I thought it might be good to share some peaceful and wise ways to deal with people who are becoming more aggressive in our flying our Phantom. I'm aware of the other threads on this but some are focusing on city codes, HOA association bylaws and how angry we are about the infringement on our rights. Again last night I saw more media news about a “Drone” on the news media. I cringe when I see more and more stories like this because it’s only a matter of time that we see the regulations and city laws, not to mention the ever-increasing hostility of the general public, which is what I experienced this morning. I was flying on the beach at 6:30AM. I hiked down to a part of the beach with rocks with absolutely not one person in sight in either direction. My goal this morning was observe two items respect (early and away) I specifically got up before most people are having their first cup of coffee and set up far away from people. I’ll have this beautiful video up this week on my YouTube channel. After 12 minutes of flight over the breakers and out over the ocean about 100 meters I landed, only to see some guy yelling something to me from the walkway behind and above me. The ocean was too loud so I motioned I couldn’t hear him. Within 2 minutes he stepped around a rock and began harassing me with swearing and accusing me of hovering over him. Honestly, I didn’t even see him, or anyone else for that matter, the whole time I was flying. I reached out my hand to introduce myself but he refused to shake my hand. I told him I like to photograph nature (also had my Nikon with me) and intentionally get up early and set up far from where people might be but he wasn’t having it. I seriously thought he was going to commence to physically assault me so I walked away while he was cussing me out. The humorous thing in this is that he didn’t realize that I had more important things to photograph (video) than someone like him.
HERE’S THE QUESTION: What are your suggestions to me and the others when this happens. Let’s face it, this is only the beginning. We have two things against us: the misinformed paranoid person who thinks we’re spying on them, and the foolish flyers who are making a bad name for us.
MY SUGGESTION: To be kind, and fight the temptation to lash back. Introduce myself by my first name and assure them I only want to photograph nature and such in a non-intrusive way.
Your thoughts?
HERE’S THE QUESTION: What are your suggestions to me and the others when this happens. Let’s face it, this is only the beginning. We have two things against us: the misinformed paranoid person who thinks we’re spying on them, and the foolish flyers who are making a bad name for us.
MY SUGGESTION: To be kind, and fight the temptation to lash back. Introduce myself by my first name and assure them I only want to photograph nature and such in a non-intrusive way.
Your thoughts?