A camera drone crashed a few feet behind a downhill skier competing in a World Cup slalom event in Italy on Tuesday. The hefty-looking aircraft dropped vertically and smashed to pieces as Austrian skier Marcel Hirscher negotiated a steep section of the course. He did not appear to notice the maelstrom of plastic behind him. He finished the race in second place.
The drone was apparently being used for media coverage of the event. It was obviously a much larger platform than the popular consumer drones that are now selling by the thousands (and subject to registration in the U.S., as of Monday.) The camera it was carrying detached from the aircraft but appeared to be tethered and the bulk of the wreckage was confined to a small area. Some bits went flying, however. If it had hit the skier, it likely would have injured him, something not lost on our silver medalist. “This is horrible. This can never happen again,” Hirscher told ESPN. “This can be a serious injury.” See how close it was below.
