Was shot at tonight!

[eagleaviator]

It can be a bit unnerving to have a drone loiter around your property, and this is coming from a avid drone operator and commercial pilot. Certainly doesn’t justify shooting one down or harrasing the operator. A few months ago a phantom 4 flew over my property and loitered at about 200 feet. From that distance you can’t tell where the camera is pointed. We were having a pool party and one of our guest felt uncomfortable about pictures that could be taken of her and her children without their permission or how or where those pictures could be used.

There wasn’t a good answer I could deliver... When I shoot aerial footage my vehicle has our company logo and contact info displayed, our fleet of Inspire aircraft a clearly marked with our registration number and a decal that says “FAA REGISTERED AIRCRAFT”. We plan our shoots extensively, plan our flights so they are not over private property, and most importantly plan to be there the briefest time possible. So far so good...

 

[Brian Nolan]

Um... how do you know he was a redneck? What is your definition of a redneck? Just curious.

My definition of a redneck is redefined every morning when I see myself in the mirror. The term redneck refers to the sunburn farmers would get while working their fields on a tractor. My tractor doesn't have a cab, but then again I'm not using it to disc fields. I use mine primarily to bring round bales of hay out for my herd ( 3 donkeys, 1 mule, and one horse). My truck is far more redneck than I will ever be, a '96 Ford Ranger with a lift kit and farm plates. The radio died recently, which is fine because there's nothing around here but Christian talk radio shows. I pulled it out of the dash and use the empty space to store receipts. I switched from dipping to vaping. To be honest I love flying my drone but nothing beats sitting on my John Deere.

I'm not certified to fly at night, I do however fly at blue hour. I ALWAYS call in my flights to the local airport even when I'm outside of the five mile radius. Knowing that the local controller knows where I'm going to be and for how long feels safer somehow.
I spent most of my life photographing architecture, sunrise and sunset were always magical for photography. For some reason now, years after taking on my last assignment, I still feel a need to be shooting at blue hour.

 

[DiggerNZ]

I’m a cop in NZ and I know what would happen if someone did that here. However it’s a bit different in a small community in maybe a country town. A lot of police here are unaware of the laws surrounding drones. It would be an interesting case. Our gun laws are strict and our UAV laws are quite good for now. The good thing is that no one got hurt and no property was damaged. I think the lesson learned for both parties will be something not forgotten. We just had someone fly near our biggest airport and aircraft was diverted as a result. Those are the people I get pissed off at. They will ruin it for the rest of us sensible people.

 

[AirWolf1978]

Not something we are ever likely to experience in the UK.

Gun crime just isn’t a major issue here. I love the way the sheriff ‘didn’t take to kindly’ to the discharge of a firearm in a public place. In the UK you will get locked up for that. I guess that’s why our kids can go to school or college in safety.

Agree, that is an offence to be locked up for a while.

 

[Brian Nolan]

He could also have seriously screwed your drone. I wonder what your insurers would have said? BTW are you night flight authorised?

I do not fly at night. I fly at twilight, huge difference. To help define the difference between blue hour/ twilight I've copied the definition of night for you from Wikipedia:

Sunset or sundown is the daily disappearance of the Sun below the horizon as a result of Earth's rotation. The Sun will set exactly due west at the equator on the spring and fall equinoxes, each of which occurs only once a year.


Subcategories of twilight
The time of sunset is defined in astronomy as the moment when the trailing edge of the Sun's disk disappears below the horizon. Near to the horizon, atmospheric refractioncauses the ray path of light from the Sun to be distorted to such an extent that geometrically the Sun's disk is already about one diameter below the horizon when a sunset is observed.

Sunset is distinct from twilight, which has three phases, the first being civil twilight, which begins once the Sun has disappeared below the horizon, and continues until it descends to 6 degrees below the horizon; the second phase is nautical twilight, between 6 and 12 degrees below the horizon; and the third is astronomical twilight, which is the period when the Sun is between 12 and 18 degrees below the horizon.[1] Dusk is at the very end of astronomical twilight, and is the darkest moment of twilight just before night.[2] Night occurs when the Sun reaches 18 degrees below the horizon and no longer illuminates the sky.

Locations north of the Arctic Circle and south of the Antarctic Circle experience no sunset or sunrise on at least one day of the year, when the polar day or the polar night persists continuously for 24 hours.

Sunset creates unique atmospheric conditions such as the often intense orange and red colors of the Sun and the surrounding sky.

 

[Donnie Frank]

While taking some pictures of a friends restaurant some redneck started shooting at my drone. Fortunately he was a bad shot and better still was the fact that the sheriff watching over my shoulder didnt take kindly to gun shots being shot towards the restaurant.
The sheriff issued him a warning, i was 170ft up, camera focused on the restaurant across the street. The owner of the restaurant had spoken w the guy earlier in the week re I was going to be taking some pics this weekend. I never was directly over the guys property, but was high enough up that the guy could hear and see my drone. Hatfields and McCoys I suppose.
Just wondering if anyone else has been shot at or is this just a SC redneck thing?

This is why I started using the Mavic for real estate. The camera is more than "good enough" for real estate photos, and the thing is small and quiet. Most people don't even notice it...unlike the Phantom or, god forbid, the Inspire.