Drone plummets from the sky, crashes into woman’s head at 25mph during event in Canada
Jun 27, 2016
John Aldred
John Aldred is a photographer with over 25 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter – and occasional beta tester – of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
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In another instance of drone operator stupidity, 38 year old Stephanie Creignou was seriously injured when a 2.8lb (1.3kg) drone dropped from about 33ft (10m) in the air straight into her head with a velocity of around 25mph (11m/s) during the Challenge 5km Arc-en-Ciel race in Beloeil, Canada.
TVA reports that the operator of the drone, Rosaire Turcotte, had been previously warned about his reckless flying, flew much closer to the crowd than was allowed, and didn’t have the required permits to fly his DJI Phantom 3 at the event in the first place.
According to reports, the impact was so severe that Creignou collapsed into the arms of her friend, which you just make out in the video, and was quickly taken by emergency ambulance to St. Hyacinthe Hospital, where doctors diagnosed whiplash.
Whether for recreational or commercial purposes, drones are subject to strict regulations from Transport Canada, one of which stating that no machine can be used within 9km of an airport. In this particular instance, two airports fall within that range; Beloeil and Saint-Hubert.
The incident happened on June 11th, and as well as potentially facing fines and charges for his illegal drone use, Turcotte is now also being sued by Creignou, too, as she has been unable to work since that time. Reports indicate that the she and her husband also had to cancel a vacation.
Doctors are expected to review Creignou’s condition at the end of the month, but it is unknown how long before they will decide that she is able to go back to work. We hope that she recovers quickly.
Other licensed drones were flying at the event, under the supervision of VTOL X Drones, a company hired by the organisers of the event to document the occasion. It was they who captured the footage above.
Incidents like this are why the recently announced regulations by the FAA specifically instruct no flying over people or crowds that are not complicit in the production. While some are complaining that such a restriction limits their creativity, one hopes that common sense would prevail.
Drones are becoming safer with each new generation that is released, and for the potential “dropping like a stone” kind of flight that no drone owner wishes to experience but may happen anyway, there are already options out there, like parachutes (thanks for the reminder, Sean!).
Do harsh drone regulations make a difference if people are going to ignore them anyway? Should the punishments for breaking the rules be more severe? Or only if the rule-breaking causes injury? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Update June 28th, 2016 : This post was originally titled “Woman’s head saves drone from crashing straight into the ground at 25mph”. Title changed at the request of the person who shot the footage shown above.
John Aldred
John Aldred is a photographer with over 25 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter – and occasional beta tester – of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
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10 responses to “Drone plummets from the sky, crashes into woman’s head at 25mph during event in Canada”
I think drone tech will eventually figure this out. I’ve seen videos of parachutes and such for drones that would eliminate this problem. Drones falling too fast either from power interruption or operator error can deploy counter measures (chute) to slow descent.
Yes, parachutes do seem like the obvious solution, and we just posted about those not too long ago. But, it will depend a lot on whether or not the operators choose to install them, at least for now.
They may end up becoming compulsory at some point in the future, but until then, I think somebody willing to break the rules and fly where he shouldn’t isn’t going to worry about things like that, sadly.
hahahaha savage
Parachutes may solve so situations but lets not ignore the fact that the bad decisions are the operator’s.
Heavy fines for people like this will hopefully discourage jackasses and dumbasses from doing what they do.
Charles they do already have heavy fines, the problem is that as of now they don’t know for sure if he was shooting as recreational or commercial. He told me he was there recreationally when I asked him, but I was told later that he was there with work vehicle. Yes accident can happen and sometimes it can be a malfunction, but all this could be reduced dramatically going through checklists, and following the guidelines. Most people just go and fly because they always think that nothing will happen or that they won’t get caught.
OK … SOMEBODY should point out the excellent Title of the article.
This is a notice to the editor of this article. I am Flavio, CEO / Pilot of Vtol-X Drones and the person who shot this video. Out of respect for the person that the drone fell on, I ask you to please name this article appropriately. Thank you
I’m thinking that as the Pilot your time might be better spent not dropping drones on peoples heads but hey … maybe that’s just me.
I think the title is very respectful, it depicts her as a hero, rather than the poor victim of yet another drone mishap.
Drone 101 Dont fly around or above people that are not aware of the drone…