Threats from Property Owners for flying drone

[Texas Boy]

Quick Background

My wife has been taking real estate photos for about 12 years now. About 5 years ago or so, clients starting wanting aerial drone photos for the properties. My son got his Part 107 (I was out of the country) adn he has taken probbaly 100 or so drone photos for her. Well- he went off to school so I had to get my Part 107. I have taken probably 100 or so aerial photos for her clients that wanted it. This has been over a period of about 3 years I guess.

Every now and then, usually when I am in a subdivision, someone night come out and ask what I am doing. I am as nice as they are. If they are freindly, I am too, and explain what I am doing- that I am not taking drone photos of their house., etc. That usually takes care of any issues. I will add- that when I go out there to do the drones- sometime my wife is with me and her car says something like Real Estate Photography, etc. But- when we go out there- there is usually not a sign in the yard for the house that we are photographing as the real estate agents sign is not up in the yard. And- we (and me) are not really supposed to say what house we are taking drones or pictures of.

But about 3 or 4 times now (worst was today and I am getting to that part) someone comes out and tell me I cant be there and I cant fly a drone around their house and I am invading their privacy- etc. I explain that I absolutely can be there and I am not doing anything wrong and try again to explain that I am not doing anything wrong and I am not taking photos of your house. I end up by telling them that I do not have anything else to say to them and to please leave me alone to do my job and call the police if they want; they never have.

So now for today; My wife has to take photos of the house and we need to do drones also. So we take 2 cars- drones will only take me 15 minutes- it will take her 2 hours in this big house./ So we pull up to the house and park across the street up about half a house so that our cars dont show up in the drone pictures and make more editing work. Her car has her company name on it. I park behind her and we put out our orange safety cones around the vehicles. We step behind my pickup truck. We parked the cars on the property line between 2 houses so as to not block any mailboxes. I get the drone out, prepare it and I take off. We turn around and sit on the curb right behind my truck.

I have the drone up for about 10 minutes or so- get most of the shots she wants. Then a man comes out of the house that my wifes car is in front of, goes to his mailbox and turns and says- in a gruff agressive tone- what are you doing in front of my house!??? I explain- in a calm tone- we are taking drone photos of a house across the street. He says- you are in my yard and you cant take photographs of my property- YOU NEED TO LEAVE!!. I said one more time- we are not taking photos of your property and we are not on your property. Keep in mind- my drone is still up. He yelled and said you are TOO on my property...... I am leaving out the colorful language he spouted. But he then turned and starting marching/stomping over towards us telling us to get off his property.

Sooo- I then stood up ready for what else might happen. My wife is still sitting on the curb and he comes and stands right beside her (I am on the other side) balls up his fists and says to me- you are about to get punched in the face. I yelled back and told him we were not on his property and to call the police if he has a problem and to leave us alone. He yells some more and I told him never mind I will call them. I called 911 and he was still yelling at me but then turned and stomped off cursing at me more telling me I am an ***hole. I hung up the phone. BTW- fun fact- if you call 911 and hang up they will call back....

Not that it matters- but I am not a small person- I am just over 6 feet and weigh about 215 pounds.

If we had not already had the drone up and he acted like that we might have just gone ahead and moved to the other side of the house./ But we already had the drone up and he went from acting like he owned the streets to marching over to us like he was going to physically attack us.

Am I the only one that something like this has happened to? What would you guys do if someone started marching over to you like that?? Let me add that I used colorful language too after he started cursing at us and my wife.

Any thoughts? Am I the jerk here???

 

[zumbidousa]

You are just doing your job. Just stay calm and polite as you have.

I have invested in a small cheap ($50) body cam from amazon., and carry pepper spray (local laws may very). Just click the button on the cam let them know they are being recorded (copies will be provided to law enforcement and posted on social media) and to back away from you. Most will just stand there and run their mouths and you can finish up and get out of there.

Sidenote: This is a good situation to practice you emergency landing spot selection. As you mentioned your drone was already in the air. Know where you would bring it down in a hurry if you had to. This may not be the same spot you launch from, as the launch area might be tighter to get in and out of in a hurry.

 

[Brutalwarpig]

Quick Background

My wife has been taking real estate photos for about 12 years now. About 5 years ago or so, clients starting wanting aerial drone photos for the properties. My son got his Part 107 (I was out of the country) adn he has taken probbaly 100 or so drone photos for her. Well- he went off to school so I had to get my Part 107. I have taken probably 100 or so aerial photos for her clients that wanted it. This has been over a period of about 3 years I guess.

