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Drone

Discussion in 'General Chat Forum' started by Fins2010, Jun 11, 2015.

  1. Fins2010

    Fins2010 New Member

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    This may be silly to post about and may be nothing however we continue to have a drone hovering over our street while children are playing. This is starting to becoming a nightly pattern. It will fly past then comes back to hover then returns to its owner. From my understanding these have cameras which makes me as a mother very uncomfortable as I don't know who is in control of this drone. I'm curious to know if any others are noticing the drone flying over the Village road area? Thanks for any thoughts or input.
     
  2. shim

    shim shim

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    Definitely creepy. Would follow your intuition and make a police report. Btw, what's the street name?
     
  3. Fins2010

    Fins2010 New Member

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    Windy Oaks, Crosswind Ter, and the playground area at the end of Crosswind is where we've seen the drone hovering over. The police have been notified however there's not any laws in place at this time that prevents them from flying in residential areas.
     
  4. KTdid

    KTdid Well-Known Member

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    I'm still trying to grasp how using a drone in this manner is considered a 'hobby'. It IS creepy, just like peeping toms!
     
  5. flynnibus

    flynnibus Well-Known Member Forum Staff

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    Is looking out of the window of an airplane while you fly over creepy too?

    It's a different perspective and view.. hence it can be interesting to play with or experiment with.
     
    blunoz and boomertsfx like this.
  6. Fins2010

    Fins2010 New Member

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    Interesting, sure. I think in the right setting, though. RC plane field or public park maybe? White House lawn?
    Hovering over a neighborhood and intentionally stopping directly above more than a few times? Not so much. It was unsettling.
     
  7. KTdid

    KTdid Well-Known Member

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    Seriously - can't find a better analogy? We're talking about an unmanned aircraft 'intentionally' hovering over a family's property not an airplane transporting passengers...
     
  8. flynnibus

    flynnibus Well-Known Member Forum Staff

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    Your only difference is some form of 'necessity' - not necessarily why the person looks out the window...
     
  9. Rhaegar

    Rhaegar Member

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    And no one even knows if it has a camera on it. Better call the police. Think of the children...and all that juicy playground footage he's getting from 50' up.

    I also firmly believe the police should be involved when the need to interact with neighbors. Especially if they might be "creepy" and like things like electronics.

    Solid thread through and through folks.
     
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  10. Fins2010

    Fins2010 New Member

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    I didn't start this thread to argue in fact I was hoping that maybe the owner would contact me so we could talk about this. If I knew which house they lived in I would gladly go confront them with my questions/concerns but with the 3 rows of town houses blocking my view I couldn't tell exactly where it had landed. Which is why I asked if anyone else had noticed the drone. I don't see an issue with me being concerned about the safety of my children and the others that are usually unsupervised. When we moved here about 6 months ago I was excited to see how many children played in the streets and around on the nature trail. That parents felt safe enough to let their children just play and be the young children they are. Not every child has that luxury in every community.

    I realize people have hobbies and enjoy doing things. As I said when starting this it may be nothing.

    I did notify the sheriff's office to explain to them what was going on and to confirm the laws or lack of actually. The deputy seemed to be very understanding of why I was concerned and very nice about it.

    You're right, I am only assuming that it has a camera and I wouldn't know differently from what I've been reading about them online. To be honest I wasn't that concerned about the drone until it came back the next day at the same time went past my daughter and I and then came back to hover over us as we were the only ones out at the time. If they can't see where they're flying and it's coincidence they continue to stop and hover over children playing my fault for thinking the safety of my child was at risk. At times it has been hovering at about 25 feet and I'm not meaning flying around in circles in a General area but stopped in one place.

    Thank you for your thoughts and I apologize I even brought such concerns to the forums. Have a wonderful weekend. :)
     
    Daiana Martinez likes this.
  11. GoogilyMoogily

    GoogilyMoogily New Member

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    Well with your mentality, I guess the idea of a drone with an "unknown" camera possibility hovering outside of your residential neighborhood bedroom window would be of no concern. Must just be a hobby and an attraction to electronics, huh. "Solid" sarcasm. Assume everything is innocent and nothing bad will happen.

    These drones have crazy range and need cameras to user-navigate. Their original post was of concern not conviction and said nothing about some pedo flying the thing, way to bring that garbage into this forum. It looked like that of a mother's concern, and if they were a neighbor I'm sure a discussion could be started, but how often have you spoken to all of your neighbors many blocks away? If this thing was taking off and/or landing to her next door I'm sure this wouldn't have been posted.

    If you're worried about a solid read-through, don't fill it with your sarcastic, non-productive garble. Great suggestions at making your neighborhood better by shaming those who voice their concerns. Shame on you.

    Ma'am, I imagine if they were in range you would have already talked with them face-to-face. No need to comment further but I think getting input was the right approach. I would take a shotgun to the thing if it was in the country on my property. Shotguns, after all, are just my hobby.
     
  12. Raptor911

    Raptor911 New Member

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    Wow! I can't believe the commotion. It's time to educate my fellow neighbors. But before the education starts I want to insure all that I am NOT using my drone to spy on my neighbors. And as a father, I find it very offensive that some have accused me of flying over playgrounds to look at their children. This accusation is solely based on paranoia/fear and not facts.

