An amateur drone pilot who nearly crashed his DJI Mavic Mini drone into DJ Norman Cook, aka Fatboy Slim, in 2022 has been ordered to pay over $1,100 in fines by a UK court.
The drone incident took place on July 22, 2022, while Fatboy Slim was performing for an 8,500-strong crowd at a UK beach. Almost 15 minutes before the gig was to end, a Mavic Mini drone crashed into the stage, narrowly missing both the artist and the crowd.
Drone pilot Giles Dalby, 39, said he was only trying to capture the vibe of the event with a cinematic video but mixed up the controls on the device.
“There was no malicious intent,” Dalby told the court when the case came up for hearing last week. “I switched it into sport mode which deactivates the downward sensor so I could come quickly up and out, but I accidentally went forward and down.”
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A public prosecutor, meanwhile, told the court that flight recording data on the drone showed that Dalby had ignored multiple warnings. “There was no damage or injury, but the risk was very real and very present,” Megan Attree said.
The court found Dalby guilty of recklessly or negligently allowing an aircraft to put a person or property at risk, in breach of Article 241 of the Air Navigation Order 2016. The maximum penalty under this law is an unlimited fine on summary conviction and up to 2 years of custody if the case goes to a higher court.
Dalby pleaded with the bench for leniency while explaining that he had since secured a drone operator license and realized that he shouldn’t have flown over a crowd. “It was an honest mistake that I will ensure will never repeat itself,” he said.
The court ordered Dalby to pay £891 ($1,132) in fines, prosecution costs, and surcharges while allowing him to keep the drone.
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