This is an entirely untechnical topic:
As a newbie with very limited skills, I'm still pretty sensitive about people popping up around me while I'm flying. Especially because I'm mostly in my own (..which I shouldn't by law, I know.. ), so I carefully scan the surroundings before gnawing away at every single Lipo. So it's mostly dog-people rustling around while I have my goggles on, and I hear them on one ear only, as the other ear is connected to my rpm-feedback-mic. When I hear someone roaming around me & my equipment-treasure-backpack, I usually call back my quad and give the situation a hovering glance  , coming in as close as I can if I feel uncomfortable about people sneaking up too closely to me. I already had a questionable individuum inspecting my stuff while I was standing a couple of meters away, so I decided blasting by closely a couple of times with my quad - the reaction of that guy (..he was trying to snitch some stuff..) was priceless, diving into the bushes..
Dog-owners can be weird, too:
I usually try to be really nice to them, as I feel we're sharing common territory, but don't think that anyone has more rights to do so. At least, my quad's not dumping anything viscous onto the grass  So, I usually say something like "Wow, that's a nice dog - I could use one like that when flying and crashing. I could attach a piece of sausage to it - I'd find the quad quicker!", and the array of answers I get to that range from chuckling to: "Nah, the dog would be to bored to bother". Usually, when dog owners react negatively, their creature is paying attention to everything else but their owners, sniffing all about. Not such a good sign for the owner's psycho-hygiene and personal discipline. I love dogs for that: They're always way more consequent in whatever they do or try than humans. So the degree of attention and interest displayed by the dog gives a pretty intimate view upon the behind-closed-doors-relationship they have with their human, since they're not cutting out behavioral patterns just because they're in public - in contrast to their owners, who often get caught off guard when their dogs are up and away because they sensed the absence of their attention. 
If one of those "exposed" dog owners dares critizise me or my hobby, I say "Well, at least my quad returns when I call it.."
Another interesting group of people is couples. One usually can spot a difference in interest for the hobby from a distance, as the male starts pulling towards, and the female away from me

What are your experiences?
I reckon this is not so unimportant for representing our hobby in public. At least, I always carefully ponder how what I do appears to the public, and try to avoid any "all-too-weird" and scary or dangerous behavior in order to promote public acceptance of what we do...

For me it depends on where I am flying... So far I've only flown in parks. There is the dedicated RC flying park that is 40-50 minutes away, the set of baseball fields near my house, and a single lacrosse field that is right around the corner from the baseball fields.

The RC Park: The other quad flyers are a lot like you guys. I've learned a bunch from them and we chat about flying and I watch them fly from my goggles. So far I've only met a couple of the fixed wing pilots but they seem like a different bunch.

At the baseball park: There was one time while I was inbetween batteries swapping everything out from inside of a dugout this older lady comes walking right in front of the dugout and then continues to sort of pick at things around the areas of the park... I had to wait something like 10-15 minutes for her and some guy as they did what seemed like nothing before I could fly.

Another time I was picking up my quad after a crash and there was a guy along the side of the field staring, obviously he had been watching me fly... however when I said "good morning" he turned around and bolted for some reason... I wouldn't have minded chatting with him if he was interested but he seemed to run away scared... I don't bite in case anyone was wondering.

At the lacrosse field... as long as I get there when no one is trying to play lacrosse then I usually have the park to myself. Dog walkers walk by but they ignore me completely.

I do get paranoid at public parks though... I keep thinking with how I am whipping around this noisy little device in the air there is likely going to be someone around who insists that what I am doing is dangerous for their child (who is actually 200 yards away from wherever I am flying and completely safe) and they'll call a park attendant to kick me out.

"Well, at least my quad returns when I call it.."


Seriously though, i don't like to be alone out flying, even if i'm mostly at spots where there's no people crossing my path... sometimes there's even other things that i'm glad my friends are spotting, like large birds - even if they're by far not as interested in miniquads as they are in model airplanes lol, i still wouldn't wanna hit them.

When i'm alone at a field flying, i go into the field if possible (not into high grass though as the owner will not like it) so people don't walk near me. In any case i make sure they don't run into me - i had it happen one time that a jogger w/ dog ran by me while i was sitting on a bench while flying, and the dog ran into my tx, making me pitch forward hard right when i was in landing approach over concrete... i got angry but the guy was gone too quick, and i can't really blame the dog, can i?

In any case and in whatever mood people approach me, i try to stay friendly. It's better in the long run. And i'm surprised how many people are really interested in the stuff we do, even if they don't know any better how to start a conversation than to ask "Is this a drone?"

I like to carry a spare set of box goggles with me when I fly. That way, when someone approaches, I can say "Wanna see what I'm doing?". They usually do and then they want to know all about it - but they don't hassle me at all about what I'm doing. (I suggest box goggles because usually they just hold them up to peer through and don't have to remove their glasses.)

Just got driven away from one of my home spots by the land owner because it apparently is bird's breeding season right now...

The 2 little kids there already know me and came watching my 1st flight, and of course wanted to check the goggles as usual. I kept talking to them while flying, funny how they commanded me like can you do this can you do that...

Well maybe i shouldn't have flown my loudest quad...

I was chasing some seagulls on my local field today.

The dog walkers normally leave me alone apart from one completely untrained sheepdog today who thought chasing my quad was fun. Adding another 15 metres altitude soon convinced him I was nothing worth chasing.

