It’s not uncommon for drone pilots to end up crashing their quadcopters, particularly if they are not too skilled at controlling these devices. Normally, a drone crash would involve the drone striking some object like power lines or poles and then crashing without causing too much damage to anything but itself. However, one particular drone crash in San Francisco has proven to be quite expensive.
A drone crash in Mountain View, California on the night of June 8th left more than 1,600 PG&E customers without electricity. The drone crash cut power and thus forced a library to be evacuated as well. City officials say this drone crash caused damages worth tens of thousands of dollars to the city.
“Drones are fun until someone flies one into high-voltage power lines, causing 1600 people in my neighborhood to lose power,” tweeted Google engineer Adrienne Porter Felt, who was one of the people affected by the power outage as a result of this drone crash.
“A white adult male with white hair” was seen by witnesses when he was flying a drone in that area, which isn’t permitted, and the drone ended up crashing into a high-voltage wire. The repairs could not be completed until the following morning so a lot of aggravation was caused to a lot of people.
The city is investigating the matter and is on the lookout for the man with the white hair.
Filed in . Read more about Drones. Source: siliconbeat