So how do yall feel about drones flying over your property?

[Riche]

Just getting started in this hobby, and well I kinda had mixed emotions when I saw a DJI phantom hovering over my property today.
First off I like my privacy. I built my house back off the road in the woods. It is very hard to see my house from the road. And you can not see my back yard at all.
I'm from Louisiana, so my first instinct was not over my property buddy... And it was really hard not to go inside and grab my gun. What had me more aggravated was I would have not cared if the owner would have just come talked to me. We are not talking about subdivision lots here... I have 5 acres and there are several other 5 acre lots. I thought he was pretty brave flying that thing over these wooded tracts.
It really had some range bc I couldn't see it go down to land. I have an idea which way it went. I think it should be the owners responsibility to contact his neighbors and ask permission to do what he just did. I doubt he has any type of insurance or anything so it that thing whet down on my property. I would imagine I would have to sue the owner if anything happened.
Guys like this are going to or have already ruined they hobby for us.
Just wondering how yall feel about what is obviously going to be a major issue.

 

[Old Man]

Permission matters, and to obtain it indicates someone has respect for other people. If someone flies over my house, which is set back and "privatized" somewhat similar to yours, it's no big deal as long as it's just "passing through". OTOH, if it parks over my house and starts looking around at everything the game changed, becoming spying or surveillance, and there's no telling what might happen next.

We do have a right to the airspace over our property "that we can effectively use" and since any property owner can own a drone that level of airspace has increased to that which any drone can use to obtain good video. In effect, people do not have a right to fly low enough over private property to make effective use of the average consumer drone camera system currently out there. They have to be higher than such camera lenses can define ground objects all that well, otherwise they are infringing on your property rights. If they publish any video of you and yours, or use video of your person or property for commercial purposes without your permission, some new legals come into play. That's the way I see it anyway.

There were some people in California that flew a helicopter fairly low over various neighborhoods. Later someone came around trying to sell everyone pictures of their homes and property. That didn't go over well in my area.

 

[econfly]

Completely and totally against it without my permission. I would never fly over someone else's property without permission. Obviously what is legal and commonplace is another thing. Just this week some guy came up to my door (and up my very private 300 yard driveway) to offer me an absolutely terrible aerial photo of my farm. I didn't ask him how he got it, though I assume it was old school and shot from a plane. I did send him on his way politely, but privately was very offended by the whole thing. Privacy and property matter, at least to some of us.

 

[Riche]

Yes, when I say hovering it definitely overstayed its welcome. We watched it for atleast 6 min and my wife said she heard it for long time just didn't know what it was.
It wasn't a pass over by any means.

 

[econfly]

My favorite excuse for this sort of rude behavior (apart from "you don't own the air over your land" -- as if we were talking about a commercial airliner at thousands of feet in altitude) is the "my wide angle camera can't make out your wife/daughter very well, so don't worry about it".

 

[Riche]

Might have to sic the dromida on it, if it shows up again. Lol

 

[Old Man]

Good idea.

 

[cootertwo]

Ya know, when I got started in this hobby/addiction, I flew around in my one acre lot, FPV and testing setups. When I got my first Iris+, I started to stretch my legs, so to speak. I too, live on a dead end road, with a few home sites on anything from one acre, to 18 acres. One day while flying the Iris+ pretty high, a guy from down the street came up in his car, and was curious as to who it was that was flying the "buzzing thing". I had no idea that I had wandered close to being over his property. He was OK, and wound up buying a cheepee drone to play with. I think it's kinda like a pesky bug that keeps flying around your head, sooner or later, you're gonna swat the thing. If it were a plane just passing by, it wouldn't hardly be noticed. Unless it started circling over the same area. I believe it's the slowness of the multirotors that causes concern. Kinda like the somebody's watching me thing. Same thing when a car drives by your home, very slow, you get concerned that somebody's watching/looking. It's a "PEOPLE" thing, not a drone thing.

 

[ProfEngr]

Drone Wars!!!

