Paranoia for Drones

[Chuck]

You are very right, Maddog. I have a few friends that I met flying. We don't need to waste the time arguing with people, when we can be flying, or rescuing nuggetz from his incarceration....

 

[Maddog]

You are very right, Maddog. I have a few friends that I met flying. We don't need to waste the time arguing with people, when we can be flying, or rescuing nuggetz from his incarceration....

Yes- I hear nuggetz needs a lot of help.

 

[Marciano06]

Agree with you Chip Luck, just be polite and friendly and people will respond the same to you, most of them take pictures of Solo and the typical questions, how much cost that?, what is the distance and high range?, easy to fly? , and the most common comment :
" This is a nice toy , I will get one for my kids"
Anyway , I have to be prepare to any aproaching and keep flying......

 

[Chip Luck]

Thanks Chip- you're a great ambassador for the sport!

The desert is still full of rattlesnakes, scorpions, Chupacabra, man-eating cactus, etc.- all waiting for you! Cheers!

If you like, I could send you some Cactus Candy- it's um..great.

Jumpin' chola [sp?] cactus, getting lost in the desert after dark trying to find my way back to camp, fall in ditch = covered with those little furry plants. Took 2 drunk just retired Marines to pull all them off me. Yep, check you sleeping bag before you climb in, and check you boots. Lot's of critters = love it out there! Dang it man...

 

[Chip Luck]

I agree, Chip. If you don't argue, and represent the flying community with understanding and respect, you can diffuse a lot of people's initial reaction. Most people are more curious than anything else, even if they approach with a different type of attitude. I flew yesterday at a local lake to test after the latest update, and even with 4 batteries, I didn't get much testing done due to the people coming up wanting to check out everything. It was fun, and everyone thanked me, and said they appreciated my letting them watch, and answering their questions. A family with 4 kids were the most fun. By the time the kids made all their demands to go higher, turn in the air, and the usual kids requests, my battery went quickly. The last thing I did was gather the family around me and took a group picture and emailed it to the family when I got home. I got a return email this morning thanking me again, and he said his kids were still talking about the "black helicopter" that does everything. So it was one of those days when the testing I wanted to do will have to wait, but it was also one of those days that I wouldn't trade for anything. My hope is maybe these people we help educate about our hobby, may carry it on to someone who may have a biased opinion, and they can help us out with their new opinion. Keep up the great PR, Chip, and safe flying to you.

Thanks man. Yes, we ALL have to behave in proper manner to promote positive public perception. Actually, I enjoy the kids asking me all kinds of questions about Solo and with parents permission let them 'Fly' it a little bit, with my hands on the Controller; (hope to God no GPS lock failures!). We probably generate more UAS sales for Christmas time for our friends/companies.

Oh, BTW: Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Now, if I can just get my Solo, Controller and Gimbal back from 3DR before next week... I'll be a happy camper!

Fly Safe
Fly AMA
Fly 3DR
Fly a Solo!

Cheers

 

[DroneNerd702]

Anyway, it's a mixed bag so far when it comes to people, and so far, it's been good. I approached one guy about flying my solo at this open shooting range and he promised that he wouldn't shoot it down. lol. I wasn't going to be stupid enough to fly it anywhere down range from him. Another guy at the same location approached me with curious questions about the solo. Turns out he's also a member of the facebook page for a local FPV club. We both also have biblical first names with the same first initial. What're the odds? Right? lol.

At one location, I was feeling paranoid about flying because it's inside a federally protected park and there was a chopper flying a patrol/monitoring pattern at regular intervals. So, I just whipped out my dslr and shot some stills. Started feeling paranoid that they had a GPS lock on me and found out I had entered the park. LOL. I started a conversation with this guy who was hiking out of an area I just photographed. Asked him how he would've felt had he seen a drone 25 feet away and 25 feet up zipping in his general direction. He replied that he would've freaked out and added that he doesn't trust people with drones. I described the flight pattern I would've taken and what kind of shots I was aiming to capture on video. He said, "oh, that would be a sick shot". He said I should do it but need to watch out for the helicopter that circles the area. He said it it got him feeling paranoid about climbing the mountain so he hid himself a couple of times. And there I was feeling paranoid about filming the mountain he was climbing. It hit me later what he meant about "freaking out" Get it? Poor dude is having fun climbing a mountain, gets paranoid about the park rangers in the chopper, hides himself to keep from being spotted, and then he comes out of his hike only to see a drone flying in his general direction. LOL.

