Attitudes to drones
As a drone flier for the last two months after much saving and researching I’m amazed by the level of hate directed at these devices. I understand everyone is entitled to their opinion, but so much of it seems to be knee jerk reaction to media headlines and fear of being snooped on rather than based on actual facts. The facts are the vast majority of drone fliers are responsible people who go out of their way to be considerate and not risk their own hobby by bringing it into disrepute. There’s always a few exceptions like the idiot who flew over Gatwick last year. But this is not the norm. Anyone can buy a car and drive it on the public highway. Some motorists break the law and speed, or drive whilst on their phones, or tailgate and are a nuisance or even a safety risk. Should we ban cars? Of course not. I’ll attempt to give a balanced view of the comments I read the most often about drones..
1. ‘Drones are an invasion of privacy’. If I go walking on the hills and I see you, am I invading your privacy? No. If I use my phone or even a camera to take a picture of the landscape and you are in it (Try taking a picture of almost any Sussex beauty spot with not a soul in it!) am I invading your privacy? No. You are in a public place and as such are visible to any other member of the public. If I now use a drone to take that same scene from an elevated viewpoint to clear some trees and bins and other clutter, and for a more interesting perspective am I now invading your privacy any more than from ground level? Of course not. I have no interest in what you are doing. In the nicest possible way and with the greatest respect, do you really think you’re that interesting that anyone would want to spy on you? There seems to be a commonly held opinion that just because you might see a drone nearby it must be spying on you. Even if one seems to be hovering nearby it’s most likely not looking at you but is looking horizontally at the scene and the owner is likely checking exposure or focus before taking a picture you don’t feature in. I can promise you that almost all drone owners haven’t spent their good money just to go snooping on everyone they come across. They’ve spent it to further pursue their hobby and interest and open up new creative avenues.
2. ‘They should be shot down’. Why? Do you really think it’s ok to destroy someone else’s property just because you don’t personally like it? You’re actually saying it’s ok to destroy someone’s things because you feel like it? If I didn’t like the colour of your car or thought it was too polluting with it’s big engine does this make it ok for me to smash it up or set fire to it? Of course it doesn’t. But using the ‘shoot it down’ logic this would be perfectly acceptable. And if you were to shoot it down, where’s it going to land? You would cause it to crash and possibly cause an accident.
3. ‘Purchasers should show good reason to have one’. A hobby-grade drone weighs about a kilo for a really expensive one, usually less, typically flies around 35mph max and a battery lasts for 25 minutes at the most. A car weighs 1-2 tonnes, can go over 100mph and can travel for many hours on a tank. A car can do a lot more damage than a drone. Many people are killed every day on the roads. I don’t believe anyone has ever been killed or even injured by a Hobby-grade drone. Should we therefore make sure all car purchasers can show a justifiable reason to own a car before they’re allowed to own one? If privacy is the concern then should ladders be banned from sale without good reason in case your neighbour can look over your garden fence? Or how about cameras? They can capture images of people out and about. Should we require anyone buying a camera – or even a phone with a camera – to provide proof of why they need it? For cameras, is a hobby of photography not a good enough reason? That’s usually what people buy drones for too. They’re just a camera that can reach more interesting angles.
4. ‘There should be gun-style licences for public ownership’. A gun is designed purely to inflict damage and destruction on whatever you shoot it at. A drone is designed to bring harmless creative opportunities to it’s owner. However just like so many other things there is the potential for misuse if not flown responsibly. I do therefore agree with the need for there to be some form of registration and licensing in the same way as for cars. The CAA has now launched a drone registration service which is mandatory after the end of November 2019 for all drone pilots of drones weighing more than 250 grams in the UK. There are 20 questions to determine good knowledge of the rules you need to abide by as a pilot and you receive a Flyer ID and an Operator ID. The Flyer ID is your confirmation that you achieved a good level of competency and knowledge in the test and your Operator ID identifies you and must be displayed on all drones you fly. Hopefully this requirement will weed out many who may buy a drone casually and not abide by the rules. Rules which are now included in the packaging of almost all drones you can buy in this country and encourage even better practice by making pilots responsible for their actions. I have passed this test and have my IDs displayed on my drone as I’m a responsible pilot, just like the majority.
I was actually flying my drone in the hills near Hastings yesterday just as the sun was rising. It was a beautiful morning and I wanted to try to capture the beauty of the place in the best light. As I was setting up an elderly gentleman out walking his dog stopped and began chatting to me. He was really interested in my drone and watched fascinated as I took off and began to shoot some frosty landscape views. As we chatted and I let him see the controller screen so he could see the view for himself a couple of other elderly gents walking their dogs joined us, friends of the first chap it transpired. They were all interested and found it wonderful to be able to see the beauty of the cliffs by looking back at them from over the sea. As I brought the drone back closer three elderly ladies walked past. One of them noticed the drone hovering off to the side and as they walked away I heard her say to her friends ‘There’s one of those drones, they should all be shot down if you ask me’. The gents I was with were as surprised as I was. I was doing no harm, not invading anyone’s privacy and not causing a nuisance. Even the noise was minimal as you can only hear it when under 50 metres away and most of the time it’s over this and constantly moving, anyone would only ever hear it quietly and for a few seconds. Any passing car causes much more of a racket. I politely asked the lady why she thought this and she just said ‘They’re an invasion of privacy and that’s my opinion’. She seems to see the drone as the physical manifestation of the very principle of invasion of privacy. Yet we were in a public place and I could see her much better up close as she walked past than I could ever see with the tiny wide angle lens on my drone which is designed for taking in huge vistas. I left wondering to myself what had caused this lady to form her opinion and regard what is just a creative tool with such contempt…