Illegal Drone flight
This morning one of our Drone Safe Register members witnessed first-hand an illegal drone pilot allegedly flying and filming on a promotional video for Parcel Force.
The DSR member, who asked not to be named, told DSR he couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing with regards to a drone being flown just metres from a road – A clear breach of the UK’s Air Navigation Order and the CAA’s drone code.
Here is the video of the incident clearly showing the Parcel Force van as the subject and a drone being flown next to a busy main road.
“Today I witnessed a media company filming on behalf of Parcel Force. I was watching a film crew film a house and a Parcel Force van; when a car arrives and a male pulls out a DJI Phantom and starts flying within meters of a main road.”
After filming the incident on my mobile phone camera for approximately 10 minutes, I approached the film crew and thought something had to be said, “Can I ask what you are doing?”
The response was, “Filming for Parcel Force.”
To which I replied, “Can I ask? Which media company are you?”
No answer.
Next, I directed my attention to the pilot, “Can I ask if you have a licence (aka CAA approval) to operate a drone?”
The pilot said, “No I don’t have a licence.”
“You do know you are breaking the law?”
The pilot replied, “No.”
If this is the case, one has to ask how such a big national brand, ‘Parcel Force’ could instruct a production company to produce a promotional video using an illegal drone pilot? How can a media company working for such a large company think it is acceptable to endanger the public and hire an illegal drone pilot?
