Authorities have fined an amateur photographer for nearly crashing his drone into famous DJ Fat Boy Slim. The incident happened when the DJ, Norman Cook (AKA Fat Boy Slim), was performing in July for a huge crowd on Brighton Beach in the South of England.
Giles Dalby apparently flew the drone over the crowd but lost control of the device. The drone crashed into the stage, narrowly missing the DJ.
According to The Sun, Dalby mixed up the controls whilst attempting to make a ‘cinematic video’ of the concert.
The court heard that Dalby had ignored multiple warnings given on the device and had unwittingly put the DJI Mavic Mini into sport mode. This mode makes it less easy to avoid obstacles.
Dalby admitted guilty of putting both Fat Boy Slim and audience members at risk during the concert. The court fined the photographer a total of almost $1000 for endangering the crowd and performer and for violating the Air Navigation Order of 2016.
If you fly a drone, even as an amateur for recreational use, it is important that you understand the laws of the country where you are flying. Not only can fines be enormous, but you can easily damage property or risk people’s safety. At no point should a drone be flown over a crowd of people. Last year a drone caused serious damage to an actor’s face when it crashed into him. Even a “controlled” and “intended” human-drone interaction can end up quite badly, ask Enrique Iglesias.
I am surprised that this photographer was able to get the drone into the concert in the first place and that there wasn’t greater security. For him to be able to fly it over a crowd at a large concert and fly it anywhere near the stage is puzzling, at best. The UK has some pretty strict drone laws in place, for good reason.
This photographer was lucky that he didn’t cause any injuries and that he got away with a fairly light penalty, unlike this tourist, who was fined $20,000.
[via the sun]