Sacrificial or just buzz by to scare him/her?

I've been doing some "high" altitude test flights trying to get a feel for landmarks in the area while I'm learning to compensate for wind, orientation, etc. I've noticed after watching the recordings that I've drifted outside my property lines inadvertently a few times. I've been above the pines, but not yet managed higher than a typical cell tower. Still worried about flying out of range. I need to test that spec at some point with this thing.

On a side note, I haven't seen any indication that anyone else in the area got a toy MR for Christmas or they just don't fly outside.

 

[cootertwo]

I'm also amazed at the lack of new drones. I thought the sky would be full, after Christmas. Even the forums aren't overwhelmed with NuBee's asking questions. Maybe all the hubub is settling down to a quiet roar?

 

[ProfEngr]

Much ado about nothing.

Now, if I see a MR w/ camera loitering on/above my property (under 200ft say) the owner better hope I can't reach out and touch it. Google Earth isn't realtime, but the resolution it provides can easily pick out a medium-size shrub. I figure that's the limit of privacy I can expect at this point. Not that I like it.

I keep mine inside my lot or above the trees when I'm buzzing about. It takes decent 720p video though I may try to plug up the audio grill a little due to overwhelming blade noise.

 

[FLJim]

I think the huge influx of drones are probably limited to the "under $100" category and most don't make for good outdoor fliers. I would think it is higher end drones that you have to worry about wandering onto your property.

I suppose it would somehow put you on the wrong end of the law if you shot down the drone, or otherwise force it to ground. If you called the police to report it the thing would be gone by the time an officer showed up to your house. I think if I was being harassed by a drone and had a decent FPV drone setup I would just plan to follow it home. Then go visit the owner in person. It is still trespassing and possibly harassment.

 

[Riche]

It definitely was a phantom, it is hard to go to any website and not see a picture of one so I knew what it was the second I laid eyes on it. I know it is not my neighbors to either side, so this think had to be at least 80 ft. up to be over the trees and more than 600 ft. way from the person flying it. The operator was deliberately flying it over other peoples property.
It had to have been well out of the operators line of sight, Do they have decent FPV equipment on them? I didn't see anything hanging from the bottom of it to take pictures with. While hovering in one spot, it was facing right at us watching me work on a truck. Then it turned to look at my house, turned back to us and then flew away.

 

[cootertwo]

It's the property appraiser department, checking to see if you've done any improvements to your property.

 

[Riche]

Around here, I doubt they would work late much less on a Sunday.

 

[cootertwo]

Sorry, I was kidding, but they probably will start using drones to look at areas that aren't easily accessible, locked gates, dogs, etc. etc.

 

[Riche]

I heard you loud and clear. lol You are right that would be a good use for them.

 

[Riche]

"Now, if I see a MR w/ camera loitering on/above my property (under 200ft say) the owner better hope I can't reach out and touch it. Google Earth isn't realtime, but the resolution it provides can easily pick out a medium-size shrub. I figure that's the limit of privacy I can expect at this point. Not that I like it."

I agree, nowadays we have to accept the fact that just about anyone can get the "lay of your land" with a few clicks of a button. But FPV camera allows for a real time view that will end up being the big issue in reguards to people privacy and the violation of it.

 

[ProfEngr]

I suppose it would somehow put you on the wrong end of the law if you shot down the drone, or otherwise force it to ground. If you called the police to report it the thing would be gone by the time an officer showed up to your house. I think if I was being harassed by a drone and had a decent FPV drone setup I would just plan to follow it home. Then go visit the owner in person. It is still trespassing and possibly harassment.

Didn't mean I'd take a shot at one, but if it gets close enough for a water hose or a broom... all bets are off.

 

[Old Man]

Sorry, I was kidding, but they probably will start using drones to look at areas that aren't easily accessible, locked gates, dogs, etc. etc.

That's actually something I've already discussed with my county government but they said not to bother. They already get high res aerial photos from the Feds...