I tell ya man, that's what I love about the interaction I have with most people. Most times, it's both insightful and amusing as heck. I'm attaching a still I shot of that area I want to fly and film. Scribbled some notes on it as a note to show whoever is the big cheese of the park when I go to ask for permission to fly and film.

 

[Chip Luck]

Anyway, it's a mixed bag so far when it comes to people, and so far, it's been good. I approached one guy about flying my solo at this open shooting range and he promised that he wouldn't shoot it down. lol. I wasn't going to be stupid enough to fly it anywhere down range from him. Another guy at the same location approached me with curious questions about the solo. Turns out he's also a member of the facebook page for a local FPV club. We both also have biblical first names with the same first initial. What're the odds? Right? lol.

At one location, I was feeling paranoid about flying because it's inside a federally protected park and there was a chopper flying a patrol/monitoring pattern at regular intervals. So, I just whipped out my dslr and shot some stills. Started feeling paranoid that they had a GPS lock on me and found out I had entered the park. LOL. I started a conversation with this guy who was hiking out of an area I just photographed. Asked him how he would've felt had he seen a drone 25 feet away and 25 feet up zipping in his general direction. He replied that he would've freaked out and added that he doesn't trust people with drones. I described the flight pattern I would've taken and what kind of shots I was aiming to capture on video. He said, "oh, that would be a sick shot". He said I should do it but need to watch out for the helicopter that circles the area. He said it it got him feeling paranoid about climbing the mountain so he hid himself a couple of times. And there I was feeling paranoid about filming the mountain he was climbing. It hit me later what he meant about "freaking out" Get it? Poor dude is having fun climbing a mountain, gets paranoid about the park rangers in the chopper, hides himself to keep from being spotted, and then he comes out of his hike only to see a drone flying in his general direction. LOL.

I tell ya man, that's what I love about the interaction I have with most people. Most times, it's both insightful and amusing as heck. I'm attaching a still I shot of that area I want to fly and film. Scribbled some notes on it as a note to show whoever is the big cheese of the park when I go to ask for permission to fly and film.

Thanks for a great story. Yep, I especially enjoy the kid's interactions; I can see inspiring future UAS/drone pilots. Let's all of us keep up the good PR and make the 'anti-drone' crowd more aware of our real intentions, capturing some great aerial video/photo's. Solo is just an extension of photography that we did not have access to until recent. I'm a photographer and was at first leery about using a UAS/drone for capturing images, but once I got the hang of it, I cannot imaging NOT having this tool given to us.

Cheers

 

[Chuck]

Very well put, Chip. When explaining that Solo is a tool rather than an expensive toy, people may be more tolerant of our flying. That, along with common sense will go far to help with the acceptance of our hobby. With that said, I want to wish all my fellow fliers a very Happy Thanksgiving, and Holiday season.

 

[Chip Luck]

Very well put, Chip. When explaining that Solo is a tool rather than an expensive toy, people may be more tolerant of our flying. That, along with common sense will go far to help with the acceptance of our hobby. With that said, I want to wish all my fellow fliers a very Happy Thanksgiving, and Holiday season.

Same to you man. We 'types' are the ones that are going to keep this thing going. POSITIVE input is like code, without proper input you get trash out. Wish you and family Happy Thanksgiving and Christmas also.

Positive, just a positive attitude, and you will accomplish _anything_ your calling has called you to do, or suffer the fate of not believing in yourself...

Cheers

 

[Marciano06]

Wise words!!!
Same for everyone pilots.... Safe flying and happy holidays!!

