This picture does not necessarily represent the sUAS used in this incident.
By Julie Balise
A sunbather on Virginia Beach claims she was sexually harassed by a drone, which she says was being used to spy on women.
In a post on Reddit describing the incident earlier this week, the woman wrote she was relaxing at the beach with her mother when she heard a whirring noise and noticed a remote-controlled aircraft nearby. She resumed napping.
The woman then noticed the drone was flying very close to female beach-goers and had a camera attached to it, according to her Reddit post. After the device hovered close to her and her mother, the woman said she located the men controlling it and approached them. She told them the device was “seriously creepy.” One responded, “It isn’t going to hurt you,” according to her Reddit post.
Full article here: Drone Harassment
Comments
My high school electronics teacher was telling me the other day that one of his students was hovering a small quad he built in his back yard when his neighbors called the cops. They claimed the student was spying on them with his drone. The cops took his quad.
My neighbor calls my KK2 quad a drone, despite having explained to him no less than 15 times the difference between a drone and R/C aircraft. The concept that something with 4 props is automatically a drone is so ingrained in his head.
The odd thing is, I don't even know where she came from. If I was trying to spy on her in anyway, it was a failed attempt. I was not even aware where she was in relation to me, until she was within a few feet and practically screaming. Actually it was kind of disconcerting that SHE was SPYING ON ME while I was flying!
I was recently flying a smaller quad (think toy sized, and not equipped with camera) at a local park while my kids played on the playground. I had a lady come up to me and tell me that I needed to stop using my drone to try to look up her skirt. I explained it wasn't a drone, but a toy picked up at WALMART, and that it didn't even have a camera. She insisted that she was going to call the police if I didn't IMMEDIATELY leave with my, "perv drone!" She even looked at me in disgust when I packed my kids in the car, like I should not be allowed to even have children, because I am obviously so depraved. So, yep, lesson learned. People ASSUME that anything with four rotors is a drone, and that we are all trying to perv on them.
As a side note, I have flown a little fixed wing park flyer at the SAME park, and never ONCE had someone question me, let alone threaten to call the COPS on me.
We don't really even know if this is true to begin with. People post BS on Reddit for karma all the time.
Her history does make her post kind of ironic.
Also very quick to assume she was being recorded. Been flying for a few years now and I've never recorded a single flight.
If this did really happen, then I'd say there isn't much to complain about. She told them to bug off, and they did.
I find it a little hard to believe no one called the cops about a quad zipping around filming peoples bums.
@Hughes, Just under 100 years ago, people went to beaches like this.
I just found this happening on Youtube ;-)
ROTFL, I thought about bringing burkas into this but lost my nerve! But I will say that there is a good chance from what can be seen that there was no drone, daddy, or junior. For one thing, unless this was a very small UAV, her claim that it was flying around among people is suspect in that it fails to mention anything about blowing sand. That, not the camera, would have been an issue on a beach.
[Off-topic war story:] During my tenure in rural fire/rescue we were once paged out at around 3 a.m. to a possible electrical fire at a remote farmhouse. On arrival the house was dark with no fire or smoke showing, but the lady of the house was quite agitated (and didn't remember calling 911). I asked where the problem was and she directed me into a quiet, normal bathroom, where she pointed at the toilet and asked "Don't you see those big sparks flying out of there?" While reassuring her that "they're harmless" and trying to keep a straight face I stepped back out into the hall and my foot hit something on the floor - a loaded S&W snub-nosed Detective Special. She stated that it was hers, and that she had gotten it out to protect herself from the sparkly things. I still get a little chill thinking about myself and my partner walking into that house with our flashlights and reflective turnouts. This dingbat wasn't on drugs, by the way, just ill. Maybe today she could have exercised her demons on Reddit.
Taliban's solved this issue with the burka, so american drones can fly overhead without violating privacy. Maybe something to propose on american beaches?
^^^ This is why we can't have nice things!
What's giving UAV operators a bad name in this case are hysterical people and uninformed reporting.
Last I checked, there is no expectation of privacy in a public place in the US, so if you don't want to be photographed in your swimsuit, don't go in your swimsuit to a public place. End of story. Best to just don't give attention to that kind of whining.
As for the operator - stupid dads teaching their kids stupid stuff... Just great... Not so much the photo-taking but flying in between people on a beach??? Above people would be bad enough but in between???
Hmm - baby goats you say - I knew it!
Seriously, Oliver is right, the media loves drones, if you can find a way to stuff a drone into it it's immediate fame.
It is also gratuitous sensationalist nonsense designed simply to up ratings without regard to the reality of the situation.
Instead of the Salem Witch Trials we get the Network Drone Trials.
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