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back to article Brit cities overrun with middle-aged dronies, reckons survey

Most British drone fliers are old men knocking on for retirement, reckons a drone retailer that carried out a survey. The survey from e-tailer Drones Direct reckons that 96 per cent of drone users are men, while 59 per cent of all those surveyed are aged 45 and upwards. Not even 10 per cent of drone fliers in the survey fell …

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  1. batfink
    Black Helicopters

    Well not many surprises there...

    Could it possibly be because it's only those >45 who might have a spare £x00 lying around to blow on something that might, at some point, fall out of the sky and be lost/drowned/otherwise written off?

    Black helicopter icon because, obviously, they're all drones these days...

    12 1 Reply
    1. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge
      Reply Icon
      Coat

      Re: Well not many surprises there...

      Far cheaper than the little 'red' sportscar for their midlife crisis????

      Less dangerous that a Motocycle and far less poserability than a Harley but not as good in the manhood size replacement stakes

      {Coat with a paper plane in the pocket and Status Quo on the mp3 player}

      6 0 Reply
      1. Lars Silver badge
        Reply Icon
        Happy

        Re: Well not many surprises there...

        "for midlife crisis".

        The grandsons wanted to buy something for grandpapa. One suggested a new widescreen telly, but was told grandpapa could hardly see. One suggested a nice expensive stereo set but was reminded that grandpapa could hardly hear anything. Then the bright one said - "why don't we ask him what he wants", and they bought him a motorcycle.

        5 0 Reply
      2. K
        Reply Icon
        Facepalm

        Re: Well not many surprises there...

        "Less dangerous that a Motocycle"

        Unless the person flying it is also a "Plane spotter" and decided he want to film him favourite liner close up as it lands!

        On another note I'm finally a minority... I'm under 45 and spent way more than £300 on mine..

        But not sure which minority - overpaid geek? mug with too cash? or an idiot for buying a toy he's only used about 5 times (Though I should mention this was due to the crap weather)?

        1 0 Reply
        1. heyrick Silver badge
          Reply Icon

          Re: Well not many surprises there...

          Another minority (whee!). I'm under 45 (just) and spent around €50 on mine[1]. Maybe one day I'll be a decent enough pilot, but it's kind of hard to get much practice time when the battery poops out after 7-8 minutes. Still, I live in the middle of nowhere so I'm only a nuisance to the sparrows...

          1 - can't justify much more than that for something I know I'll end up crashing.

          1 0 Reply
          1. K
            Reply Icon

            Re: Well not many surprises there...

            @heyrick..

            "battery poops out after 7-8"

            That's the reason I forked out for the expensive one, get 25 minutes and 3 batteries..

            "I know I'll end up crashing."

            And that's the reason I shouldn't have forked out for the expensive one, I've crashed it twice and broken it! then had to spent $$$ to get it fixed. Its like buying a Porsche and having a fender bender, you look a idiot if you don't get it fix.. but you feel like an when you do, the only way to win is not to buy it in the first place (hindsight is a wonderful thing)

            4 0 Reply
  2. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

    Same as motorbikes

    So same solution - make licenses harder for 18 year olds

    1 0 Reply
  3. Hollerithevo

    Feather...

    Knocked over with...

    0 0 Reply
  4. Anonymous Coward
    Angel

    Geezers with drones...

    Since they're on their way to heaven, maybe they figure they ought to get a decent look at it before they check in?

    (In other news--aging lawyers, investment bankers and politicians found to be disproportionally interested in hobbies involving excavating and drilling equipment!)

    4 0 Reply
  5. werdsmith Silver badge

    I'm in that demog, and I love the idea of getting aerial film using a drone, being an ex RC flyer too.

    But I don't own one. Too much stigma caused by the odd bell end and hysterical half-witted journos.

    5 0 Reply
  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Dronies

    Because train spotting is naff

    Fnarfnar...

    0 0 Reply
  7. jake Silver badge

    Strangely ...

    ... all five of the drones I've shot down have been owned by kids in their early-mid 20s. (For those keeping track, the latest was owned by an idiot watching the fire here in Sonoma ... He actually kept the water dropping aircraft away until I bagged it. Browning 12 gauge, modified choke, magnum goose loads. Recommended.)

