Man fined $5,000 for flying drone that landed on LRT tracks
SINGAPORE — A man who flew a drone which ran out of power and landed on the Sengkang LRT tracks before it was struck by a train was fined $5,000 on Friday (21 February).
Homen Wong, 21, had pleaded guilty at the State Courts last year to one count of operating an unmanned aircraft outdoors in a manner which endangered the safety of persons and property.
Another charge of operating the device without a valid Class 2 activity permit was considered in sentencing.
Wanted to take aerial photos and videos of trains
On 8 February 2018, Wong who was serving his full-time national service, flew a DJI Mavic Pro drone that weighed 0.743kg for about 40 minutes at the open field beside Sengkang LRT Station.
He wanted to take aerial photos and videos of trains entering and leaving the station and flew the device over pedestrian walkways with moderate human traffic as well as within 10m of the train tracks.
When the drone was above the train tracks, however, it got low on battery power and landed on the tracks where it was eventually struck by a train. There was no damage to the train or any disruption to services.
Later that evening, Wong asked station staff to help get his drone back. The station staff eventually retrieved the device on 15 February and returned it to him.
But Wong later posted a video of the incident on YouTube entitled “DJI Mavic Pro survived a train crash”.
After the video made its rounds online, SBS Transit, which operates the LRT line, reported the incident to the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore on 9 April 2018.
For operating a drone in a dangerous manner, Wong, who has since completed his full-time NS, could have been fined a maximum of $20,000.
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