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Drone Shot With A Shotgun

Bert1984

Member
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Jan 18, 2020
Messages
12
Age
39
Tell me guys, I am from South Louisiana and drones are a really common occurrence around where I live. I took my drone up on a normal flight at about 90' and when I flew over a house in my subdivision a guy **** my drone. As soon as I heard the **** ring out my image went black and I immediately got the no signal alert. Then of course drone came back home well when it landed I nothing right away that 1bb from the shell hit my drone directly in the camera lens. Everything I have read and looked up I was breaking no laws and this guy broke several. In my opinion this guy is completely liable for my drone. Feel free to give me your take on this matter.
 
In the eyes of the FAA, your drone is an aircraft and shouldn't be shot at.

Report it to the local authorities as well as the FAA..

Even the NRA frowns upon the unlawful use of a firearm.

Your flight log will show your position and may provide evidence of the incident.

In the future, video record the whole flight start to finish.

If it happens again, at least you'll have a cached video copy on your device for evidence.
 
Ok, Thanks a bunch. I thought I was not doing anything wrong. I always record when I fly and just so happened to catch about a 4 second window where you can see him aiming at my drone. 20200219_165505.jpeg20200219_165701.jpeg
 
Tell me guys, I am from South Louisiana and drones are a really common occurrence around where I live. I took my drone up on a normal flight at about 90' and when I flew over a house in my subdivision a guy **** my drone. As soon as I heard the **** ring out my image went black and I immediately got the no signal alert. Then of course drone came back home well when it landed I nothing right away that 1bb from the shell hit my drone directly in the camera lens. Everything I have read and looked up I was breaking no laws and this guy broke several. In my opinion this guy is completely liable for my drone. Feel free to give me your take on this matter.
These are the picks of the damages20200219_165701.jpeg20200219_165505.jpeg
 
Yep, if you're completely legal, then you can probably report him. Where I live, you cannot shoot a gun in a neighborhood. That's why I have an "air" rifle (I would not point it at a drone).

Might not be a popular sentiment, but IMO, good citizenship suggests you would not want to fly a drone over someone's house though. I fly in my neighborhood and never would I fly it over my neighbors yard, never mind their house.
 
Retain your log and video and make any notes you can about the incident, then report it to local law enforcement and the FAA. Glad to see that Sparky made it back to the homepoint, I knew he was tough but this is a whole other level tough. ?
 
Public sensitivity to drones is increasing. Certainly nobody should be shooting at them. My take away from this is to avoid urban environments where this reaction may be possible. The conundrum of reporting him may be that doing so will bring the press into it, and then that stiffens the backs of the haters more. On the other hand, discharging a weapon in the suburbs is not cool, up here in Canada, totally illegal. I wonder which way the shooter's neighbors would take it?

Sorry for your Spark getting damaged, that totally sucks. Best of luck with your next action on this.
 
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Bro real talk, dont fly 90 feet above someones house....
i would have also shot your drone if it was that low over my house. (Or at least seriously considered it)

You have to respect people’s space and privacy. You wouldn’t want some one parked on the side of the road with a camera pointed at your house.... the same goes for a drone above it.

As a citizen youre also only allowed to video record where theres no assumed level of privacy, like a park or beach, but not on someones property without permission.

I’m not condoning the discharging of a firearm in a neighborhood but still, you should know better as a drone pilot.

I’m guessing that your flying over their house made that person nervous and feel threatened, and that’s something that we as a community need to understand, that our very presence makes people uncomfortable... whether or not we think its warranted
 
How does a shooter know if a drone was 90 ft or 300 ft? A mavic at 200 looks like a spark at a 100. Are you saying you can distinguish the distance just by noise and eyesight without knowing the physical size, make and model of whats actually in the air?
 
Privacy or no privacy, 100 or 300, someone discharged a firearm in town, and damaged someones property,phone the fuzz , if 'he' was responsible he should have called police. His pellets came down 'somewhere' maybe somewhere children play in the street,as a shooter myself anyone firing into the air in a occupied town should and will be arrested, here in more rural Canada, instant arrest in town,his actions warrant a court appearance, yours do not, you even have cast iron evidence, here, Ill even give you the number its 911
 
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I’d be very curious just to see the video of your bird taking the hit! I sincerely hope all goes well with you and that the fellow with the gun becomes educated. I hope the cost of repair can be reimbursed.
I’ll have to give him credit, at 90 foot distance. Velocity slowed by the distance and spread of the shot came together to minimize the damage. I don’t know if the bird was moving or stationary, but wrong that he shot the bird, but good aim! Glad no persons or animals were harmed in the event! File incident with FAA and law enforcement.
 
The only laws I have heard about being firm or in place are privacy and nuisance laws. Flying at 90 feet, if you have a spark , how could the person hear you. As long as your not hovering or buzzing the house you are probably not breaking and laws. I echo what the other posts say, contact local authorities and FAA. Sounds like you have good evidence.
 
P.s. make sure your FAA registration of the drone etc is in full order, as was at the time of incident before contacting any authority, if so, dont delay.
 
Flying at 90 feet, if you have a spark , how could the person hear you.

I can hear my spark at 400 feet overhead as well as 400 feet away. They are not quiet.

A few other thoughts come to mind, how many times had this person previously heard the spark flying around their house? Was this the only time?

As for shooting at drones, its illegal in the USA and in Canada. Period. But being a target can be avoided. Too many guns in our world that belong to irresponsible persons. Some might make that same statement but replace the word Guns with Drones.
 
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Shooter was an idiot. If he/she missed, the shot could have killed a child (or adult) playing in their backyard or somewhere else in the trajectory of the bullet. That Spark is one tough cookie! Glad it "came home", even though it was shot! You may check into getting a replacement camera, it may be worth it. From the shooter's perspective, if you were hovering over their back yard, it would appear that you were "peeping" on them. But if you were just traveling from one place to another, and incidentally passed near their back yard, they overreacted.
 
Judging by the damage on the camera, it was facing forward at the time of the incident. I'm not sure if the FAA will take a dim view of you flying over an occupied building or house but at any rate, your Spark should not have been shot at. I fly in my neighborhood but I fly over the street and a vacant lot nearby. So far, I have not had any complaints. But I have had a few people stop on the road at my driveway and ask if I was flying a drone. They are always friendly and just curious though. I would adjust my flight plan for sure if I were you and I agree that you should notify the police about this. Get a still shot from the video of the guy and his location if you can to give to the police. It is a federal crime to shoot at any aircraft in the US.
 
A similar incident.
There was a recent report of a “drone” in New Zealand, being knocked out of the sky by a stone. It happened in a national park, without a permit, it shouldn’t have been flying there. A group of hikers saw & targeted it. Causing an aircraft to crash is a federal offence. The drone was found by a park ranger, but when the owner was denied its return. No action was taken against the hikers.
It will be interesting to see which laws are upheld in your case.
 
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