Description

On 14 July 2019, control of a DJI-Inspire 2 unmanned aircraft (UA) being operated for aerial photography purposes by a drone video production company - Flt Art Prod - at night at a music festival near Perpignan was lost after which it collided with an obstruction before descending still under power into the audience and causing panic as it struck several people causing minor personal injuries as a result. The UA sustained substantial damage. 

Investigation

After being notified of the event several days after it had happened, the French Civil Aviation Accident Investigation Agency (BEA) opened an Investigation. It was discovered at an early stage that all relevant flight data had been deleted from both the UA itself and from the control and monitoring equipment used by the pilot to fly it. However, the video camera memory was recovered from the UA and it was possible to access the recorded video for almost a minute prior to the accident.

The 34-year-old UA pilot held a “drone pilot certificate” which permitted him to carry out flights of the type involved and had been a professional drone pilot since 2015, logging in excess of 400 flight hours. The 44-year-old company manager was also a professional drone pilot with a certificate which permitted him to carry out flights of the type involved.