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Drone Mischief (Harassment; Crime; Pranks; Etc.)

The kissing beneath the mistletoe tradition took a modern twist in 2014, when the TGI Fridays casual dining chain experimented with flying drones dangling mistletoe inside its restaurants.
TGI Fridays Has Dispatched Mistletoe-Carrying Drones in Restaurants

There’s already been one collision between drone and human

TGI Fridays unrolled a bit of holiday geekery earlier this month: mistletoe-carrying drones. The flying bots hover over potentially romantic customers' heads in an attempt to encourage traditional smooches, NY Daily News reports. If the couples comply, the drone takes a photo and projects it onto a large screen set up in the restaurant.

The drones, however, aren't necessarily welcome bringers of love and good cheer for all they visit. As one customer attested to NY Daily News: "Some people might be on a date with their side chick and wouldn't want their face up on the screen. I'm keeping it PG."

Additionally, there has also been at least one drone-on-face collision since the project launched. Brooklyn Daily photographer Georgine Benvenuto—on assignment to report on the mistletoe drones—says the robot attempted to land on her head but as a result "took off part of my nose and cut me here, right under my chin." TGI Fridays said that was an isolated incidence, and that the accident resulted because Benvenuto moved her head.

SOURCE: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smar...tletoe-carrying-drones-restaurants-180953567/
 
Here's a more detailed article about the drone / face collision incident ...
DRONE STRIKE! OUR PHOTOGRAPHER INJURED BY TGI FRIDAY’S MISTLETOE COPTER

Turns out a moment of awkwardness wasn’t the worst that could happen when a popular family restaurant chain unleashed indoor aircraft with the mission of prompting diners to kiss on camera.

TGI Friday’s much-hyped “Mobile Mistletoe” drones drew first blood in their New York City debut on Dec. 4 at the chain’s beloved Sheepshead Bay location when one of them hit our intrepid photographer right in the face.

The two remote-controlled helicopters dangling sprigs of mistletoe were intended to spread holiday romance, but one of them flew out of control and clipped Courier photographer Georgine Benvenuto in the nose with one of its spinning, uncovered blades. ...

“It literally chipped off a tip of my nose,” said Benvenuto, using tissues to stanch the blood. “It took off part of my nose and cut me here, right under my chin.” ...

FULL STORY: https://www.brooklynpaper.com/drone-strike-our-photographer-injured-by-tgi-fridays-mistletoe-copter/
 
Unfortunately, I could not find any images of the drone in question:

Candidate interrupted by sex toy on drone, punched at event

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M (AP) — A New Mexico sheriff who is running for mayor of Albuquerque was interrupted while on stage at a campaign event by a flying drone with a sex toy attached to it and a man who punched him.

Bernalillo County Sheriff Manuel Gonzales’ campaign said the Democrat was unharmed and “will not be intimidated.”

The Albuquerque Journal reported that a video posted on Facebook shows Gonzales answering questions from the audience while standing on a stage at an events center when the drone bearing the sex toy started buzzing near the stage.

A sheriff’s office report said the owner of the event center grabbed the device and that 20-year-old Kaelan Ashby Dreyer unsuccessfully tried to grab it.
https://apnews.com/article/lifestyl...and-politics-7047c30a4ac97ca3a5faed07a1c41d50
 
Unfortunately, I could not find any images of the drone in question ...
Here's a photo of the so-called "Dongcopter."

dongcopter.jpg
 
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(If a mod feels there's a better thread for this post, feel free to spirit it there)

I now have personal experience of just how annoying and just how intrusive drones can be and feel.

drone1.jpg


This large - a few feet across, at a guess - and noisy - sounded like a small helicopter - drone was active over our area early this afternoon. It was moving and hovering, moving and hovering, at a fairly low altitude for the most part, but with no real pattern, strongly suggesting it was piloted rather than programmed.

Best guess is it was some kind of survey drone - there's clearly some pretty significant equipment mounted to it - but what it was surveying I have no idea. Posting this at least partly in the hopes someone here will.

Other household members saw one - no way to know if it was the same one - a few months back, and we're all equally unhappy about them. A decidedly unwelcome presence.
 

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This Ohio woman was startled by the failed drone delivery flight that crashed into her home.
Woman gets surprise air mail when drone carrying marijuana crashes into home

Someone in Ohio expecting a “gift” by air, and not from Santa, will now have to go the sheriff’s department to claim it. ...

Richland County Sheriff Captain Donald Zehner said a drone carrying marijuana, cell phones, and tobacco crashed into a home on Evergreen Avenue in Mansfield Monday evening. ...

A woman living at the home heard something hit her house, ran outside and found the drone. The drone had a package attached to it with a cord.

The woman told deputies the drone was still “beeping” when she found it and she immediately called 911.

According to the sheriff’s report, all of the lights on the drone were covered with duct tape.

“We believe the drone is worth about $2,100,” Zehner said. “If anybody is missing it and wants to claim it they can come to the sheriff’s office.” ...
FULL STORY: https://kdvr.com/news/woman-gets-surprise-air-mail-when-drone-carrying-marijuana-crashes-into-home/
 
I read once that someone downed a drone flying over their property with a shotgun. Would that be legal? Should I keep a shotgun handy with a couple of 42g loaded?
 
Nope.

Definitely criminal damage; possibly “endangering an aircraft”.

maximus otter
We had a couple of Drones being flown over the farmland we rent for the pheasant shoot. The guys spooked the birds on a couple of our better drives.
Our gamekeeper phoned the farmer we pay rent to who confirmed that the two guys had no permission to be where they were and told us to shoot the drones out of the sky.
Sense prevailed and I approached the guys (albeit with a rather large Labrador accompanying me), explained that their activities were causing a problem and they agreed to pack up and move on.
In their defence they stopped me as I was leaving and asked for all our future shoot dates so they could avoid them.
 
