So there was I stood atop Adam’s Grave in Wiltshire, practicing circles and admiring the fantastic views behind the drone which was in VLOS obvs…
A bloke walks up and says “should you be flying that here?'”
I bang on about CAA, flight restriction zones… Salisbury plain is miles away bla bla bla and he goes on about how my drone (DJI Mini) could bring down a helicopter and should be banned in his opinion
You get the picture
So the question is simply this…
What should I have done with the drone…
Left it hovering to talk to him and loose VLOS
Landed it near me so he could stamp on it because he was right next to me and your not supposed to fly close to uninvolved people
How do you deal with nasty people when your mid flight?
PS: Though sorely tempted to give him a haircut with the rotors … I resisted
Anything more than a very quick chat, tell them to back off or stand behind you, so you can safely land. Even if it’s a quick chat bring it back closer so you it’s not any trouble at all to see and locate the drone quickly.
At 285m, and being in the middle of nowhere, I would have told him to do one. And if he got arsey about it, he’d be doing a 60 mph rolly polly down Pewsey Downs.
its illegal to distract a pilot for one. also any damage to your drone would be treated as if he had done the same to an actual aircraft as drones are categorised as aircraft and they come under the same laws. if somebody shoots at a drone (say a farmer or hunter) they would get the same punishment as if they had shot at an actual plane or helicopter.
I’ve found people are normally OK, apart from the nob in Wigan I have mentioned in a previous post.
My approach in the situation you’ve mentioned, considering it’s a direct question to what I’m doing.
Answer is ‘yeh, I’m within the regulations’ or something like that, then ‘can you not disturb me, I consentrating’
If he persists then I’ll I reach into my back pocket for these little cards I have printed off explaining in basic terms of what the drone code is (thanks Geeksvana). Hand it to them and tell them to read it.
I’d rather not get into any heated discussion as I’ve found it just ruins that flight and any other I make after it because my blood pressure is through the roof, so the cards are a non confrontation type of way, which normally works😁
But don’t get me wrong, if he’s persistent, and arsey with it he gets told to f@#k off. In no uncertain terms.
Obviously I’m not a lawyer, but if someone is causing or trying to cause you to break the law, isn’t that illegal? Secondary liability or something like that?
Someone on here had a good idea. Leaflet explaing the CAA law and your licence…and to shut up whilst you are flying…together with the penalties for interfering with a ‘pilot’. Similar to Leylo1971 above
If I’m flying within all the rules my answer will depend on how the question is asked. If done in a polite and friendly manner then I’m quite happy to respond in a similar fashion. If grumpy, aggressive or angry then I’ll reply with big shitty balls of sarcasm, giggles and funny smiles. I was approached by security at an oil refinery a couple weeks ago and was fearing the worst. But the security guard was polite, friendly and professional. So I brought the drone in and we had a friendly chat about the rules and regs. I showed him some pictures and explained what I was doing, not that I needed to of course. He eventually radioed the desk and told them “its ok he’s no hassle”. If he had been a dick then the conversation would have been totally different.
And what does Joe public know about the drone code, nothing.
The cards still look decent, it’s just about fobbing people off. I don’t care what’s on the cards really, up to date or not, as long as it keeps them quiet, and they shuffle off and leave me to fly, happy days.
I do kind of agree with you, and looks like a couple of other people do. But, you know what I got kind of tired years ago of being Mr angry head and just knocking dickheads out who pissed me off, I’m more non confrontational now a days, must be old age🤣.
Anyway, if needs be it gets done, but it doesn’t give a good impression of people who fly drones in general does it?
And for people who are totally non confrontational the cards are a good idea.
Don’t know where your problem lies with the cards, or for that matter the people agreeing with your post
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