A drone delivering frozen chicken struck a television antenna atop a house before crashing to the ground in Gurugram’s Sector 50, triggering a panicked commotion in the residential neighbourhood and leading to a police case on Friday.
The company operating the drone, Skye Air, said it had to carry out an emergency landing because of a “sudden object in its path”, and that there were no injuries or major damage to property. The residents welfare association, however, said the device left a crater where it fell, illustrating the risk it posed to anyone on the ground if it struck a person.
“The impact was so loud that residents thought it was some blast and ran out of their houses. We saw drone had created a big hole and the broke a part of awall and the dish antenna it hit. It was fortunate that no resident was walking or standing where it fell,” said Satish Yadav, president of G Block RWA of South City-2.
The drone was 500 metres from its delivery destination at Fresco Apartments after having picked the package up from Sector 48.
The resident whose home was hit refused to talk about the incident.
“As per our findings we had to do emergency landing due to a sudden object coming in the path. No loss of lives or any major damage has been reported. Skye Air has all required permissions from local authorities too. Skye air has been testing this system with zero incidents and has completed thousands of flights. We ensure maximum safety with parachutes and ADSB on board,” said an official of Skye Air mobility private limited, asking not to be named.
Gurugram deputy commissioner Nishant Kumar Yadav said the company did not have specific permissions from them and local police was not aware of its operations, but an FIR was registered since Section 144 prohibitory orders were in place. “After discussing with police, action was taken against the company for the violations of the order. Ahead of any VIP movement and chief minister’s visit, drones are prohibited in the city and an order was passed by the duty magistrate for security reasons,” he said.
The police registered the case under Sections 188, which pertains to disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant, 287 (for negligent conduct with respect to machinery), 336 (act endangering life or personal safety of others) of the Indian Penal Code, said police.
Police officials said a call was received around 5.30pm. “A team from Sector 50 was sent to the spot and the drone was taken into possession. It was found to be damaged and was delivering a frozen chicken food packet. The packet was picked up from a location in Sector 48 and was on way to Fresco Apartments but the drone lost control and fell on the dish antenna,” said Jitender Singh, station house officer of Sector 50 police station.
The RWA president of Fresco Apartments confirmed that the residential society had tied up with the drone company for deliveries. “Last year in September we had tied up with the drone operating company which took necessary permissions from the local authorities and DGCA to operate drones in the city and were safely delivering 25- 30 orders everyday but this was first such incident reported where it has been damaged,” Nilesh Tandon, president, RWA, Fresco Apartments.
While it was not clear under which consortium this particular flight was made, Skye Air has been listed in media reports as having been part of multiple collectives that were approved by the civil aviation ministry to carry out what is known as beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) experimental flight.
Source: Hindustan Times
