First negative interaction

General Drone Discussion
1

I had my first angry “you can’t fly there” reaction yesterday.

It was at Bowes castle.

I took off and landed from Back Lane a public road and flew for about 20 mins. There were no people around.

Just as i’m landing a woman comes out and says i cant fly there as I’m closer than 50 metres to houses (which I dont believe i was in any case)

I have A2 CofC flying MA2 and kept away from property boundaries however some gardens are close to the castle but were not overflown.

I told her politely she was incorrect and she stormed off.

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Was I in the right?

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2

A lot depends on uninvolved persons

Check out our very own Good2Go

3

How long did it take her to get to you? It takes about 1 min to walk 50 metres

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4

I increased my separation distance when i saw her and delayed landing until she left.

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5

There’s a handy measuring tool built in to the Drone Scene map :slight_smile:

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6

I think I’ve misunderstood minimum seperation distances from occupied buildings so I think i was in the wrong. Its the first time i’ve flown anywhere near a residential area.

Lesson learned.

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7

Time to fly your drone to her house dangling an note of apology? :laughing:

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8

Maybe I should do it the old fashioned way and fire an arrow at her door with a note attached.

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9

And let fate decide if she should open the door during the arrow’s flight time

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10

Dear Karen…

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11

I was avoiding using the term Karen but seeing as how you have said it…

12

Karen & Ken are well known throughout these parts

13

I suppose its a good thing we don’t tend to have heavily armed Karens here otherwise I would have probably been shot down.

14

Go back with a sub 250g and wait for her to come back and then apologise for the first instance, but you’ve now got a smaller drone which is allowed, so thank her for her advice and guidance. :wink:

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15

That gives me the green light as it doesnt mention seperation from buildings.

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16

Caveat is can you guarantee the buildings are empty.

Best advice currently is go the sub 250g gram route

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17

To get the “green light” you must have indicated you didn’t want to fly closer than 50 metres to uninvolved people. Unfortunately, the houses are much closer than 50 metres and could contain uninvolved people who could exit their properties at any time. Therefore, the correct answer of how close to fly to uninvolved people is 30 to 50 metres - and the computer it says No…

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18

Yes i think so. However I dont tend to fly in such areas as a rule so will avoid in future.

19

As I’d said earlier I’d misunderstood the seperation regarding occupied buildings. Everyday is a school day as they so I will learn from it.

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20

To be honest - I would have flown there too. I also have an A2 CofC and would argue that there is no access from the gardens into the castle and that the intended flight would have the castle between the drone and the gardens - just my thoughts. Its a grey area but a sub 250 gram drone sorts it all out and Mrs Karen can be told to jog on :+1: :+1: :+1:
Typical English Heritage/National Trust site situation - they seem to have cornered the market in Kevins/Karens :man_shrugging: - don’t let it bother you - enjoy your flying :+1: :+1: :+1: