Property Owner Shoots Drone Out Of The Sky (warning auto playing video)

One more good reason why not to live in the city.
 
I have a "spud gun" that can shoot potatoes, tennis balls or a small, weighted net. Works great. You can search youtube and get the plans.
 
Hovering an RC aircraft over someone's yard without permission is rude behavior, but the bigger issue is that property owners are now asserting that they own the airspace above their property. I think the general public is going to side with the shooter on this one, and I'm not sure that bodes well for pilots of any kind.
 
There are some protection of airspace over your property. At least the first 100 or so. You can't build over your neighbor, you can cut tree branches overhanging your fence. Around here folks have sued and won over blocking solar radiation. a drone under a patio covering is way too close.
 
ejensen said:
There are some protection of airspace over your property. At least the first 100 or so. You can't build over your neighbor, you can cut tree branches overhanging your fence. Around here folks have sued and won over blocking solar radiation. a drone under a patio covering is way too close.
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Yes, jerkish behavior if that's how it really went down. I'm a little skeptical when arguments like "They could have been spying on my teenage daughter!" get trotted out.

That being said, shooting down someone else's aircraft over your property is simply a bad precedent.
 
F01LA said:
Yes, jerkish behavior if that's how it really went down. I'm a little skeptical when arguments like "They could have been spying on my teenage daughter!" get trotted out.

That being said, shooting down someone else's aircraft over your property is simply a bad precedent.
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Agree shooting in town is stupid and taking it too far. I'd have taken pictures and called the cops. Not sure how far they would take it. Under the patio, I think I still have a ball bat somewhere. Pesky bugs.
 
F01LA said:
Yes, jerkish behavior if that's how it really went down. I'm a little skeptical when arguments like "They could have been spying on my teenage daughter!" get trotted out.

That being said, shooting down someone else's aircraft over your property is simply a bad precedent.
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Why be skeptical of that? I think that's a fully legitimate reason. That's common, yet creepy behavior (not the drone specifically, but creeping on teenage girls).
 
In the TV station's poll 89% said the shooter should not be charged with a crime.
 
jimmyjack said:
Why be skeptical of that? I think that's a fully legitimate reason. That's common, yet creepy behavior (not the drone specifically, but creeping on teenage girls).
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Like the fears that our "dangerous" small planes could crash into a school or daycare, it's a somewhat legitimate concern that can all too easily turn into senseless alarmism. People fear what they don't understand, and then want to ban what they fear.

I take every opportunity to show friends and neighbors how these things actually work. Then they can see the fun and utility, and that helps combat the negativity all too often associated with drones.
 
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F01LA said:
Like the fears that our "dangerous" small planes could crash into a school or daycare, it's a somewhat legitimate concern that can all too easily turn into senseless alarmism. People fear what they don't understand, and then want to ban what they fear.

I take every opportunity to show friends and neighbors how these things actually work. Then they can see the fun and utility, and that helps combat the negativity all too often associated with drones.
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Fly your drone all over for all I care, however, if you hover over my house/yard/pool/patio etc. at <50' , you are creeping. Did you see the video of the gun firing drone? You have no doubt seen many videos shot by drones, is it really a stretch to believe if a drone is hovering over your property the operator has improper intentions? Also, there is a big difference in operation a light GA plane at 1500' and a drone at <50'.
 
Hopefully, reason will win out, eventually. I will be building a spud gun, just in case.
 
F01LA said:
I take every opportunity to show friends and neighbors how these things actually work. Then they can see the fun and utility, and that helps combat the negativity all too often associated with drones.
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Have you ever flown "innocently" over your neighborhood taking video and posting it on youtube or some other public site? If you have, like it seems most drone users do, you are part of the problem. Nobody needs high-res video of their backyard and all its contents being posted publicly. If I get out of my tractor to take a whiz in the middle of a field where someone would be hard pressed to see me with binoculars and it shows up on youtube, I consider my privacy violated - regardless of what the law says.

