A drone being used to film the action at Henley Royal Regatta crashed into a spectator’s boat after malfunctioning. The incident happened on Wednesday last week when the device hit a hard-topped boat called Celtic Queen.
It was witnessed by Robin Page, from Playhatch, who was on his boat, PageBoy.
He said:
“It had been hovering at about 300 ft and I saw it drop vertically out of the sky and had clearly lost all control. Passengers were standing just 3ft from the impact and one passenger had a piece of debris in his hand. The drone piece sank immediately. Had it landed on the passengers it would have killed them or caused serious injury.
Had it landed on my open-style boat or on any other of the majority of regatta open-style boats there would have been death or very serious injury. Flying drones this weight and size directly above people seems bonkers and totally irresponsible, particularly where there is open water.
I note that they continued to fly drones from Phyllis Court Club despite this accident and were totally unaware if the fault was a mechanical, technical or other.”
The Air Accidents Investigation Branch was notified of the incident and has launched an investigation.
The drone had been filming the races for the regatta’s YouTube channel and was being operated by its contractor Sunset+Vine.
A regatta spokeswoman said:
“At the conclusion of Wednesday morning’s racing, the drone being flown on behalf of the regatta’s production partner experienced an equipment malfunction. This resulted in a collision between the drone and a private vessel. No one was hurt and the regatta has continued to broadcast as normal.
The drone was unserviceable for the balance of the regatta but we look forward to its safe return to the production of our live coverage in 2023.”
The owner of the Celtic Queen declined to comment.
Source: The Henley Standard