I think there are times like that with every hobby. I was mad on amateur radio for a while and lost interest because I wasn’t getting the contacts and it was too passive. I get down days with the drones, especially when the opportunities to fly are limited. Hang in there, the good days are worth the effort.
Maybe because they also have a mobile, if they owned a drone or DSLR surely their attitude to them would be different
Where I fly- Anywhere that has something interesting to look at , photograph etc, I have done. Tin mines in Cornwall, Harbours with fishing boats Churches, boats , just subjects that may be interesting to look at, I don’t see the point in fields other than flying practice, nothing invasive tho for some reason people always seem to assume I’m filming them, if I were to go higher or further away they don’t notice but I try to keep LOS and not onto far so often people can hear or see the drone
I hear ya! I recently had a guy approach me, telling me that I was scaring horses in a field over. I wasn’t… wide camera on the drone, I could see the horses, they were fine. Maybe a little curious over the noise, a couple of them actually coming up to the edge of the field to see what it was, but definitely not running round the field scared to death, as he put it. When I told him I had never flown the drone over the horse field, he then said it was the noise that was scaring them… The horses weren’t scared, I know what scared horses look like, and the noise really wasn’t bothering them.
However he did get to me, and now I’m reluctant to take my drone out. I had the chance to take it to a field of poppies last week (no horses in sight), and made a crappy excuse as to why I shouldnt. Feel like selling mine now too ![]()
I’d go back & tell him ( if you can ) what the F do you do when or if the emergency services have to hover the helicopters nearby ‘ do you have a sulk at them ‘, No, course you don’t with a few other words added on the end but that’s me ![]()
Get ya drone back out & carry on doing what you enjoy doing ‘ obviously ‘ without any intentions but enjoy it like the rest of us ( try ) too ….
Flying with friends and other club members can really help.
Keep an eye on the Meetups category for any events being organised in your area, or feel free to organise a meetup of your own ![]()
I had and felt the same for a year whilst flying my mini 3 pro. 6 months ago got an air 3s and have had no problems, well only a couple! I have passed my exams, got the insurance, fly where I should fly, so have got thick skinned and stand my ground if anyone passes a snidey comment. I know that I am not alone when I add that the old heart beats a little faster when the drone is up in the air, but that is all part of the course of flying them.
I did want to ask what happens when a helicopter goes over… and we have plenty of them where I am. But I felt kind of ambushed, and defeated before I could even defend myself.
Just need to find my balls and get back out there! lol… (I am female by the way but I need to find somebodys balls!
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Yeah, should have made myself clearer; the trouble is that I know what I mean…
No, it’s not illegal to disturb a drone pilot while he’s flying a drone, or that dangerous either, all you have to do is let go of the sticks and Mr Drone will hang about where he is awaiting further intructions, and will even land himself safely if the battery runs out. But a ‘drone pilot’ jacket gives the impression that it is illegal and dangerous, and could, in some circustances, be taken as provocative. It might be argued that it is actually risky if you are disturbing a novice pilot, though…
I’m a big fan of the CAA Drone Code; apart from the legal obligation side of it, it’s good sense and good advice that should keep you out of trouble most of the time! Sadly, there’s nothing you can do about Karen (or Ken) if you don’t have your baseball bat on you, but as I say I have yet to encounter them and don’t let them bother me. I also don’t let auditors (if you want to find out what not to do when you are flying a drone, these idiots are your go-to boys) or newpaper reports of flagrant transgressions (e.g. bloke last year flying drone at 13,000’ above Lincolnshire, reported by RAF pilot) bother me much either though I will comment on such stupidity on this forum. Seems fair to say that GADC people don’t behave like that!
There is a fair bit of stress and even overt antagonism surrounding drone-flying, much of it generated by sensational shock horror probe newspaper reporting, and my view is that unless you ignore it and carry on flying your own drone as legitimately and best you can, you are likely to be drawn into unwanted face-offs, and ultimately become part of the problem! That said, there is nowhere near the amount of stress and overt antagonism out there as some people would have you believe. Treat people with respect and dignity, and they’ll usually return the favour; if they don’t, keep your cool and try to avoid confrontation.
