Narrative:

After operating a small uas; 5 lb foam fixed wing 'swifttrainer'; I was approached by a very confrontational woman who claimed I was not allowed to take pictures of her and fly over her with a drone. We were flying under a coa (certificate of approval) for a public university; as employees of that university; flying an aircraft owned and registered by that university and on land owned by the university. She was never visible to my visual observer (vo) or myself during the flight. The mission was a training and familiarization flight for the uas. There was never any intent to do anything other than fly a practice photogrammetry mission at 75 meters elevation. The land we were flying over was undeveloped university owned open space with some trees and bushes that has a dirt road around it and signs posted that the trails and land are closed for reclamation. People are allowed to walk on the road but not off it. We were parked on the road but were flying over the open space. We; as university employees; are allowed to be anywhere on the land since we are employees doing work and research. I explained to her that we were within our right to fly there but she was combative and did not want to hear the rules at play. I eventually told her to call the police; which she did. An officer from our police department came and talked with us; he was helpful and nice. As employees who were clearly authorized to be there and doing research within all applicable laws he simply left after a few moments and we continued with our flying operations. My concern is how a citizen who has no understanding of the rules at play in a uas operation such as ours can approach us and distract us from our operation. If we happened to be flying at the time she accosted us it would have certainly been a violation of the 'sterile cockpit' principal and could have caused an accident or mishap. If the uas would have been 50lbs instead of 5lbs this could have posed a risk to life and limb. I am considering implementing a policy in our uas operations where we have a 'guard' with us when we fly larger uas. This guard's sole responsibility would be to ensure that nobody approaches the PIC or vo when flight operations are being conducted. 99.9 percent of individuals we encounter when we are flying uas are pleasant; never distract anybody who is flying; and are just interested in the watching or learning about the technology. It's fairly easy to maintain a 'sterile cockpit' from outsiders in an airliner with a hardened door. It's another thing entirely to maintain a 'sterile cockpit' when anybody can simply walk up behind you and distract you from flight operations.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A UAS pilot employed by a university reported being confronted by a passerby on school property which caused a distraction. The reporter was concerned about the ability to maintain the 'sterile cockpit' policy when operating in open and public areas.

Narrative: After operating a small UAS; 5 lb foam fixed wing 'SwiftTrainer'; I was approached by a very confrontational woman who claimed I was not allowed to take pictures of her and fly over her with a drone. We were flying under a COA (Certificate of Approval) for a public university; as employees of that university; flying an aircraft owned and registered by that university and on land owned by the university. She was never visible to my Visual Observer (VO) or myself during the flight. The mission was a training and familiarization flight for the UAS. There was never any intent to do anything other than fly a practice photogrammetry mission at 75 meters elevation. The land we were flying over was undeveloped university owned open space with some trees and bushes that has a dirt road around it and signs posted that the trails and land are closed for reclamation. People are allowed to walk on the road but not off it. We were parked on the road but were flying over the open space. We; as university employees; are allowed to be anywhere on the land since we are employees doing work and research. I explained to her that we were within our right to fly there but she was combative and did not want to hear the rules at play. I eventually told her to call the police; which she did. An officer from our police department came and talked with us; he was helpful and nice. As employees who were clearly authorized to be there and doing research within all applicable laws he simply left after a few moments and we continued with our flying operations. My concern is how a citizen who has no understanding of the rules at play in a UAS operation such as ours can approach us and distract us from our operation. If we happened to be flying at the time she accosted us it would have certainly been a violation of the 'sterile cockpit' principal and could have caused an accident or mishap. If the UAS would have been 50lbs instead of 5lbs this could have posed a risk to life and limb. I am considering implementing a policy in our UAS operations where we have a 'guard' with us when we fly larger UAS. This guard's sole responsibility would be to ensure that nobody approaches the PIC or VO when flight operations are being conducted. 99.9 percent of individuals we encounter when we are flying UAS are pleasant; never distract anybody who is flying; and are just interested in the watching or learning about the technology. It's fairly easy to maintain a 'sterile cockpit' from outsiders in an airliner with a hardened door. It's another thing entirely to maintain a 'sterile cockpit' when anybody can simply walk up behind you and distract you from flight operations.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.