Haha... Loose dogs and their careless owners are a problem for helis though... Battery coming to an end, dog owner saying "he doesn't do anything" but doesn't understand that even a 450 size heli could easily kill his dog. Takes some nerves to stay friendly then lol

I was approached twice - first time when we were flying with Grisha in a public park, I saw a dog rushing towards my 130 and had a panic attack ;p Owner was interested so I borrowed him my goggles and gave him a LOS ride

Second time was on a secluded field. A kid drove to me on a bike and said "wow, nice quadcopter!" I was like "WTF?! he knows what I'm doing" . Turned out he was also an RC enthusiast and was building a 1.5m balsa plane.

for me 99% positive 1% assholes

there is a huge field near to me now being covered appartments... so far it was "nomansland"
dog walkers, runners, couples, picnics (time to time), someone on a trike with kite, plane models, 2 DJIs ... and my toys...

as said.. majority of people either positive or "what a nice hobby you have... move along"
only one i've had i consider negative was someone with a dog that was very very very territorial... i usually take small amount of space... and don't seat next to anyone (unless i fly with Konrad then we are only two folks in middle of nowhere).
that gentleman said "it is mine place to walk the dog, you are not allowed to fly that thing here because my dog is afraid of it" (on the contrary dog's tail was talking "throw me the ball.. ball.. ball... there is no world only ball".
i've kindly asked him to pickup the poo of the dog and call the cops if he is the land owner... as you might have guessed he just walked away...

so far my quad has been licked by random dogs gazzilion of times
and panicked look at the owner's face "hope it is not broken and i don't need to pay you any money, it was licked already on the ground you know" - and let's be clear if my quad "lands" somewhere not near to my feet... it is already somehow broken so a lick doesn't damage it any more

mostly people are interested how does it look, and will it not be a problem for them to "try it" ... so then i suck at los do a bunch of flips and rolls and people are like "whoooooa"

Thankfully, I've yet to meet an entitled dog owner who thinks that all open spaces are purely for their benefit. I tend to have quite a short fuse with that kind of person.

I try to be polite as I feel the responsibility of representing the hobby in such situations and so far so good, never had any issues.
Most people either ignore, look and carry on or show some sort of interest either by asking questions or stopping to watch. Once I was flying in a park nearby and I didn't notice but there was a group of older folks walking by that stopped to watch and when I landed they started clapping which was hilarious

When I'm alone, I take the occasional fly by to check the surroundings or if I hear something I immediately bring the quad back to check what's going on and just in case someone gets too nosy as I'm pretty sure they'll think twice before doing something nasty when they hear the screaming sound of spinning props.

(10-Apr-2017, 07:13 AM)unseen Wrote: Thankfully, I've yet to meet an entitled dog owner who thinks that all open spaces are purely for their benefit. I tend to have quite a short fuse with that kind of person.

those people use the (always innocent!) dog as a vessel for their own personal deficiencies. Like that, hiding behind projected "dog needs", they can formulate some distorted interpretation of their own frustrations. Unluckily, there are a lot of people like that in Switzerland. I usually tell them that I'm not interested in discussing their spongy psyche, even if they'd pay me. If they insist, I usually pull the tax argument, stating that this is a public place, and that I've paid my due through my employee's and my taxes in order to keep it running - what was their contribution so far? They're usually not even from the town I live but drive their cars upon roads that I finance, and not them (Swiss tax system..), and I ask how they think about that. Usually closes the subject
However, I mostly really, really pity the dogs for their owners. Poor creatures, they'd deserve better..

---

(10-Apr-2017, 07:13 AM)unseen Wrote: Thankfully, I've yet to meet an entitled dog owner who thinks that all open spaces are purely for their benefit. I tend to have quite a short fuse with that kind of person.

those people use the (always innocent!) dog as a vessel for their own personal deficiencies. Like that, hiding behind projected "dog needs", they can formulate some distorted interpretation of their own frustrations. Unluckily, there are a lot of people like that in Switzerland. I usually tell them that I'm not interested in discussing their spongy psyche, even if they'd pay me. If they insist, I usually pull the tax argument, stating that this is a public place, and that I've paid my due through my employee's and my taxes in order to keep it running - what was their contribution so far? They're usually not even from the town I live but drive their cars upon roads that I finance, and not them (Swiss tax system..), and I ask how they think about that. Usually closes the subject  
However, I mostly really, really pity the dogs for their owners. Poor creatures, they'd deserve better..

---

Sorry guys, the server was giving error replies..

Funny story. I was changing batteries and noticed a dog owner entering the field i was flying to let her dog off. So I waited, took a vape, then noticed she had her phone out, explaining something while looking right at me! Im like hell no she is not callin the cops! I thought I am being responsible and I just watched your dog and without a care to pick it up.Bring the cops! 5 minutes later as shes almost back to where I am at, sure enough here comes the fuzz! About that time she asks me "have you seen anyone messing with my van" only other vehicle besides my own. I said " no sweetie sure havent, but it was here when I got here" she says "someone scratched the side of it so I called the cops!" I thought for sure she was "one of those people" but turned out she enjoyed watching me fly the quad. About then 2 other guys walked up to watch the next flight. And were completely amazed by the speed (one had a parrot drone) and the build itself (being DIY) Needless to say it made this racer noob feel like a pro!

Who calls the cops because of a scratch on their car?!

Unless you've actually seen who did it and the person is still there, I know what reply I'd get from the police here; they'd tell me not to waste their time!

He did have this "I had to stop eating my lunch for this" kind of facial expression

Insurance would be my guess though. You know us here in the states (rolling my eyes) 'Merica