    1 1 Reply
    1. werdsmith Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      Re: Strangely ...

      I love these fictional comments. Always good for a laugh.

      3 0 Reply
      1. jake Silver badge
        Reply Icon

        Re: Strangely ...

        One of the local papers ran the story. You can probably find it online.

        1 1 Reply
        1. werdsmith Silver badge
          Reply Icon

          Re: Strangely ...

          One of the local papers ran the story. You can probably find it online

          Yeah Jake, I had already read about Nestor Rodriguez. He got in the way of the firefighting aircraft alright, but his drone was not shot down.

          0 1 Reply
    2. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Strangely ...

      You must be one of those farmer giles types. No one else is allowed firearms legally.

      1 0 Reply
      1. Steve the Cynic
        Reply Icon

        Re: Strangely ...

        "You must be one of those farmer giles types. No one else is allowed firearms legally."

        Read more carefully. He mentions Sonoma, which is a bit ambiguous, except that it offers a choice of different places that are *all* in California, where the gun laws are a little less strict than they are in Blighty.

        3 0 Reply
  8. Funkymunky

    Pointless

    I've only seen one drone in action round our way, the young Chinese neighbour and his very young son fly a small (must be cheap??) one out in the back lane for a few minutes every now and then. It replaced an RC car which the young un wasn't interested in. It appears the fun is to fly it for a wee while, crash, look dejected and go back indoors...

    Our 23yr old very geeky software engineer son pronounced them pointless (as he faffed about with his £900 VR setup). Then again, he's just discovered Tinder/Girls/Sex, so he's not home much except to shower (Amazingly, lots more than than once a week), drop off clothing for washing and plan his next date.

    1 0 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Pointless

      "... he's not home much except to shower (Amazingly, lots more than than once a week), drop off clothing for washing and plan his next date."

      Well, he hardly needs a drone - he's already got a helicopter!

      0 0 Reply
  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "Most British drone fliers are old men knocking on for retirement"

    They fucked the country over with brexit and are simply looking for new ways to make everyones lives a misery.

    6 2 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Ahem

      >They fucked the country over with brexit and are simply looking for new ways to make everyones lives a misery.

      Someone sounds a wee bit remoanery.

      1 2 Reply
      1. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Ahem

        "Someone sounds a wee bit remoanery"

        Someone else sounds a wee bit douchey.

        2 0 Reply
    2. Cederic Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      If brexit fucks the country then I'll consider it a worthwhile sacrifice. Without brexit there wouldn't _be_ a country any more.

      0 1 Reply
  10. Tikimon
    Angel

    "Mid-life crisis" is a pejorative term that needs to go!

    The assumption is that us aging types suddenly get a longing for our long-lost youthness, and start flinging money at inappropriate things to try and recapture it. I ripped a post here a while ago who similarly claimed that only Oedipus-fixated young guys and desperate older women had sex together. It's accepted as canon by the ignorant, and it's totally, insultingly false.

    The fact is that we have ALWAYS had these urges! What little boy didn't want a motorcycle? What teenager did not grow up coveting attractive loud cars? Most of us lacked funding and permission. Our parents rightfully spent the cash on food and shelter instead of a pony or spaceship but the longing never goes away.

    So now here we are at Middle Age. We have our own money now, perhaps no kids to support, and why the hell don't we finally do that Thing we always wanted? WHY NOT? It's not an illogical crisis in quest of lost youth, it's the realization of a long-deferred reward. I refuse to feel silly for any of mine. If people are confused when I don't act like the kind of boring old fart they expect to become, that's not my problem.

    5 0 Reply
    1. Robert Moore
      Reply Icon
      Thumb Up

      Re: "Mid-life crisis" is a pejorative term that needs to go!

      I mostly agree with you. But I embrace the term "Mid-life crisis".

      Take "Mid-life crisis" and make it your own. It is not a pejorative term if you don't accept it as such.

      I call my Italian sports car, my "Mid-life crisis mobile."

      1 0 Reply
  11. handleoclast
    Coat

    No longer able to get it up?

    Buy a drone. At least you'll be able to get that up. Until you crash it.

    0 0 Reply

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