    Let the education begin:
    • I am flying a DJI Phantom 3 Advance Drone. If you want to know more about it's capabilities then click on the link.
    • Does the DJI P3A have a camera? YES. It's capable of taking 12mp images and 1280p video. PLEASE Don't freak out until you read the next bullet and please read it carefully.
    • All cameras use a lens and essentially lenses only come in 2 flavors: Zoom or NO Zoom. Most cameras use a zoom lens as in you can stand still and zoom in on your subject. But in rare cases, a camera will come with a NO Zoom lens. A NO Zoom lens is basically useless at distance. The DJI P3A is equipped with a NO Zoom lens. So my drone can not produce detail pics of any person or object unless it less than 10 feet away. BTW, GO-PRO cameras also use a NO Zoom lens. Watch any action sport video and you will see the object right in front of the camera in detail and objects in the background are blurry.
    • So why am I hovering? I am hovering because my drone is sending me back real time telemetry (altitude, distance, how many GPS are locked onto the drone, ect.) to my ipad. It is important when you fly a drone that you have complete control and telemetry is nothing more than data to insure that I have control. So during a 10 min flight I may stop and hover 3x and make sure all is well. I am not hovering to look at people below.
    • So why do I have a drone? Here's my analogy. There was a movie called Dead Poet's Society and in a scene at the end of the movie, the late and great Robbin Williams asked his students to stand on their desk. A simple lesson in that their perspective of their classroom completely changes when they stood on their desk as oppose to ground level.
    • If you are concerned about my drone then send me a PM (private message) and I would be more than happy to meet with you in person. I will even bring the drone and fly it so you can see that it means no harm. And I guarantee your kids will think it is SUPER COOL.
    • And this is what a drone can do >> (please take note that the pilot is a dot until the drone gets super close to him)

    Thank you for your time.
     
    Last edited: Jun 13, 2015
  13. Rhaegar

    Rhaegar Member

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    It's tempting to respond, but you're all over the place and twisting words to make a point. Best of luck with your hobbies.

    [​IMG]
     
  14. Raptor911

    Raptor911 New Member

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    I made it clear that at distance the camera on my drone can't pick out details on the ground like a person. Look at my sample video.

    Go back and read this entire post. The OP (original poster) makes an accusation that someone was flying a drone over the playground and looking at her children. And whether or not anyone knew who it was. She then says "I didn't start this thread to argue in fact I was hoping that maybe the owner would contact me so we could talk about this." So I have posted my response so if she wants to talk I would be more than happy to talk.

    So you took the OP's accusation as fact and concluded that I must be some sort of pedophile. You even go as far as to say "Think of the children...and all that juicy playground footage he's getting from 50' up". Nice word choice. So I assume that when you look at kids playing your juices flow? I think you have serious issues.

    And YES, do call the police as I am not breaking any laws. I would happily talk to the police and show them the drone.

    And if you really like to look out for the welfare of children then here's an issue you can pursue. The law requires that pet owners pick up after their pets when they poop. Yet, the Broadlands is covered in poop. And when it rains, the poop just liquifies and drains into the ground and affects the water quality, ultimately hurting our children. So go stir this pot.

    And just because you are ignorant to the hobby does not mean that it is not a hobby.

    At the end of the day this post has nothing to do with you so go away. BUT, you can't because you are the type that likes to add fuel to the fire and stir the pot. :)

    To the OP. You have nothing to fear from me and my drone. If it is not windy or raining I am usually flying it from 7:30pm - 8:30pm (and I am sitting right in front of my TH surrounded by all the kids in my immediate block because they love to see it fly). I am trying to record a good sunset over the Broadlands. I will PM you if you want meet and have an intelligent conversation about my hobby. Again you have nothing to fear from me.




     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 14, 2015
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  15. boomertsfx

    boomertsfx Booyakasha!

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    Rhaeger was obviously being sarcastic with their post...(maybe some posts were deleted though) I can't believe the police were involved in this, but it is Ashburn, so nothing surprises me ;) I fly my plane around with cameras, so now I'm fully expecting a SEAL reactionary force will descend on my location the next time I'm flying it with my kids.
     
    Last edited: Jun 14, 2015
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  16. Fins2010

    Fins2010 New Member

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    Thank you again for the input. No police reports were made so no worries about SEAL forces showing up... I do call when I have questions. I did not request to have a deputy come to my house and search the neighborhood.

    I am at fault for being overly protective of my children and again I do apologize for bringing it to the forums. I was not trying to attack anyone or their hobbies this was just a way for me to reach out and clear the unknowns. ;)
     
  17. boomertsfx

    boomertsfx Booyakasha!

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    It's just amusing sometimes because Ashburn is pretty darn safe so things like this are the issues we deal with I guess ;)
     
  18. Fins2010

    Fins2010 New Member

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    Unfortunately the area we moved from was not safe so I'm usually well aware of my surroundings. Children never played in the streets and when we went to playgrounds we had to be right next to them at all times. Our children didn't have the freedoms they do here. It was wrong of me to even assume someone may have bad intentions because of things that have happened elsewhere. Needless to say I am still adjusting and learning about the area. :) We are very thankful for being able to live in such a friendly area.
     
  19. flynnibus

    flynnibus Well-Known Member Forum Staff

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    <mod hat>
    Folks, lets not get all worked up here. The sarcasm didn't help and some people got defensive. We can have an adult conversation here without leaping to the worst possible scenarios. The OP voiced a concern, the operator chimed in... lets hope each can find the piece of mind they are after.

    No name calling or instigating please...

    </mod hat>
     
  20. Rhaegar

    Rhaegar Member

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    Sorry, Looks like my post got stuck between yours and the white knight I was replying to. This was my initial point and the hobby I was mentioning was skeet shooting drones, not flying them.

    I'm pretty sure the only people that think that there is an actual fetish for taking pics at playgrounds are suburban moms.

    Better yet, save calling the police for an actual crime since nothing illegal is taking place. Just because someone doesn't feel comfortable or understand something doesn't mean it's illegal.

    I agree. A better analogy might be that I used to whine about speeding through the neighborhood. Actually illegal, actually risky, no one cares.

    I very much agree.

    Guess I can't argue with that!
     
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