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
RE Scott Penrose -
I think you Ausie's have serious issues with total obedience to law and order! It's not enough that you totally decimated your citizens right to defend themselves with draconian gun laws you now advocate total control over drones? Excellent example of a society gone amok thinking they can legislate common sense and morality. This is especially astonishing considering the beginnings of your nation as a penal colony. You would think that by now you would have grown tired of government running every detail of your lives...
Although I do not condone flying recklessly directly over people I get a feeling from your description that you are over reacting. Did you bother to go over to this person and tell him you did not want him to fly over you and your family or to ask him why he was flying close over your position? Like most people I bet you probably did not. If you had I am certain you would have left with a different opinion. Most people I know that fly drones will be more than willing to abide by your concerns if asked to do so. Sadly this does not happen often as it should. Instead people immediately start advocating new laws to restrict behavior that could easily be curtailed with some simple civility. It is very possible this person had a good reason for doing what he did or it could have been shear recklessness. Either way I think a direct response from you would probably have been a valuable learning experience for all those concerned.
I am continually amazed that people go out of their way to criticize drone users when then the government is literally in every corner of our lives watching, listening and recording every detail of our lives but yet you freak out because a person with a drone might be filming you? I certainly am not aware of any drone using child molester who sneaks around beaches to find his next suspect. I think you may want to reserve that sort of judgement for anyone who potentially has a camera skulking in the background indiscriminately filming children at parks, etc. I hardly think someone bent on fiendish activities would use an attention grabbing device such as a drone for nefarious activities. I would hope that eventually common sense will prevail regarding the use of drones in public places...
CASA Brochure - http://www.casa.gov.au/wcmswr/_assets/main/lib100071/flying_with_co...
We have rules... Sometimes people compare to say driving a car. I am going to use a Bike. You do not need a licence to ride a bike, and there is no age limits. However there are laws and local rules. And if you don't obey them you can cause injury or even death. RC (Drone, what ever) has rules. In Australia rules say you must be 30m from a person ! I don't think that counts operators, but definitely general public.
You don't ride your bike through a shopping centre. It is common sense and policed.
My hope - lets start throwing the book at these people. If we do, then the incidents will stop or be reduced instead of knee jerk reactions - ie. making even more rules.
The rules are good. Lets fight to protect them.
I am thinking of a 1 pager - like the CASA doc - keeping a set of them printed in our bag. Politely going up to the operator (when they are not flying/distracted) and passing them a copy - being a good neighbour and helping them to understand.
@Dave Bozarth - Thanks for that info. I find it ironic that the site claims to be so authoritative but has a huge disclaimer at the top. Which is it? Nonetheless it is very information and I appreciate the link.
I still think any lawyer just out of law school could make a winnable argument in court that it's quite reckless to fly in the manner that the OP stated. Given how litigious people can be I wouldn't want to test it if my copter hurt someone.
It's just common sense really. How do you feel about having someone fly a UAV a few feet away from you? Let alone photographing you. I'm really surprised someone didn't approach the person and just have a conversation. It doesn't have to be confrontational. Who knows, maybe the guy would listen? Or maybe he has a good argument that people are over reacting? But unless we speak to each other we will never know.
Hi Gary,
While I generally share the concerns indicate by your statement, "Completely incompetent, untrained and otherwise irresponsible people in large numbers are now deploying these things.", some of the worst offenders that I seen are those with decades of experience with model aircraft. Personally, I came to this hobby with a background in amateur radio, amateur photography and professional industrial chemistry so two areas that immediately apply to a multirotor with a camera and FPV. RC flying is just part of the puzzle.
Those purchasing a ready to fly quadcopter package for aerial photography would benefit from the inclusion of some basic information on local rules, safety guidance and an overview of the limitations of radio equipment. The links that you provided earlier in this thread are a good start. My preference would be both a cheat sheet and detailed guide supplied at the point of sale. I understand that the brief brochure produced by the Australian regulator in commonly included here, see the PDF at the bottom of the linked page, however, this does not go far enough.
http://www.casa.gov.au/scripts/nc.dll?WCMS:STANDARD::pc=PC_100375
There are many videos posted on youtube and vimeo that show clearly irresponsible and potentially illegal flying. The general media seem to enjoy reporting alarmist stories of drones being used for spying, while they often continue to use drones themselves. It worries me that there are parties that will use this material, along with other published materials, to damage a hobby that I have only adopted or that over regulation will ruin the hobby. We see the overreaction here through councils banning RC flight in parks, even when done safely, and your own FAA seems to have set out to destroy FPV in the US.
Actually John, they only can arrest a previously convicted pedophile of taking pictures of children if it violates their parole (which is one of the most common restrictions placed on such offenders). If I go and start taking video of a playground, I can. It is a public space and I am within my rights... is it creepy? Sure, but it's not illegal and without some cause for concern the police have no right to stop me. I may have a perfectly justifiable reason for taking that video. Perhaps I am making a work of art and as far as I am concerned the kids are in the way, but you wouldn't know that (who would). As long as I am not breaking the law, I am not obligated to tell you or anyone else what I am doing. (It's the polite thing to do, no argument there and it would save a lot of hassle, but I don't have to and you don't have any right to stop me on public property).
The only defense I am jumping to in all of this, is my right to free speech. As an artist, I have the right to explore a new medium such as this. As the laws are currently written (or more accurately, not written) there is a lot of gray space...this is the time to talk about the safety hazards of the hobby and how regulations need to affect it. Is it going too far to say, yes a license or safety training is required to fly a copter in a populated area? Well, now define what is populated? I live outside a medium sized city, should I have to go out to a special course to fly or is my own backyard ok? I mean I have neighbors and they can attest that I have crashed on their property while I was getting the handle on my little syma, but unlike the jerk talked about above, I apologized and was willing to make right any damages (considering the weight and speeds of these little things I was not horribly worried about hurting someone, but it could happen) luckily, there was none. Do you see the point I am trying to make here? This guy was a jerk and irresponsible for sure, saying we should all be adults and own up to our behavior is not going to correct people like him from getting their hands on a drone. Regulations will at least ensure that you can protect people from jerks and from being jerked around, but unless communities like this talk about both the good and bad parts of regulation its going to be left up to people who are clueless about it and looking for a good soundbite.
As for pressing charges based on reckless endangerment... maybe, I doubt it though. In most cases it's only a misdemeanor anyway (unless someone is actually hurt and not just the hypothetical possibility of people being hurt), so he might have to face a fine, but it's too new a tech to have a body of precedence to even ensure that. The funny thing is that BigKahuna probably had as much or even more grounds to swat the thing out of the air or splash it with water to "stand his ground" as he felt threatened (and rightfully so I would say as well) by this device being too close to him and not knowing who the controller was.
This kind of thing can always be criminally prosecuted as reckless endangerment, especially flying directly over peoples heads with a Phantom or bigger.
I think you would be likely to lose in court trying to defend against it.
And it could be either misdemeanor or felony depending on how far they wanted to push it, just hope you don't get a prosecutor trying to make his bones.
Darrell I don't think that his activity is illegal... At least not in the US and with local ordinances aside that is. Check this: http://dronelawjournal.com/
Certainly everything else you said is true. The guy is an irresponsible jackass, but probably did not break any laws. The law has not caught up yet and it is because of people like him that fair and well established regulations are needed. Personally, I feel that sort of behavior needs to be something that can be punished to ensure the safety of others.
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