A drone crashed to ground during a World Cup slalom ski race in Italy today, nearly hitting World cup skier Marcel Hirscher. The drone belonged to a TV broadcast crew and carried a heavy camera on it.
Hirscher, a four-time defending overall World Cup champion, appeared not to notice the drone crash that happened just over his right shoulder as he came down the slope. He came in second on this particular downhill race, edged out by Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway. Hirscher maintains the lead in the competition overall.
Still, the 26-year-old Austrian skier sounded outraged “This is horrible,” Hirscher said. “This can never happen again. This can be a serious injury.”
WATCH: Skier almost crushed by falling drone during run. https://t.co/hyGYUJKTOc pic.twitter.com/dOlViauMLz
— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) December 22, 2015
The skier posted a still from the coverage of his race on Instagram with the caption “heavy air traffic in Italy.”
Drone crashes have become more frequent as drones have become more commonplace. This September, a drone crashed into a crowd during an outdoor movie screening, hitting a one-year-old girl. That same month, a student was charged with endangerment when he allegedly crashed a drone into a football stadium, and in a separate incident, a teacher was arrested after he allegedly crashed a drone into an empty seating area during a US Open match in New York. Arguably the most high-profile drone crash happened in January 2015, when a drunk employee of the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency crashed a drone on White House grounds, setting off a Secret Service investigation.
Source – arstechnica.com