fly... in GPS mode it was so simple to fly and land ... glad I cut my teeth on the blade first... sorry if the story is a bit long winded but just thought i'd share my first flight 'adventure' with others who are in this community of fliers. Cheers :)
 
Ozhawk said:
:roll: The fc40 combines my passion for photography and flight and besides the 'police malakia' it was a dream to fly... in GPS mode it was so simple to fly and land ... glad I cut my teeth on the blade first... sorry if the story is a bit long winded but just thought i'd share my first flight 'adventure' with others who are in this community of fliers. Cheers :)

I know just enough greek to say :lol: :lol: :lol:
 
it can happen anywhere glad to see you didn't get arrested

i have seen on other forums of this happening even here in the us

the cops have gotten so uptight about attacks from other countries that they want to keep us hobbiest from enjoying what we do

i have a gas rc truck i would love to see what its top speed is but i know about the time i get it out near the highway a cop would go by

this is also why i like a smaller quadcopter for fpv(it makes it harder to see from a distance :D )
 

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