https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/courts-crime/18k-fine-for-company-whose-drone-crashed-into-one-north-condo

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

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.

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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.