I've never owned a quadcopter, but have often thought of getting one. I work in the remote robotics industry and have been a fan of quadcopters, FPV and personal "drones" for years. That may change, though, if what I experienced yesterday is what we can expect in the future.
My wife and I were at the beach most of the day yesterday. There were probably a hundred other people in our small area, mostly families with kids. People had their awnings set up, bar-b-ques grilling, and kids running around just having fun. About mid afternoon a fellow showed up with a DJI Phantom (I recognized it because I often thought of buying one) and full FPV gear, not 10 feet from where my wife and I were, and not more than 30 feet from all the kids running around. He then launched and flew the drone up and down the beach, sometimes hovering over people, sometimes flying over boats and paddleboards that were passing by.
While I was in the water, his drone buzzed over my head, hovering maybe 5 feet away from me and stayed there. Just out of reach but definitely "studying me" like a buzzing giant mosquito. It was my first experience like this and I gotta tell you, it was creepy. I don't know this guy. I don't know his flying skills. I don't know how well he maintains his equipment. I don't know if he's shooting video of me and, if he is, what he plans on doing with that video. Is he a convict? Is he a child molester? I know nothing about this guy who is flying his quad just feet above me and is watching me so intently. The one thing I did know was that this guy's drone was invading my space and my privacy. He was watching (and probably videoing me) and I didn't like it. And I'm a guy, I can only imagine how I would have felt if I were a woman. Or a parent watching this drone hover over my small child. In that brief moment my feelings about personal drones reversed 180 degrees.
If what I just witnessed is the future of the technology, where people no can no longer live with any degree of privacy or space, I, for one, can no longer support it.
Comments
If it was a woman flying the quad, would she be creepy child molester? Nope. Double standard.
That is utterly completely unacceptable behavior for an ultralight too and if anybody had reported them to the FAA the FAA would now be in possession of their ultralight, they would be no longer allowed to fly and a large fine would result.
That is a manned aircraft operating under relaxed but not non-existent rules and what you described breeches those rules so badly there would be hell to pay.
recently a pilot in a twin engine private airplane overflew and buzzed his local AMA flying field while a meet was in process.
I do not know the outcome, but there were plenty of videos and my guess is that the FAA has made this guys life a living hell.
They truly do not take this stuff lightly and they have a very heavy hammer.
Gary,
If you have concerns about flying too close to people, that would be valid, and may warrant saying something or taking some sort of action.
I agree that as FPV pilots we need to be weary of the spying perception and not make things worse for ourselves. Beaches seem like prime grounds for people to think their privacy is being violated (even though there is no expectation of privacy in public).
Consider the following:
"A guy walked near me at the beach with a camera phone. He could have been a child molester"
"A guy was taking pictures at the beach. He could have been a child molester"
"A guy with a dash camera seemed to be following me in his car through the parking lot. He could have been a child molester"
All of the above statements are ridiculous. Why does it change when the camera is attached to a toy helicopter? I get that many people come to this conclusion, and your website attempts to combat that. Were on the same page, but just because it is a common misconception that doesn't make it any more logical and I get frustrated when I hear people spread it.
The OP stated that they guy setup only feet away from him (again unsafe) and then hovered for a time nearby. If he was sitting right next to the OP, why does the OP think he was trying to be sneaky and take perverted pictures? Couldn't the guy just turn his head and look that way?
It seems that the Phatom pilot was a nuisance, acting foolishly, and probably rude. The OP would have been right to ask him to stop. Instead, he now he formed preconceived notions about the hobby as a whole making statements like:
Bad apples will always exist. Technology can be used inappropriately. We should all be smarter than to jump to conclusions about the intentions of some guy we know nothing about.
BTW, I like the website and may print some of those pages out to carry in my transmitter box.
Cheers,
Just the other day, I was sitting on the beach in the same situation and wishing I had my quadcopter with me to video the scenery (not the people). I consciously did not bring my quad for fear or annoying anyone. As I sat there, two guys in an ultralight flew over at about 60', one of them hanging out with a camera and a telephoto lens obviously taking pictures of beach goers. Not a single person got upset, got angry, or complained about their privacy being invaded. Why the double standard ???
"Unfortunately, you represent the opinions of many when it comes to the paranoia about our quadcopters."
Actually, what he represents is a clear case for the justification of that paranoia.
Obviously this person was behaving dangerously, irresponsibly and with no reasonable thought as to how people would perceive his actions.
Complaining that bigkahuna is here in any way incorrect for the impressions he got himself is what is unreasonable.
