Drone has become a norm and so are the incidents of drone being taken out of the sky accidentally or intentionally. In a recent incident, a low-flying drone attempt to capture a spectacular footage of an oncoming rally car, a Toyota WRC piloted by Esapekka Lappi, catching some air, but unfortunately it got in the way of the launching car and resulted in a collision. Fortunately, like any good, accomplished rally car driver, the Finnish driver presses on and landed beautifully before speeding off leaving a cloud of dust as spectators cheered on. We are not quite sure if the excitement and applauses were for the beautifully executed Micky’s Jump, or a celebratory cheer for another injured drone (unlikely), or for the team’s ability to advert a potential deadly disaster.

As for the irresponsible drone, it looks like it has suffered some minor damages, specifically to the camera dangling beneath it. From the slow-mo video, it appears that the quadcopter’s camera has struck the hood of the Toyota, but it remained intact. Some tiny bits can be seen shooting out of the impact region and so, my best guess is, the drone did in fact took some pretty nasty damages. However, the possibly in shock pilot managed to scurry away. So, yeah, the drone looks to be perfectly flight worthy, so drone sympathizers, do not be alarm and do not shed any tear.

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But why did it happen? I don’t know. Perhaps, the pilot wasn’t familiar with the nature rally car race (like for example, catching air?) and/or he or she failed to take note of the jump and the lower ground it was flying over. Whatever it is, make that a lesson for every drone operator out there. The fiasco was rather minor, but it could be something bigger and sadder, if driver had not be this cool-headed. Imagine the driver swerving as it lands. Man, it could be disastrous especially with all the bystanders lining along the sides.

In any case, this was not the first time a drone had an accident in sports. Just last year, we saw a launching jet ski took out a drone out of the air and on another occasion, a young golf prodigy supposedly struck a drone while teeing off. So, I guess nowhere is safe for a drone, eh?

Image: YouTube video screengrab.

via Black Flag.

Published by Mike

Avid tech enthusiast, gadget lover, marketing critic and most importantly, love to reason and talk.