Neighbour has a drone flying around, where do we stand
Discussion
As the title
A neighbour has bought a drone, apart from the constant annoying buzzing similar to a strimmer, he is flying it along the back gardens and over the houses.
What I need to know is, is it legal, does it need a license to be used, it is about 18" square and has 4 propellers, all the other neighbours are up in arms and want to bring it down, although I am not sure of the legal side of that either?
What is the police take on drones?
A neighbour has bought a drone, apart from the constant annoying buzzing similar to a strimmer, he is flying it along the back gardens and over the houses.
What I need to know is, is it legal, does it need a license to be used, it is about 18" square and has 4 propellers, all the other neighbours are up in arms and want to bring it down, although I am not sure of the legal side of that either?
What is the police take on drones?
You could just talk to him?
I've had one for about 18 months, used about twice. Waste of time in the back garden, get more than 10 feet up and the wind catches it so you have to kill the power to stop it being blown away. In my mind it was going to be useful for checking hte house gutters etc., in reality there is no way! Better in the park, but have to wait for a totally windless day.
I've had one for about 18 months, used about twice. Waste of time in the back garden, get more than 10 feet up and the wind catches it so you have to kill the power to stop it being blown away. In my mind it was going to be useful for checking hte house gutters etc., in reality there is no way! Better in the park, but have to wait for a totally windless day.
It's idiots like that which are going to result in these things being either outlawed altogether or have such restrictions on them they are pointless.
Not sure how much the OP is over reacting as these things can only fly for about 20 mins on a charge but even 20 mins is enough to get on your tits a bit.
Then there is the privacy issue.
He is clearly flying it too close if it is an annoyance so just go and talk to him. If that doesn't work, get some photos and call the police. Shooting it down would be fun, just don't get caught as you will be in serious trouble and don't shoot it where it will fall on anyone/thing other than open ground.
With these things as cheap as they are, I can see them becoming a real annoyance.
Not sure how much the OP is over reacting as these things can only fly for about 20 mins on a charge but even 20 mins is enough to get on your tits a bit.
Then there is the privacy issue.
He is clearly flying it too close if it is an annoyance so just go and talk to him. If that doesn't work, get some photos and call the police. Shooting it down would be fun, just don't get caught as you will be in serious trouble and don't shoot it where it will fall on anyone/thing other than open ground.
With these things as cheap as they are, I can see them becoming a real annoyance.
AshBurrows said:
Man with TVR irritated by noise. Hahaha.
More like OP's nimby neighbours irritated by someone having fun, and paranoid stories about Peeping Toms in the Mail. 
Doesn't sound like OP is that annoyed by it, PHers wouldn't own a noisy car, and then complain about neighbours making noise.
OpulentBob said:
AshBurrows said:
Man with TVR irritated by noise. Hahaha.
More like OP's nimby neighbours irritated by someone having fun, and paranoid stories about Peeping Toms in the Mail. Doesn't sound like OP is that annoyed by it, PHers wouldn't own a noisy car, and then complain about neighbours making noise.
A noisy car is one thing and unless he's there revving it for 20 mins he is right to complain.
It's a TVR, it won't run fro 20 minutes.
It was in the US but, shot down the drone claiming it was spying on his daughter sunbathing
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/03/judge-...
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/03/judge-...
I would just chill out, there's loads of paranoia about drones, they are just a toy really, the privacy thing is a red herring, if he was trying to spy on you a mobile phone tapped to a pole would get much better footage and not sound like a thousand angry wasps and pretty much giving the game away, people like to be outraged by stuff like this, it will be a new toy that hes learing to fly and will soon get bored or take it else where as he has done to death pictures of his neighbors lawns.
Where do you stand?
Not in your garden, for starters.
I'm with you, and seen the damage they can do to things and people when they hit them. Hence, the law preventing people flying them like this.
Not many drone buyers are aware of the law though. You could talk to him, or, you could take the passive aggressive approach of printing off something official from the net telling him it's illegal and putting it through his postbox. That should make the point you want.
Not in your garden, for starters.
I'm with you, and seen the damage they can do to things and people when they hit them. Hence, the law preventing people flying them like this.
Not many drone buyers are aware of the law though. You could talk to him, or, you could take the passive aggressive approach of printing off something official from the net telling him it's illegal and putting it through his postbox. That should make the point you want.
I fly the things and would be pretty ****ed off with that.
The detail: https://bmfa.org/Info/Know-the-Law
Anything over built up areas/ houses is strictly not allowed. Aside of the noise/ privacy, if it comes down unintentionally (and they do ....) it will damage whatever it hits, and I'm going to guess he isn't insured. Some brands are affected by wifi, and so around houses there is a higher risk of it becoming uncontrollable.
The CAA will prosecute, some chap got down with a massive fine for flying in Richmond Park without permission (which he wouldn't have got even if he'd asked).
Perhaps a quiet word, always a chance he is just unaware of the rules. He needs to get himself insured (3rd party liability) - http://www.fpvuk.org/become-a-member/ about £16 a year, so no excuse at all not to, then find a field in an open area away from roads and built up areas and get permission from the landowner to fly from it.
Although I hate to say it, it's about time you had to register these legally.
The detail: https://bmfa.org/Info/Know-the-Law
Anything over built up areas/ houses is strictly not allowed. Aside of the noise/ privacy, if it comes down unintentionally (and they do ....) it will damage whatever it hits, and I'm going to guess he isn't insured. Some brands are affected by wifi, and so around houses there is a higher risk of it becoming uncontrollable.
The CAA will prosecute, some chap got down with a massive fine for flying in Richmond Park without permission (which he wouldn't have got even if he'd asked).
Perhaps a quiet word, always a chance he is just unaware of the rules. He needs to get himself insured (3rd party liability) - http://www.fpvuk.org/become-a-member/ about £16 a year, so no excuse at all not to, then find a field in an open area away from roads and built up areas and get permission from the landowner to fly from it.
Although I hate to say it, it's about time you had to register these legally.
Edited by mph999 on Monday 15th May 14:06
matjk said:
I would just chill out, there's loads of paranoia about drones, they are just a toy really ....
Well .... I'm going to guess it's an out-of-the box thing from Maplin or similar, but even the relatively slow DJI Phantoms of similar will make quite a mess if they hit someone. The smaller 'racing' style can hit fairly high speeds and will probably make a bigger mess if they hit someone at full pelt.Or to be a bit more blunt - one of these dropping out the sky onto someones head could potentially be fatal.
Yes, they are toys in the grand scheme of things, but so is an air rifle ...
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