 

[Cosber]

ISo I flew out to about 3,000ft LOS averaging 200ft AGL.

I admit I have bad eyesight-I played golf once with a bunch of cops (in Scottsdale as a matter of fact) and was amazed at how well they could see a golf ball. I flew the farthest I ever dared the other day, 2100ft and all I could see was a dot in the air. I've read that some have gone out a mile +. I can't believe anyone has that good of eyesight to be able to see their drone, let alone well enough to control it. At 3000ft, there's no way I could see it.

 

[Chuck]

I don't think they were actually eyeballing it at a mile. They were most likely flying off of their device. I have had mine out a mile and there was no way I could see it. Even on the way back to land I heard it before I saw it.

 

[Fenderbender]

I took mine to a park that was supposed to close at dusk, but they never shut the gates. It has a great over look of the city from there and I wanted to get a little night time view of the city lights from up there. I set up and started flying and my wife was spotting for me. Then all of a sudden there was someone looking over my right shoulder. Then me left shoulder. Pretty soon there were 10 people gathered around watching. They asked tons of questions but no one seemed scared of it or questioning my intentions. I brought it back in and landed but then some other people showed up and wanted to see it fly so I popped a new battery in and flew it a few minutes longer. Everyone was very nice and they wanted to pick it up and see how heavy it was and all that. I haven't had any problems yet, but I am in WV and hope it's never shot down. I don't fly over anyone's personal property for that reason unless they've invited me there and it's ok with them.

 

[Chuck]

That is a good way to approach it. I enjoy having people come up to me while flying. I figure that any positive spin I can put on our hobby may help negate the bad press we sometimes get.

 

[Chip Luck]

I admit I have bad eyesight-I played golf once with a bunch of cops (in Scottsdale as a matter of fact) and was amazed at how well they could see a golf ball. I flew the farthest I ever dared the other day, 2100ft and all I could see was a dot in the air. I've read that some have gone out a mile +. I can't believe anyone has that good of eyesight to be able to see their drone, let alone well enough to control it. At 3000ft, there's no way I could see it.

I use a spotter and a spotting scope, a Celestron 1000mm f/11, same one that I use on long range gun shoots (long range competition shooter). We can keep Solo in visual sight at all times so 'if' Solo had a failure, I sure want to know exactly where it might have committed to land so I at least have a chance of recovery...

Cheers

 

[Chuck]

I would like to hang out with you, Chip. I love shooting, and always wanted to try long distance. I now can see how you keep visual contact with Solo being so far away. If you haven't already looked into trackers, I really like the Marco Polo. I have it on mine, and it works great. It is very lightweight, and easy to use. Just a thought if you want that extra peace of mind.

 

[Cosber]

I use a spotter and a spotting scope, a Celestron 1000mm f/11, same one that I use on long range gun shoots (long range competition shooter). We can keep Solo in visual sight at all times so 'if' Solo had a failure, I sure want to know exactly where it might have committed to land so I at least have a chance of recovery...

Cheers

Does using a spotter with scope, or even the Hubbell telescope count as LOS in the eyes of the drone police? ("The drone police, they live inside of my head. The drone police, they're coming to arrest me, oh no..")

 

[Maddog]

Well.. I believe it states in the "333 exemption" approval letter from the FAA, that either the pilot or spotter must be able to see the drone with the "un-aided eye".

If that's correct (I don't have one handy to read) then people with a 333 can't use anything but their peepers.

I don't know about non-commercial usage.

 

[Maddog]

Does using a spotter with scope, or even the Hubbell telescope count as LOS in the eyes of the drone police? ("The drone police, they live inside of my head. The drone police, they're coming to arrest me, oh no..")

"They're coming to take me away haha- they're coming to take me away haha- to the funny farm where life is beautiful....."
Is that the song?

 

[Chuck]

That would sure cut off some of their business shots. I tell you, Maddog, I had to laugh with your song lyrics. Right away I even said them with the tune. I blame you if it sticks in my brain all day long....