Authorities in Australia are opening an investigation into a bizarre viral stunt which was attempted in Australia, in which a man used a homemade drone to lift himself  - sitting in a deck chair - into the air so he could fish in the middle of a pond.

The bizarre stunt was first circulated on social media after it appeared on the official Facebook page of UAV Me: a group for drone enthusiasts and hobbyists. The strange footage quickly picked up a lot of attention but has now incurred the interest of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority.

The clip of the daredevil stunt shows a man in a cafe chair being carried several metres above the waters of Upper Coliban Reservoir in central Victoria, carrying a bottle of beer and a fishing rod.

He can be seen casting out a line and even (apparently) catching a fish from above before being carried back to the shore.  However, CASA officials haven't been too impressed by the video, which they believe to be an example of a flagrant disregard for personal safety.
If the incident is eventually discovered to be in severe breach of aviation regulations, then it could result in penalties of more than $10,000 in fines for the perpetrators.
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Commenting on the incident in an interview with ABC, CASA spokesman Peter Gibson stated: "This is a first for Australia, to have a large homemade drone being used to lift someone off the ground. It's really not a sensible thing to do in any way, shape, or form; there are lots of things that could have gone wrong, someone could have been seriously injured."

Gibson added: "It'll take some time for us to gather the information, analyse all that, [and] determine what the appropriate course of action is. For the person on the chair, the risk could be computer errors where the aircraft flies away, [or there] could be motor failures where the aircraft ends up in an uncontrollable state. Best-case scenario is the battery sets die and it plonks straight into the water."

This incident is somewhat similar to the infamous 'Lawnchair Larry' flight of 1982, in which a man named Lawrence Walters attached more than 45 helium-filled weather balloons to a lawn chair, before shooting to an altitude of over 15,000 feet (4,600 m), and floating into controlled airspace near Los Angeles International Airport.

Although concerned about the heights he had reached, Walters was able to descend by using a BB gun to pop the balloons. During the landing, the aircraft became entangled in power lines, but Walters was able to climb down to safety.

Authorities in Australia are opening an investigation into a bizarre viral stunt which was attempted in Australia, in which a man used a homemade drone to lift himself  - sitting in a deck chair - into the air so he could fish in the middle of a pond.

The bizarre stunt was first circulated on social media after it appeared on the official Facebook page of UAV Me: a group for drone enthusiasts and hobbyists. The strange footage quickly picked up a lot of attention but has now incurred the interest of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority.

The clip of the daredevil stunt shows a man in a cafe chair being carried several metres above the waters of Upper Coliban Reservoir in central Victoria, carrying a bottle of beer and a fishing rod.

He can be seen casting out a line and even (apparently) catching a fish from above before being carried back to the shore.  However, CASA officials haven't been too impressed by the video, which they believe to be an example of a flagrant disregard for personal safety.
If the incident is eventually discovered to be in severe breach of aviation regulations, then it could result in penalties of more than $10,000 in fines for the perpetrators.
[[facebookwidget||https://www.facebook.com/UAVMe/photos/a.1769209403356277/2050219925255222/]]

Commenting on the incident in an interview with ABC, CASA spokesman Peter Gibson stated: "This is a first for Australia, to have a large homemade drone being used to lift someone off the ground. It's really not a sensible thing to do in any way, shape, or form; there are lots of things that could have gone wrong, someone could have been seriously injured."

Gibson added: "It'll take some time for us to gather the information, analyse all that, [and] determine what the appropriate course of action is. For the person on the chair, the risk could be computer errors where the aircraft flies away, [or there] could be motor failures where the aircraft ends up in an uncontrollable state. Best-case scenario is the battery sets die and it plonks straight into the water."

This incident is somewhat similar to the infamous 'Lawnchair Larry' flight of 1982, in which a man named Lawrence Walters attached more than 45 helium-filled weather balloons to a lawn chair, before shooting to an altitude of over 15,000 feet (4,600 m), and floating into controlled airspace near Los Angeles International Airport.

Although concerned about the heights he had reached, Walters was able to descend by using a BB gun to pop the balloons. During the landing, the aircraft became entangled in power lines, but Walters was able to climb down to safety.