Local police, the FAA and an irate neighbor
For the first time in twenty years of flying where we fly, we have an irate neighbor and I am not even sure what he is irate about.
It all started about six weeks ago on a hot Sunday afternoon. We were flying as usual on Sunday afternoon when a guy walked onto the field dressed in shorts, tee shirt and heavy leather gloves. We (the group of flyers) assume the gloves were to prevent his skinning his knuckles when we were hitting them with our chins. Anyway, he walks onto the field and immediately starts shouting about how we were terrorizing him and all his neighbors with our planes. According to Google Earth, he lives about 1,000 feet out from our flight line. He told us how he was ex-law enforcement and an accomplished RC pilot, so he knew everything about everything and he was going to see to it that we were shut down from flying at that field no matter what he had to do. Come to find out, he lives with his daughter, who rents a trailer in a trailer park. He, personally, doesn't own or rent anything. But since we were not very receptive to his threats, he called the police. We finally got him to leave and about ten minutes later, two deputies arrived following up on a complaint (his). They milled around for about thirty minutes trying to conjure up something we were doing illegal but finally left saying we were perfectly right to be doing what we were doing and to keep on keeping on.
The next episode was a letter from the FAA to the owner of the private property where we fly. Now, I don't really believe the FAA was meant to have jurisdiction over model airplanes, but they are just recently assuming that authority. They pointed out in the letter that all the air above ground level is NAS, National Air Space, and they have authority over everything that flies in it. They also pointed out that if we were flying recklessly or carelessly, they could come down hard on us including fines of $10,000.00, I presume each person. The letter went on to say that we must be flying line of sight only (no FPV or equivalent), nothing over 55 pounds and no drones or they would severely chastise us. Our response was to write a nice letter to them explaining who we are, that we are doing nothing wrong and inviting someone from the FAA to come, unannounced if they wish, and observe us.
Most recent episode was late yesterday.. One of our group is a prominent doctor here in town who is very busy and can only fly late evenings. He showed up yesterday and was flying when two police cars pulled in. Again, they milled around for about an hour trying to figure out something we were doing illegal. Finally asked the doctor, whom they observed flying, for his driver's license. I'm not even sure they had the right to do that, but being the meek little people we are, we did not object. Again they left saying they could not think of anything we are doing wrong, and were on their way to talk to him. I really wish I could have been a fly on the wall to overhear that conversation. I am not really clear what his beef is
The point of all this is that this guy now has a cause and he is not going away. Even if the local police and the FAA tell him he is wrong and has no grounds for complaint, the guy is not going away and we are not really sure what to do about it. He has been told that he is not welcome on the property and if he sets foot on it again, he will be arrested, but that really won't stop a guy with a cause.