At this point, to a non-rc person, "drone" = a multi-rotor apparatus...you know, the kind that fly hover by the top of the Space Needle, land on the White House lawn, hover over ball games and wedding parties, take aerial pics and vids...basically the helicopter-like flying contraptions that you see on the 6 o'clock news causing mayhem and chaos
Init has it right: If I fly my PZ T-28 off the golf course fairway in the evening, my neighbors like to watch the rc plane. When the DJI Phantom comes out, they ask me about my "drone." I've yet to have a single person NOT refer to the quad as a 'drone.'