If I had seen this guy behaving in this fashion I would have taken whatever steps were available to me to first try and inform him of his breach of the public trust and the damage he was doing to our hobby and to inform him of what appropriate "behavior" was.
Failing that I would have called the police myself.
As far as I am concerned, those unwilling to operate responsibly in this hobby are our enemy and should have the full force of our wrath brought down on their head - legally of course.
Unfortunately, you represent the opinions of many when it comes to the paranoia about our quadcopters. Lack of understanding combined with a distrust of 'robots' from hollywood movies drives this.
The point is, you are just speculating and escalating the problem based on nothing but seeing a quadcopter fly nearby. As a person familiar with the hobby I wouldn't have expected that you would go as far as to wonder if the operator was a child molester.
No doubt it is unsafe and unwise to fly near people, but please don't spread the 'creep' preconception.
@Jonathan - I've not mentioned any names, nor even the name of the beach or state that this occurred in. I'm "speculating" because I was creeped out and could only imagine how someone else, who knew nothing of personal drones, quads, FPV, etc. might react. I don't see anything inappropriate about anything I posted.
One post that I saw here on DIYDRONES some weeks back was this woman who attacked a guy who was flying his quad on the beach. The guy later proved that his quad never came any closer than a hundred feet from anyone on the ground. He launched his quad far away from anyone else at the beach. Her reaction to what he was doing, we all agreed, was excessive and unwarranted.
That is not what happened yesterday. This guy launched his quad 10 feet from my wife and I. This guy was clearly intent on "peeking" in on people and getting as close as he possibly could. He frequently hovered his quad within feet of people, none of whom seemed to know this guy.
Hi bigkahuna,
I completely agree with you that this sort of activity is completely unaccepatable.
Generally it comes from the fact that the people doing it:
A. Generally have no idea at all what is reasonable and what is not.
B. At no point in their purchase to pilot time-line did they ever encounter anything at all that would give them the slightest idea of what they "ought" to be doing and not doing.
C. They figure it is just a toy so what can be the harm.
D. Of course there are also probably a few real idiots who would do it anyway even if they knew.
We need the law to handle that last batch.
But the rest of them can be "helped" by some guidance and simply appealing to their common sense.
In fact it is only recently that reasonable dos and don'ts have started to become clear in this hobby, but we have a pretty good set now and if people don't follow them, there is going to eventually be serious trouble.
Basically we need to Not:
A. Provide any real (or perceived) physical threat to the safety of people.
B. Invade their personal space in any way that is likely to make them feel uncomfortable.
Pretty simple actually and it really doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this out.
It would also help if we could act as "drone" ambassadors by actually talking with or providing information about the "responsible" pursuit of our hobby.
To that end I have produced 3 separate pages on my Drones Are Fun Web Site:
1. Basic Quadcopter safety is a printable basic page of what to do and what not to do when flying a quadcopter.
http://quadcoptersarefun.com/QuadcoptersAreFunSafetyPage.html
There is a separate version for each of my sites: Quadcopters, Drones and Multicopters Are Fun.
And it is written as a single page of HTML with inline CSS so it can be simply HTML copied into any website as a linkable page.
2. A more advanced quadcopter safety page that expands on the first one in greater detail, definitely worth a read:
http://quadcoptersarefun.com/FlyYourQuadSafely.html
And Finally:
3. A printable page on my Drones Are Fun Site that you can take with you to hand out to people who are interested or concerned that provides a simple explanation of our hobby and illustrates how you are working very hard to behave responsibly in relation to the public.
http://dronesarefun.com/DronesAreOK.html
For the most part if we could simply get this information in front of the naive people entering this hobby it would go a long way to turning things in our favor.
And frankly if we are one of those people and we witness irresponsible behavior, it is our clear duty to inform the offender of their breach of the public trust and maybe refer to the to DIYDrones or my Drones Are Fun web sites so they can find out what is really expected of them.
If we don't police this a bit ourselves, we soon won't have a hobby to police.
Best Regards,
Gary - - Drones Are Fun Web Site - - http://dronesarefun.com/index.html
Of course, flying a few feet from people is never acceptable, but it's interesting to experience what a drone can do to your psyche, even if it's at a safe distance. It is creepy, even if the guy was most likely just having fun with his drone in a way that annoyed others.
The fact that thoughts of convicts and child molesters crossed your mind is a warning to us that these things we fly can send people's thoughts to dark places. Reminds me of the video of that woman attacking a guy on the beach for flying his drone. We need to be extra cautious with these, because people are hyper-sensitive to their presence, right or wrong.
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