So it turns out flying a drone fishing chair might not be quite as legal as you may have thought. And an Aussie fisherman has found that out the hard way.
Sam Foreman, a keen fisherman from Kyneton, Victoria has gone viral after footage of him testing out his custom-made drone fishing chair was posted on Facebook.
The video, posted to the UAV Me Facebook group, shows Sam and his friends constructing and testing out the six-prop drone over the Upper Coliban Reservoir in Victoria’s Macedon Ranges.
In true Australian style, the chair wouldn’t be complete without a stubby holder and a bottle of VB.
“What is so exciting is that we have achieved what nobody thought we could,” one of the ‘inventors’ said.
The project took a four men a whopping two years of weekend hobby time to develop. I don’t want to know how many times they were sent plunging into the reservoir during test flights.
According to Tim French (who’s also responsible for that Bunnings snag drone video), the project cost nearly $20,000.
“People spend $50,000 on a boat and don’t look back. You can’t put a price on a hobby,” he said.
The aircraft requiring 12 motors, 25 batteries and multiple 27″ propellers to take flight.
However, it doesn’t look like the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) aren’t quite as chuffed with Sam and his friends’ invention.
According to 9News, the CASA are gathering information regarding the incident and whether or not it complies with aviation safety rules. Considering the list of places you can’t fly a drone is longer than my arm, I find it hard to believe that building a flying fishing chair is legal.
Rules for drone flying include, but are not limited to:
- No flying above 120m
- No flying within 30m of people
- No flying at night
- Flying must not create a hazard to another aircraft, person or property.
“This is a first for Australia, to have a large homemade drone being used to lift someone off the ground,” CASA spokesman Peter Gibson said. “It’s really not a sensible thing to do in any way, shape or form; there’s lots of things that could have gone wrong, someone could have been seriously injured.”
It’s not clear if the men have broken the law. If they have breached the rules, they could face a $1000 fine or up to five years in jail.
For your safety, and your freedom, please do not try this at home.
