First flight - very negative experience with person on the ground.

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I've read about it a bit on here but today I took my p4p out for its first proper serious flight in a fairly remote location and had a really bad experience with a foreign tourist.

I was the only one there and had my bird up for about 10 minutes just after sunrise when this hippy looking tourist pops up and comes up to me and says "oh that's such a noisy thing isn't it, it's so peaceful here and you've got that thing flying around"

I knew straight away by his tone and attitude he was being passive aggressive and was annoyed by the drone. I straight away replied "yeah it's nice here isn't it, lucky I'm not gonna be long and I'm not hurting anyone". (This is while I'm flying and filming).

He then circles around me, I look at him and know he wants more to say, like he just couldn't let it go. He then says "oh you do know this is a nature reserve don't you?, it's just a shame to lose that peaceful effect" ... (it's not a nature reserve it's a national park - here in Australia there is a difference).

I looked at him and could see he was annoyed. I could see by his face and throat his heart was racing 100miles an hour and he was pi$$ed off.
I looked him straight in the eye and said "are we going to have a problem mate?". He then says "oh no no, no there is no problem, just people like to have peace and quiet" and starts walking away.

I was furious, I couldn't think straight and subsequently I'm pretty sure my footage is going to be rubbish. The more he spoke the angrier I was getting and I think he definitely sensed it was time to walk away which was probably best for him.

This might sound a little arrogant but for someone to come into my country and question me flying a drone in a national park that MY taxes help maintain, create the roads to these amazing places as well as promote them I find straight up disgusting.

If not for people like us - photographers, film makers etc who provide images for the beautiful brochures etc and the advertisements on tv these hippy tourists wouldn't even know these places exist.

And this was only my first flight ..... [emoji35]
 
Sorry you had a bad first experience. I've not run into that yet, just a little old lady asking me "Is that a drone? Who is it spying on?" Most people are intrigued by the technology and will try to talk your ear off while flying.
 
I probably wouldn't have mentioned the bit about taxes and tourists as it would infuriate a certain group of PC types but I guess you both had a right to be in the same place at the same time.

No mate I didn't actually say that part to him -that was more my thoughts at the time and venting on here, but it's a valid point nonetheless and certainly something a lot of the narrow minded types could do with thinking about. It's not really any different to me wanting to enjoy a pristine beach in peace and quiet and someone rocks up with a bunch of kids that want to yell and scream. As annoying as that would be, would I have the audacity to go up and ask them to bugger off?? Definitely not - they are doing nothing wrong!!!

I'm not an aggressive person by any means and just punching on is not really my thing but I certainly won't hesitate should the necessity arise and I'll always be the first to speak up and stand up for myself. Thankfully this guy realised he wasn't going to push his BS on me.
 
No mate I didn't actually say that part to him -that was more my thoughts at the time and venting on here, but it's a valid point nonetheless and certainly something a lot of the narrow minded types could do with thinking about. It's not really any different to me wanting to enjoy a pristine beach in peace and quiet and someone rocks up with a bunch of kids that want to yell and scream. As annoying as that would be, would I have the audacity to go up and ask them to bugger off?? Definitely not - they are doing nothing wrong!!!

I'm not an aggressive person by any means and just punching on is not really my thing but I certainly won't hesitate should the necessity arise and I'll always be the first to speak up and stand up for myself. Thankfully this guy realised he wasn't going to push his BS on me.
Nah it's all good, hopefully those sort of confrontations are few and far between. I avoid people like the plague and am lucky to fly in an area where I am rarely bothered. Having said that, I had a bloke yell out to me that he wished he had a shotgun to shoot my drone down. I yelled back to him that not only had I recorded his voice on the go app but I also took the trouble of filming him during the event. It's the fastest I've ever seen someone get in their car and leave. They live amongst us.....
 
You kept your head about you, and now you've seen the worst that this hobby can offer... It only gets better from here!
 
I've read about it a bit on here but today I took my p4p out for its first proper serious flight in a fairly remote location and had a really bad experience with a foreign tourist.

I was the only one there and had my bird up for about 10 minutes just after sunrise when this hippy looking tourist pops up and comes up to me and says "oh that's such a noisy thing isn't it, it's so peaceful here and you've got that thing flying around"

I knew straight away by his tone and attitude he was being passive aggressive and was annoyed by the drone. I straight away replied "yeah it's nice here isn't it, lucky I'm not gonna be long and I'm not hurting anyone". (This is while I'm flying and filming).

He then circles around me, I look at him and know he wants more to say, like he just couldn't let it go. He then says "oh you do know this is a nature reserve don't you?, it's just a shame to lose that peaceful effect" ... (it's not a nature reserve it's a national park - here in Australia there is a difference).

I looked at him and could see he was annoyed. I could see by his face and throat his heart was racing 100miles an hour and he was pi$$ed off.
I looked him straight in the eye and said "are we going to have a problem mate?". He then says "oh no no, no there is no problem, just people like to have peace and quiet" and starts walking away.

