$18k fine for company whose drone crashed into One-North condo
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The drone had crashed into one of the buildings at One-North Residences. It then hit the ground and caught fire, causing damage to the granite tiles.
PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO
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SINGAPORE - An unmanned aircraft belonging to a commercial drone operator crashed into a condominium development, fell to the ground just a metre away from two residents and then caught fire.
One of the two employees of H3 Dynamics who were operating the drone on July 19, 2024, did not have a licence to do so at that time.
On April 1, the company was fined $18,000 after a representative pleaded guilty in court on its behalf to a charge of operating the drone in a manner that it should have known could endanger lives or property.
It had done so by failing to ensure that its pilots maintained sight of the drone at all times, and losing control of it.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Lu Huiyi said that at about 6pm on July 19, 2024, H3 Dynamics’ employees were testing the drone – a modified Hexadrone Tundra 2 weighing about 10kg – at the Pixel Building at 10 Central Exchange Green.
The company’s software engineer, who was the on-site pilot of the drone, was stationed on the rooftop of the building.
Its vice-president of robotics, who did not have an unmanned aircraft pilot licence from the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS), was operating the command centre remotely from another location and had launched the drone.
However, after the drone did not move towards its programmed destination, the vice-president of robotics told the software engineer to take over piloting it manually.
The engineer was unable to do so using his remote control. He then lost sight of the drone, as it became blocked by a taller part of the Pixel Building.
It then flew towards One-North Residences, which is about 200m away, and crashed into one of its buildings.
It then hit the ground and caught fire, causing damage to the granite tiles.
Court documents do not state what the two residents were doing at that time when the drone narrowly missed them.
The tiles cost $700 to replace, and H3 Dynamics has paid this amount to One-North Residences.
In sentencing the company, District Judge Wong Li Tein said it was entirely fortuitous that no one was hurt and no further damage was caused.
H3 Dynamics could have been fined up to $100,000 for the offence.
In a statement in October 2024, CAAS said two pilots involved in the incident were issued a 12-month conditional warning for their role in the offence.
It conducted two on-site audits on H3 Dynamics in August and September 2024, and issued four corrective orders, which the operator followed.
CAAS said it was satisfied with H3 Dynamics’ corrective actions, so from Oct 25, the company would be allowed to conduct aerial photography and videography again. It was suspended from these operations during the investigation.
However, H3 Dynamics would no longer be allowed to conduct drone operations for flight tests and demonstrations, CAAS said.
The company will also be subjected to increased frequency of safety audits after it resumes drone operations, CAAS added.
From Oct 25, 2024, CAAS also lifted a suspension on the Hexadrone Tundra 2 base model, with which it did not find any safety issues.