Stuff like this happens so frequently that no amount of "educating" people is going to make any difference or change any opinions.
 
mikeinbama said:
Fly your drone all over for all I care, however, if you hover over my house/yard/pool/patio etc. at <50' , you are creeping.
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Fair enough, I understand your point and I would feel the same way. Courtesy is sadly lacking among drone pilots, and it may well bring this hobby down.
 
I see this kind of like the jet ski operators. People that bought them often had no clue and gave little thought to what other people thought. Running close to the beach with all of the bobbing heads of swimmers. Fortunately, over time the fad fadded. The owners got the word and started to behave better. Hopefully the same thing will happen with this.
 
F01LA said:
That being said, shooting down someone else's aircraft over your property is simply a bad precedent.
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Not at all. If the drone was low enough to be taken out with a shotgun then it was trespassing. Maybe not "legally trespassing" but definitely "common sense trespassing."

There's no doubt in my mind that I would do the same thing...especially since I live in the middle of 160 acres. That baby would be toast and once it hit the ground it would be run through my wood chipper (cue clip from "Fargo") so there would be no evidence.

:wink2:
 
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timwinters said:
That baby would be toast and once it hit the ground it would be run through my wood chipper (cue clip from "Fargo") so there would be no evidence.

:wink2:
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What drone? ;)

Anyway, some of them have live video stream back to the home planet. If so, you're toast. If not, thanks for reference one of my favorite movies.
 
Yeah, well, There is that too.

Let's just hope that in this case common sense prevails and all charges are dropped. Low enough to be brought down with a shotgun = trespassing. Period.
 
I think the first thing that's going to happen will be ordinances that, along with not being allowed to fire shotguns you can't fly your drone in the city limits. In that case they both would have been arrested. Problem solved.

Now if some clown's eighteen hundred dollar drone were hovering in my backyard and I could nail it with a baseball bat I'm thinking that would be a very satisfying moment.
 
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ejensen said:
There are some protection of airspace over your property. At least the first 100 or so. You can't build over your neighbor, you can cut tree branches overhanging your fence. Around here folks have sued and won over blocking solar radiation. a drone under a patio covering is way too close.
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This drone was nowhere near being that low. In fact it wasn't even directly over his property for longer than a few seconds.

People that fire weapons into the air should have their weapons confiscated. I'm a gun owner, carry concealed in the city, carry openly in the country, and enjoy the hell out of my weapons, but this guy needs to seriously evaluate where he's shooting and why it's not a good idea. He doesn't live out in the middle of the back 40 - he's in the burbs with neighbors and kids on all sides. :mad2:
 
Nice shootin' at that distance. Wonder if that alt was MSL or AGL? I have to presume it was MSL and wasn't corrected for temp, pressure, dewpoint. Seems when it went down, the alt read '-48' or something.

Either way, I don't want it around, but I have better tech to take care of it.
 
Maybe I'm picking nits, but do these things really have a way of knowing AGL altitude? I thought they went off of GPS? Also I noticed (click through to the link on the news channel story about the drone pilot disputing shooter's story) when the drone crashed, final altitude was -47ft. Local MSL altitude of a nearby airport is in 400-500 range. I'm guessing the drone was lower than the pilot thinks or says. Besides, I don't know of shotgun that's effective at 100yds (his claimed altitude).


ETA - Cowboy beat me to it, didn't see that as I posted.
 
Blatham489 said:
Maybe I'm picking nits, but do these things really have a way of knowing AGL altitude? I thought they went off of GPS? Also I noticed (click through to the link on the news channel story about the drone pilot disputing shooter's story) when the drone crashed, final altitude was -47ft. Local MSL altitude of a nearby airport is in 400-500 range. I'm guessing the drone was lower than the pilot thinks or says. Besides, I don't know of shotgun that's effective at 100yds (his claimed altitude).


ETA - Cowboy beat me to it, didn't see that as I posted.
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Apparently the only thing that was hit was one blade on one propeller. Looks like the shotgun guy hit it with the golden BB.
 
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