Drone shot of Abbott Kinney in Venice, CA.
Having flown around on the job throughout Southern California, some things that we have noticed when shooting property videos include the following:
People have no issues coming up to you IN FLIGHT to ask you what you are doing, how long you have been doing this, what kind of drone you are flying, etc. etc.. What this ends up doing is a bit of a startling experience as not only do you have to pay attention to your drone in the air, but you are also now dealing with a new kind of distraction. The main thing that I've learned through this, is to maintain your cool, try to land or fly your drone to a "safe" spot in order to overcome the distraction.
There will likely be a heightened sense of nerves once you are flying and people are around. Typically we have been filming properties with the hustle and bustle of normal urban life happening all around us. What our experiences flying now tell us, is that when you are doing the filming, there is the natural inclination for all of the people around us, the traffic - both vehicular and pedestrian to become "looky-loos", and therefore now YOU are the show. Again as in the first point, maintaining your cool and focus are the most important.
The point of this post is to begin to illustrate that there are certainly going to be some unexpected occurrences and distractions both before, during, and after flight that are caused by other people that you need to factor in while flying.