Drone crash-lands into condo in one-north, commercial operator to be charged in court

Drone crashed into One-North Residences condo in July & caused a fire

A commercial operator named H3 Dynamics will be charged after a drone it was operating crash-landed at a condominium in one-north.

This was revealed by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) in a news release on Friday (25 Oct) that detailed the circumstances behind the incident in July.

Operator was carrying out test flights with drone in July

CAAS said that on 19 July, H3 Dynamics was carrying out a series of test flights from the PIXEL building, which is located in the One-North drone estate.

It was using a Hexadrone TUNDRA 2, a high-performance drone designed and manufactured in France and launched in 2023.

At about 6pm, the pilots lost control of the drone during the eighth test flight.

Drone crash-lands at one-north condo, fire put out by residents

The drone ended up hitting the façade of One-North Residences, a condo about 200m from the take-off location.

It crash-landed, causing a fire that was quickly put out by residents.

The incident caused damage to the drone and left burn marks on the floor, but no injuries were reported.

H3 Dynamics’ operations, and the use of Hexadrone TUNDRA 2, were suspended while the CAAS investigation took place.

Operator didn’t comply with procedures, CAAS found

After concluding the investigation, CAAS found, among other things, that H3 Dynamics did not comply with some of the procedures stipulated in their operations manual, which was submitted during their application for a permit.

The Hexadrone TUNDRA 2 base model had no safety issues, but the drone involved was modified by the company. CAAS was not informed about this modification nor did it approve it.

Additionally, one of the pilots who operated the drone did not possess an unmanned aircraft pilot licence. This requirement is stipulated in the Air Navigation (101 – Unmanned Aircraft Operations) Regulations (ANR-101).

Finally, H3 Dynamics staff did not comply with Centralised Flight Management System (CFMS) procedures, as required by the ANR-101.

Operator to be charged & faces up to S$100K fine

CAAS takes “a serious view” of the offences, it said.

Thus, H3 Dynamics will be charged in court for the offence of operating the drone in a manner that it ought reasonably to know could endanger the life or property of another person, under the Air Navigation Act 1966.

If convicted, the company could be fined up to S$100,000.

The two pilots who operated the ill-fated drone flight will also face enforcement action.

One of them has been issued a 12-month conditional warning for operating a drone with a pilot licence. If he commits an offence during this period, he may be prosecuted for both offences.

The other pilot also received a 12-month conditional warning for failing to be in active use of the CFMS mobile application during the drone operations.

CAAS lifts suspension on H3 Dynamics

CAAS has conducted two on-site audits on H3 Dynamics and issued four corrective action notices to the company.

They required it to conduct corrective actions, which it has completed to CAAS’ satisfaction.

H3 Dynamics’ suspension was lifted on 25 Oct and it can now conduct a reduced scope of commercial operations limited to aerial photography and videography only, with CAAS saying:

H3 Dynamics will no longer be allowed to conduct UA operations for the purpose of flight test and flight demonstration.

It will also be subjected to safety audits more often.

Accordingly, CAAS has also lifted the suspension on the Hexadrone TUNDRA 2 base model as no safety issues have been found.

Also read: Tourist who flew drone over Marina Bay fined S$12K

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Featured image adapted from Google Maps and Studio Sport.