Drone Delivering Asparagus to Dutch Restaurant Crashes and Bursts into Flames

A publicity stunt that involved using a consumer quadcopter to deliver vegetables to a restaurant in the Netherlands has literally crashed and burned.

The De Zwann Michelin-starred restaurant in Etten-Leur, North Brabant in the Netherlands always puts on an exciting publicity stunt to mark the beginning of the asparagus season.

In previous years, owner Ronald Peijenburg has used everything from a Formula 1 racing car to a hot air balloon and a helicopter to deliver the very first asparagus of the season, and this year he wanted to try flying a unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).

Initially the journey from the asparagus farm started well, with the drone taking off carrying a metal can consisting of several asparagus stalks. In the interest of safety, the pilot followed in the back of a small pick-up truck, so the drone was always in line-of-sight, with the stunt being filmed by a local TV channel.

The drone landed safely during the journey to get its battery changed before taking off again, however, on the second take off, the drone crashed onto a thankfully quiet country road, and both the drone and the asparagus it was carrying went up in flames.

Yeah, that wasn’t funny. You think you have a cool idea – with a drone – how original can you be? Picking up asparagus with a drone,” Peijenburg told Netherlands regional broadcaster Omroep Brabant after the drone crashed.

“This is very, very sad because it was an amateur pilot, the owner of the drone, who organised this especially for me and brings his own toys. So this wasn’t supposed to happen of course.”

Source: International Business Times

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