Public awareness of drones

General Drone Discussion
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When I go out to fly my drone, I often get folks coming up and asking questions about it. “How good is the picture?”, “How long can it fly for?”, “How much did it cost?” etc. When folks ask, I am more than happy to share my “limited” knowledge, and show them the quality of the pictures and videos, and maybe if they get a drone in the future, they would use it responsibly.

Today for instance, while my wife and I were out looking for swans to feed on a nearby river, a couple of young girls came over, asked the usual questions and seemed happy when shown the view from the drone I had flying at the time.

Do you folks do the same or do you try to keep people away when you have your drones in the air?

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I’ve never had a bad interaction since I’ve been flying a drone. Educate and inform is the best way to go. :+1:

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I was filming a local football stadium, a mature couple asked why i was doing drones and what was the point, in a not so friendly tone, so i explained to them why, and that is shows locals and people from a far the area, and then they got interested, and i told them about my plans in wanting to go into search and rescue, with thermal drones once i do my a2 cofc, and at the end i asked them what house was theirs, and i showed them there house and i said i would print them off a copy, so i went home and printed a copy of the photo i took, and they where happy. So i think it all depends on the approach of the people asking and you can judge on how friendly they are or how easy it maybe to inform them and show that we are all not audits drone nuts, and then yes there will becases where you might as well save you breath

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Been flying a few months now, and, luckily, have had only positive and friendly feedback from passers-by; some contributors here have had different experiences! I am more than happy to show them the drone, the footage, and some of the features, and answer questions as best I can, and explain the basics of the rules.

I try to fly (a sub-250g drone) away from other people as much as is practical, but if they come over and talk to me that’s fine as well, so long as they’re not a crowd…

When I was starting out and practicing on our local recreation ground, I did have a group of teenage girls asking if I was filming them, which I wasn’t especially, and showed them what I’d taken, after which they were quite happy that I wasn’t perving on them, and interested in the drone camera view of the area.

There seems to be a degree of negative coverage in the media, but then again some drone pilots do stupid and dangerous things. The incident at Gatwick a few years ago, which turned out not to have been caused by a drone at all, generated a good bit of anti-drone opinion, especially as it resulted in national press stories of peoples’ xmas holidays being ruined; it was actually an overreaction to an unverified report by the airport management and local police that caused the problems.

But this stuff is balanced by ‘good drone’ stories in the media; drones used to deliver medicines to remote islands, or in search & rescue for missing pets, or assisting lifeboats. And of course there are the features about delivery drones, drone taxis, police surveillance, examining railway lines and equipment &c. Public awareness of drones varies, and is certainly not all negative!

But some types of flying do seem to attract trouble. Flying from your garden for example may cause noise or privacy issues for your neighbours; answer, go up the park! Nature lovers might worry about you disturbing nesting birds, so fly higher so the birds aren’t aware of you. Personally, I would not fly in the vicinity of a school or a hospital, or for example a church where a funeral was in progress. Just common sense and respect for others really.

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Time for a new t-shirt? :grin:

It really could do with an more recent style drone on it though.

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Hi @QED , it looks as though you’re quite new here :wave:t2:

Why not nip over to the Introductions page, and say hello properly and tell us a bit about yourself. :+1:t2:

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I guess you haven’t encountered an Oystercatcher yet then?

They have razor sharpe hearing and go for you at any altitude. Seagulls are tame compared to this lot! :joy:

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Get one of these, saves questions from silly people :slight_smile:

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Not while drone-flying, no, but I’m sure my time will come; I’m fairly coastal. From what I’ve seen of these bastards, the sight of them would be enough to make me land and go elsewhere. They are completely unafraid of storms, in fact seem to enjoy them, and are always mob-handed. Presumably the standard ‘straight up as fast as you can and get the fuck outta Dodge’ avoidance manoevre is your best bet!

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The rule is ‘don’t be a dick’; doesn’t say anything about looking like one! Looks like the sort of thing an ‘auditor’ would wear, so no, thanks! I doubt if gulls or oystercatchers would be bothered by it anyway…

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Now that’s a great idea, what’s the chance of getting a GADC branded one?

Especially the black one, it’s not too obvious but clear enough to people nearby.

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You’d be surprised how beneficial a hi viz jacket can be. Public in general tend to be inquisitive about drone flights as it’s quite often suspected you’re up to no good. Making yourself obviously visible can go a long way in convincing people you are genuine and know what you’re doing.
Wearing a hi viz jacket has been very beneficial on the numerous missing dog SAR flights I’ve carried out particularly when flying over farm land - helps to convince farmers your not “casing” their expensive machinery for potential robbery - don’t knock 'til you’ve tried it :man_shrugging:

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Ordered a new one today, with a pouch for my drone ID card, my last one always stopped inquisitive people, very much doubt “Auditors” would bother wearing a hi-viz nevermind showing their ID, before I had an hi-viz people came to talk and ask questions, never happened since, and I certainly don’t feel like a dick wearing it!

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If there’s enough interest we’ll get them added to our shop.

Hit the Like button on this post and we’ll use that to measure the interest.

Meanwhile, back on topic :smiley:

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Yeah, I can see the point if you’re getting involved in SAR of any sort, because that isn’t a leisure activity, it’s serious. But it would feel a bit pretentious in one over the rec, or most of the fairly urban leisure locations I tend to frequent. You’ve sort of half convinced me, but if I bought one I would feel very self-concious wearing it.

I do wear my Grey Arrows lapel badge when I’m out flying, and there’s one on the drone bag as well, but AFAIK nobody’s ever noticed it. And I’ve worn my freebie DJI Everest t-shirt, and the fuck off seagull finger one given me by a kind and sympathetic denizen of this very forum, but not every time and these get worn up the pub as well.

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Ive recently got myself a monitor and tripod which I attach to my RC2.

Whilst its basically to help me see the screen easier when alone, Ive also set it up occasionally with a 5m cable for interested spectators to view the footage away from me whilst I wear the “leave me alone” hi viz so I can get on an fly without interuption.

Proves to be quite popular. I then answer questions after I land.

Also a great way of keeping the kids occupied when Im baby sitting on school holidays lol

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I’d be interested to see a picture of that. :slightly_smiling_face:

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Me too.

How big is the monitor @Subaquatic ?

How is it powered in the field?

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If I tried that round our way, the monitor and tripod would be gone within a few minutes :joy::joy::joy::joy::joy::joy:

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:laughing::laughing::laughing: Yeah dont get me wrong, one eye on the drone one eye on the monitor lol. Imbcertainky particular where Id place it lol

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