A drone being used to photograph a music festival in France flew out of control, hit a structure and careened into the crowd, striking several people before it was kicked to the ground by a member of the audience, the French Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses (BEA) says.
The July 14, 2019, serious incident injured three people in the crowd, the BEA said in its final report. All three were struck by the drone’s propellers.
The report said that among the factors that may have contributed to the serious incident were that the flight of the DJI Inspire 2 drone, operated by Fly Art Prod, was conducted over an unspecified zone and that it did not comply with terms of a “third-party exclusion zone” that required the drone to be at least 30 m (98 ft) from individuals not involved in flight operations.
A third contributing factor was the pilot’s use of “an unfitting procedure to bring the drone’s flight to an end,” the report said, noting that he used “inappropriate proce…
