Concert Mishap Shows Why You Shouldn't Grab Drones

Drones and crowds are a no-no — in the US, at least, that's one of the rules: if there's a crowd, don't try to fly your drone through or over it because someone is liable to get hurt. Fast forward to a recent event in Tijuana, Mexico, where a "drone" (it was a quadcopter) was being used to get various shots of the crowd at an Enrique Iglesias concert. By all accounts this is nothing new, and neither is Iglesias' grabbing the drone to get a POV shot for the crowd. This time, though, things didn't go as planned.

Fortunately no one in the crowd was hurt, but during his time with the drone Iglesias accidentally got his finger caught in one of the rotors, and it cut him seriously enough that blood reportedly splattered on the stage. A little while later he had to exit to get his hand bandaged.

So-called "drones" present an alternative way to record footage during things like concerts and for television shows, and for other purposes like aerial surveillance and more. The FAA has notoriously been restrictive when it comes to commercial drone usage, however, and there are restrictions in place for all drone operators regardless of whether the use is commercial or private.

The FAA has granted commercial use exceptions for some companies, including insurance companies that want to use them to do inspections and some Hollywood studios that use drones for production. Still, proper usage doesn't guarantee safe usage, and so there's a lesson to be learned here: mind your fingers.

SOURCE: CNN