so this happened yesterday and its been bugging me. i was flying in a big open field, totally unoccupied, not near an airport, i checked airspace on B4UFLY before i went out and it showed green. some guy walking his dog comes over and starts telling me drones are illegal in that area and that he was going to call the police. i was pretty caught off guard and just packed up and left because i didnt want the confrontation but honestly i dont think i was doing anything wrong. the field is not posted, its not a park as far as i know, just like a big open grassy area off a county road. im in ohio if that matters. what actually gives random people the authority to tell you to stop flying, like legally speaking does a random citizen have any standing here or was i just being bullied

random guy with a dog has exactly zero legal authority, full stop. as long as you verified the airspace, werent flying over people or moving vehicles, and the land isnt posted private property, you were almost certainly fine. the thing people dont get is that FAA regulations preempt a lot of local stuff when youre talking about airspace, so even if some county passed an ordinance about drones the FAA has serious questions about whether that's even enforceable. ohio doesnt have any statewide drone ban that i know of. you probably just ran into someone who read a headline once and decided drones are bad. honestly i wouldve stayed and kept flying but i get not wanting the drama

ugh this happens all the time and it's so frustrating. i've started keeping a screenshot of the airspace authorization on my phone so if someone comes up i can just show them. doesnt always work because some people just want to be mad about it but at least you feel more confident standing your ground. also worth figuring out who actually owns that field, county records are usually public online, just so you know for next time if its public land or private