At an an airport again, they're trying to blame it on Heavy Metal fans.

Flights at East Midlands Airport have again been disrupted after drones were spotted nearby.

Eight services were diverted on Friday evening and the runway was closed. In the week, overnight flights faced problems, while two passenger flights were diverted to Leeds and Manchester on Friday afternoon.

The airport, Leicestershire Police and the organisers of the nearby Download Festival said they were closely monitoring the situation.

The three-day rock and heavy metal festival is taking place until Sunday at Donington Park in Leicestershire, about one mile (1.6km) from the airport.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-leicestershire-61769489
 
Two airliners on approach to Orlando International Airport had close encounters with a drone intruding in restricted airspace.
High flying drone comes within 8-feet of Delta flight landing at Orlando International Airport

A Southwest Airlines pilot reported seeing a drone flying 2000-feet over Orlando International Airport Thursday afternoon.

Moments later, a Delta Airlines pilot reported that the same drone narrowly missed their windshield by 8-feet.

The FAA limits the altitude of drone flight to 400 feet and areas around airports are highly restricted air space. ...
SOURCE: https://www.wdbo.com/news/high-flyi...rnational-airport/VCOMSFKXR5AE5KBZ4D4WPG7XCY/
 
The clown who operated the drone seems to have gotten off, hopefully he'll be sued. The moron should not be dignified with the title pilot.

A three-year-old child was taken to hospital after being cut by the rotor blades of a drone flown in a Nottinghamshire park.

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said the child jumped up and tried to catch the unmanned flyer in Welfare Park, Huthwaite, on 16 April. The child suffered cuts to the face.

An AAIB report said the 45-year-old pilot accepted he should not have been flying the device close enough for it to be caught by the child.

An investigation found the drone was flown over the heads of a group of children on a patch of open ground after they "took an interest" in it.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-62505306
 
Some adverse drone effects are accidental rather than deliberate mischief.
Food delivery drone lands on power lines resulting in power outage for thousands

A food delivery drone operated by Alphabet subsidiary Wing landed on overhead power lines in Brisbane, Australia, and caught fire. As a result, the network was shut down by energy firm Energex to respond to the incident, leaving thousands without power.

Some 2,000 individuals were left without electricity for around 45 minutes, reports ABC News and The Age, while 300 customers had no power for three hours.

Energex spokesman Danny Donald told The Age that the drone “landed on top of 11,000 volts and whilst it didn’t take out power, there was voltage tracking across the drone and the drone caught fire and fell to the ground.”

A spokesperson for Wing told the publication that the drone made a “precautionary controlled landing yesterday … and came to rest on an overhead power line.” ... “Two hours later, during the retrieval process, there was a power outage in the area,” said the spokesperson. “We’re sorry for any inconvenience caused. We’re currently conducting a review of yesterday’s event.” ...

Donald told ABC News: “This is the first time that I’ve seen it happen. It could have simply been an equipment malfunction. It may have been human error.” He added that there was no damage to the network ... “The meal was still hot inside the drone’s delivery box when the crew got there,” said Donald.

“Fifteen years ago, we asked people to be careful if they were giving their children kites for Christmas and where they were flying them,” said the Energex spokesperson. “Now we’re asking parents to be very careful with where their kids fly their drones.” ...
FULL STORY: https://www.theverge.com/2022/9/30/23380044/food-delivery-drone-knocks-out-power-australia-wing
 
This is why routine drone deliveries won't work commercially.
Perhaps best used only in emergency situations - I can't imagine whole fleets of the things flying around everywhere with 100% safety.
 
This is why routine drone deliveries won't work commercially.
Perhaps best used only in emergency situations - I can't imagine whole fleets of the things flying around everywhere with 100% safety.
The security implications are also rather concerning.
 
Long article in the Guardian, which I've yet to read – cup of tea first, I reckon! (Read the article, and I won't spoil it for you, except that I can't say I'm surprised by the conclusion, Occam's razor n'all...)

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/dec/01/the-mystery-of-the-gatwick-drone

The truth about the Gatwick drone incident: Five years ago today, the British authorities lost their minds chasing a drone that never existed.


...it has become abundantly clear in the years since that there was never any physical evidence of drone activity at the airport. Gatwick was shut down on the basis of an entirely imagined threat.

...the UK authorities, who acted as if several drones had been spotted, despite having no concrete, physical evidence to go on. They shut down an airport, arrested innocent people and even passed new legislation on the basis of what can only be described as an outbreak of hysteria. Instead of questioning the implausible accounts of drone sightings, instead of trusting their state-of-the art cameras and detectors, which had failed to corroborate what people believed they saw, they allowed themselves to believe the totally implausible, and to take drastic measures without any evidence to support them.

Outbreaks of official hysteria like this are not unheard of...

https://www.spiked-online.com/2023/12/19/the-truth-about-the-gatwick-drone-incident/

maximus otter
 
DJI, manufacturer of the most popular consumer drones, has removed many of the restrictions from its apps.

Previously, you had to apply to DJI to unlock large areas around airports and other sensitive sites. Now drone pilots will find themselves blocked from takeoff in only a limited area around these sites.

"Pilots are urged to abide by local drone rules and regulations"...

https://www.heliguy.com/blogs/posts/dji-removes-majority-of-its-drone-geofencing-restrictions
 
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