I was furious, I couldn't think straight and subsequently I'm pretty sure my footage is going to be rubbish. The more he spoke the angrier I was getting and I think he definitely sensed it was time to walk away which was probably best for him.

This might sound a little arrogant but for someone to come into my country and question me flying a drone in a national park that MY taxes help maintain, create the roads to these amazing places as well as promote them I find straight up disgusting.

If not for people like us - photographers, film makers etc who provide images for the beautiful brochures etc and the advertisements on tv these hippy tourists wouldn't even know these places exist.

And this was only my first flight ..... [emoji35]
HI Yip hang in there you handled that we'll,,:)all the best for next flight,,
 
It's not hard to appreciate that not everyone likes UAV's- how close on where you for the noise to be an issue?

The easiest way to avoid these problems is to avoid launching and flying from the tourist infested lookouts and other areas. You will also avoid the rangers, you think the tourists are a pain in the clacka.... The rangers are worse.
 
It's not hard to appreciate that not everyone likes UAV's- how close on where you for the noise to be an issue?

Admittedly I was pretty close - point being though is I was up well before the sunrise and by the time I got to the location I was the first and only person there.
In hindsight I probably could have launched elsewhere however being a complete rookie pilot I wanted to be close to where I was filming and keep visual on the bird at all times.

I can fully appreciate that not everybody likes them, and to be honest I'm not bothered by that. I have many dislikes in life but I don't feel the need to approach everyone doing something I dislike and tell them about it. At the end of the day I was committing no offence and therefore doing no wrong.

It's called tolerance and mutual respect. He gave me his opinion and I gave him a response. One he didn't want - so he attempted to antagonise and bait me even further before he realised I was willing to bite and he was out of his depth.
 
Admittedly I was pretty close - point being though is I was up well before the sunrise and by the time I got to the location I was the first and only person there.
In hindsight I probably could have launched elsewhere however being a complete rookie pilot I wanted to be close to where I was filming and keep visual on the bird at all times.

I can fully appreciate that not everybody likes them, and to be honest I'm not bothered by that. I have many dislikes in life but I don't feel the need to approach everyone doing something I dislike and tell them about it. At the end of the day I was committing no offence and therefore doing no wrong.

It's called tolerance and mutual respect. He gave me his opinion and I gave him a response. One he didn't want - so he attempted to antagonise and bait me even further before he realised I was willing to bite and he was out of his depth.
What you may not realise is, in accordance with current Dept of the Enviriment and Heritage policy, permission is required from the park manager prior to operating a UAV in a National Park. I have offered you a suggestion to avoid future incidents and I have, unfortunately, first hand experience of his some of these drongos behave.
 
I agree your first experience was not good but now you got to think how to make second and third and next experiences much better.

I have experienced that bird watchers visit such public parks early in the morning to listen to the birds sweet sounds and feel out of the world then.
 
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I've read about it a bit on here but today I took my p4p out for its first proper serious flight in a fairly remote location and had a really bad experience with a foreign tourist.

I was the only one there and had my bird up for about 10 minutes just after sunrise when this hippy looking tourist pops up and comes up to me and says "oh that's such a noisy thing isn't it, it's so peaceful here and you've got that thing flying around"

I knew straight away by his tone and attitude he was being passive aggressive and was annoyed by the drone. I straight away replied "yeah it's nice here isn't it, lucky I'm not gonna be long and I'm not hurting anyone". (This is while I'm flying and filming).

He then circles around me, I look at him and know he wants more to say, like he just couldn't let it go. He then says "oh you do know this is a nature reserve don't you?, it's just a shame to lose that peaceful effect" ... (it's not a nature reserve it's a national park - here in Australia there is a difference).

I looked at him and could see he was annoyed. I could see by his face and throat his heart was racing 100miles an hour and he was pi$$ed off.
I looked him straight in the eye and said "are we going to have a problem mate?". He then says "oh no no, no there is no problem, just people like to have peace and quiet" and starts walking away.

I was furious, I couldn't think straight and subsequently I'm pretty sure my footage is going to be rubbish. The more he spoke the angrier I was getting and I think he definitely sensed it was time to walk away which was probably best for him.

This might sound a little arrogant but for someone to come into my country and question me flying a drone in a national park that MY taxes help maintain, create the roads to these amazing places as well as promote them I find straight up disgusting.

If not for people like us - photographers, film makers etc who provide images for the beautiful brochures etc and the advertisements on tv these hippy tourists wouldn't even know these places exist.

And this was only my first flight ..... [emoji35]
I thought every single Aussie was happy. Truly.
 
Was he French ??[emoji28]

Ummm quite possibly ... it was either French or German... And I know they sound completely different but his English was excellent and I was too peeved to really take much notice to be honest [emoji848]

It's a shame ******** can't be a nationality.
 
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Just caught up with this one, you did well Ben - containing frustration and on your first flight. I get approached almost every flight but so far it's been interest, no complaints, you've had a bad experience hopefully they will be far apart if ever again. Enjoy and safe flying
 

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