Every now and then, usually when I am in a subdivision, someone night come out and ask what I am doing. I am as nice as they are. If they are freindly, I am too, and explain what I am doing- that I am not taking drone photos of their house., etc. That usually takes care of any issues. I will add- that when I go out there to do the drones- sometime my wife is with me and her car says something like Real Estate Photography, etc. But- when we go out there- there is usually not a sign in the yard for the house that we are photographing as the real estate agents sign is not up in the yard. And- we (and me) are not really supposed to say what house we are taking drones or pictures of.

But about 3 or 4 times now (worst was today and I am getting to that part) someone comes out and tell me I cant be there and I cant fly a drone around their house and I am invading their privacy- etc. I explain that I absolutely can be there and I am not doing anything wrong and try again to explain that I am not doing anything wrong and I am not taking photos of your house. I end up by telling them that I do not have anything else to say to them and to please leave me alone to do my job and call the police if they want; they never have.

So now for today; My wife has to take photos of the house and we need to do drones also. So we take 2 cars- drones will only take me 15 minutes- it will take her 2 hours in this big house./ So we pull up to the house and park across the street up about half a house so that our cars dont show up in the drone pictures and make more editing work. Her car has her company name on it. I park behind her and we put out our orange safety cones around the vehicles. We step behind my pickup truck. We parked the cars on the property line between 2 houses so as to not block any mailboxes. I get the drone out, prepare it and I take off. We turn around and sit on the curb right behind my truck.

I have the drone up for about 10 minutes or so- get most of the shots she wants. Then a man comes out of the house that my wifes car is in front of, goes to his mailbox and turns and says- in a gruff agressive tone- what are you doing in front of my house!??? I explain- in a calm tone- we are taking drone photos of a house across the street. He says- you are in my yard and you cant take photographs of my property- YOU NEED TO LEAVE!!. I said one more time- we are not taking photos of your property and we are not on your property. Keep in mind- my drone is still up. He yelled and said you are TOO on my property...... I am leaving out the colorful language he spouted. But he then turned and starting marching/stomping over towards us telling us to get off his property.

Sooo- I then stood up ready for what else might happen. My wife is still sitting on the curb and he comes and stands right beside her (I am on the other side) balls up his fists and says to me- you are about to get punched in the face. I yelled back and told him we were not on his property and to call the police if he has a problem and to leave us alone. He yells some more and I told him never mind I will call them. I called 911 and he was still yelling at me but then turned and stomped off cursing at me more telling me I am an ***hole. I hung up the phone. BTW- fun fact- if you call 911 and hang up they will call back....

Not that it matters- but I am not a small person- I am just over 6 feet and weigh about 215 pounds.

If we had not already had the drone up and he acted like that we might have just gone ahead and moved to the other side of the house./ But we already had the drone up and he went from acting like he owned the streets to marching over to us like he was going to physically attack us.

Am I the only one that something like this has happened to? What would you guys do if someone started marching over to you like that?? Let me add that I used colorful language too after he started cursing at us and my wife.

Any thoughts? Am I the jerk here???

It sounds like you did everything right. I was recently flying my Air 3 over the Cumberland River between Nissan Stadium and downtown Nashville Tennessee. It was a busy crowded Saturday night and I was just trying get some twilight video of the vibrant night life on lower Broadway. I wasn't over people, I was not in a NFZ, and I was on private property with permission in writing. There were no temporary NFZs in effect and I was flying in the 30 minute window after official sunset time. Someone on one of the rooftop bars started screaming so loudly that I could hear them on the other side of the river nearly half a mile away. I had no idea it had anything to do with me and started using my telephoto camera to see if someone was in trouble or perhaps being attacked. Never saw anything and my 30 minute window was nearly over. So I auto returned/auto landed my drone. While it was on the way back to the landing pad, 2 police cars come flying into the parking lot. Both officers approach me in a semi hostile manner. Turns out, the woman who screamed called 911 and reported a military drone was flying over people and dropping unknown objects on the crowd! I was handcuffed (detained not arrested) before my drone had landed. I told the officers that they were causing me to break the law because a pilot must remain in control of any airborne aircraft until it's safely on the ground. They didn't care. Fortunately my drone has a very good precision landing function so it landed safely. At this point I pointed out that not only is my drone a small consumer drone but that it had no attachment or device that could carry and release anything. When they finally took the cuffs off, I showed them the telemetry to prove that I never flew over the crowd and that I never focused on any particular person or building. The officers almost seemed angry that I wasn't breaking the law. They told me to stop flying my drone in the area which is not a lawful order. I couldn't legally fly at that point so I played nice and left. Two days later I filed a complaint against the officers. Not to get them in trouble but because it was surprising to me these officers were so ignorant of what is and is not legal. They never even asked for my 107 license! I always try to be polite and non-confrontational