I think I’d have offered to show him the footage, which will have clearly shown that you didn’t frighten the horses or in fact go anywhere near them.
Animals are upredictable though (as I found out last year when a mob of seagulls brought down my Mini 2SE without any provocation or warning. That apart, they’ve ignored me, though I was a bit worried about the geese when I was flying Caerphilly Castle last Nov; geese are territorial and aggressive, but these were used to humans and their madnesses! I was fairly happy I could keep out of their way in the air; I doubt that any bird can match the vertical speed of a drone in S mode rising directly upwards on full throttle! I was more bothered about being attacked on the ground, but they sort of looked up in an ‘oh, look, a drone’ way and carried on being geese…
I use a local recreation ground as a practice field, and sometimes have dogs barking and jumping up at the drone, usually of the small yappy type. The owners are generally apologetic, and the solution is to gain height until the dog finds something else to occupy his mine.
Apparently, one animal that is predictable is Oystercatchers, coastal birds that fly in flocks, mob-handed. These, I’m told, will always attack as aggressively as they can, and as they are a bit bigger than a DJI mini, it’s prolly best to keep clear of them!
But I would expect most animals used to the sounds of roads or farm machinery to basically ignore drones, unless you are conciously ‘buzzing’ them, in which case I have no sympathy!
Yepp I know that feeling ‘ ya kinda tongue tied ‘
But without ….
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I wonder about the psychological element of this sort of thing. Certainly, and for some time. after starting to fly, I was very concious of people around me and wary of any that looked as if they might approach, which I imagine would have shown in my posture and body language and made me vulnerable to exploitation from a certain sort of person. I don’t feel like that now, becuase nothing bad has happened to me while I’m flying a drone, and I have come to accept this state as ‘normal’; most people aren’t bothered with what I’m doing and some are interested!
But I am worried that an incident would upset all this and mar my enthusiasm. I am not the world’s most assertive character, and while I’ve managed fine in the low-key minor incidents I have experienced, and I have a bit more experience & confidence now than a year ago, I am not fully confident of my ability to handle serious aggression. There is, of course, often a point in the way these situation develop where you can back down if possible, and then blame yourself after the event for your cowardice, but it’s still better than provoking what might be full-on violence and injury, or worse
My advice to RMB1 is to get out and fly, because the more you do this and nothing bad happens to you, the more confident you will become. This confidence will show in your body posture and general demeanourt; ‘I’m doing this, which is fine and I’m not annoying anyone’ rather than ‘Is this ok? Can I really fly here? Mustn’t annoy anyone’!
1 Have a word with yourself please
2 Charge batteries
3 Fly in a town center or city
4 Use you’re drone like a car and follow the highway code rules i.e stop at red lights and get in the right lane at roundabouts (So much fun they’ll soon encourage you to get it up higher)
5 Arrange a club meet or attend one if you can and we will have a word
6 Remember why you started in the first place
7 Flex the chest get it out and get it up (The Drone)
8 Ignore @TheJohnster comment about the baseball bat and use a can of hairspray and a lighter it’s much more effective
Did you charge her for a roof inspection ![]()
Nothing apparently about it, they will try their level best to attack. I encounter them on a near daily basis and even my most recent visit to Grain Fort, they were forming up for a stab at my drone…
Pretty much on the same page Richard, I’m down to a few times in the summer now
I have experienced the same thing and been intimidated by clueless idiots who seem to have a chip on their shoulder! I haven’t flown for a while cos it’s just putting Me Off! I have tried to find a other Drone Pilots who might want to Fly Together and be Eachothers Spotters as well! Nobody ever seems to be interested and most pilots I have contacted just ignore me! ![]()
Whereabouts are you located Mike? Happy to have anyone tag along or to organise a local meet near me for anyone who wants to meet up and get some practice in… I am based in the NW, on the edge of Manchester, and there are a few spots local that are good for a meet up - and where we have never had any Ken or Karen issues…
I’m offering the same as @AlbionDrones, I’m in the East Midlands (Nottinghamshire).
Pop over to the meet up thread and see if anything’s happening locally to yourself
Where do I get a RemoteID from? I assume that’s what I have to enter into the drone’s software, and which subsequently gets transmitted.
