I got my first taste at a Miami dinner party years ago. Looking up at an irritating noise I saw a small, blinking, aircraft. It hovered 'neath the trees looking down at us. By the time I found a rock the drone had fled.
I understand the thrill one has virtually zooming over treetops. The problem is you are often invading someone's private space. A bigger problem is figuring out how to knock them out of the sky. When I hear a drone destruction story it makes my heart glad.
Last fall, my son and I drove over to St. Augustine for lunch. Afterwards Ian and I visited the Spanish fort that's guarded the harbor since 1656. We chatted with a volunteer, a man who loves masquerading as an ancient soldier a sword on his hip.
Six months later we had neighbors over for dinner and the subject turned to the irksome, robotic mosquitoes. A friend of theirs spends his winters "guarding the fort" in a colorful pink coat.
One afternoon he noticed a drone buzzing overhead. The damn thing wasn't satisfied with
a top shot of the fort and the tourists inside. The offending insect plunged down to eye-level in the central courtyard, just eight-feet from the guard.
It was easy for him draw his sword. He had a duty -pretend or not- to protect the fort and everyone in it. Lunging at it caused the tiny spinning propellers to hit hardened steel. An explosion of plastic fell to the ground to applause from surrounding tourists.
I would have cheered too and given the man a medal.
A moment later the drone's angry operator was in the guard's face demanding compensation. After a few minutes of abuse the fort's manager stepped in. In uniform with a real gun on his hip, he ordered Drone Man to clean his mess and pay a $250 fine.
A sign clearly states as you enter Castillo de San Marcos, "No drones allowed".
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