A man has been convicted and fined after a drone he was operating crashed into the stage at a concert.
Giles Dalby, from Brighton, was flying his drone over the seaside gig when he lost control of it, sending it flying inches over the crowd before crashing inches away from the superstar DJ.
Thankfully nobody was hurt in the incident, but Dalby admitted to ‘recklessly or negligently causing or permitting an aircraft to endanger a person or property,’ with police describing the case as the first of its kind.
The incident took place in July 2022 during the Big Beach Boutique 20th anniversary live event, hits to a huge audience.
Prosecutors described the drone as a ‘flying bomb’ which narrowly missed the 8,500-strong crowd that had assembled on Brighton’s famous beachfront.
Dalby, 39, who is also an amateur photographer in his spare time, was fined over £800, with an additional £85 paid for legal costs, after admitting to ‘mixing up’ the controls.
While trying to take a ‘cinematic’ video of the concert, the court heard that Dalby put the device into ‘sport mode’ but proceeded to ignore warnings that he could be about to lose control of the device.
Megan Attree, prosecuting, said: ‘The footage shows a near miss with the crowd and performer. There was no damage or injury, but the risk was very real.
She continued: ‘Security were alerted that a drone had crashed into the stage, narrowly missing the crowd and headline act.’
Dalby, who has since obtained a proper license to operate a drone, said in a statement that he never intended to hurt anyone and that the unfortunate incident was the result of an ‘honest mistake’.
He said: ‘I did not intend to put anyone in danger. I wanted to create a slow, cinematic appearance. I crashed trying to get an overview of the scene. It was an honest mistake that I will never repeat. There was no malicious intent.’
Steven Prince, a drone specialist at Sussex Police, said: ‘Dalby operated a drone above a crowded beach concert on Brighton beach.
‘He lost control of the aircraft which then crashed into the stage, near to a musician who was in the middle of a live performance. Dalby is fortunate that no one was harmed.’
The anniversary concert put on by Fatboy Slim, real name Norman Cook, was put on to mark the which took place in 2002.
That night was the scene of a tragedy – with organisers only expecting 40,000 people to turn up, 250,000 flocked to Brighton instead for ‘the biggest beach party the UK had ever seen’.
Sadly, a man died at the event from a heart attack, while hundreds were injured and some people suffered broken bones as things ‘got out of control’.
