October 11, 2022, 06:20 PM
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A student from one university in Singapore was fined S$5,000 for flouting drone regulations after he flew a drone over another university here to take photos of his girlfriend and her friend.
According to CNA, the student, Xu Zi Zhou, 25, pleaded guilty to one count of operating an unmanned aircraft without a valid activity permit within 5km of Tengah aerodrome, with two other charges relating to unmanned aircraft operations regulations taken into consideration.
Xu, a Chinese national on a student pass studying at the National University of Singapore, was in Nanyang Technological University with his girlfriend and her friend.
The NUS student had purchased a DJI Mavic Air 2 drone, which weighed 568.5g, from online shopping platform Shopee on May 28, 2021.
He proceeded to take the drone out for a few test flights at NUS first, where he was studying.
Xu then met up with his girlfriend and one of her friends before going to Yunnan Garden in NTU.
He took photos and videos of them with his drone.
CAAS alerted
The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) was alerted to the presence of the drone flying within 5km of Tengah aerodrome at a maximum altitude of 518.37 feet or 158m above mean sea level.
Two CAAS officers were dispatched to Yunnan Garden.
They asked Xu to land the drone.
Xu was found to have flown the aircraft a total of five times that day, with a total flight time of 18 minutes.
According to the regulations stated on CAAS’ website, a Class 2 Activity permit is required for recreational unmanned aircraft activities under various conditions.
The conditions as stated, are:
- The total weight of the unmanned aircraft is between 250g and 25kg, and
- the UA is flown at an altitude exceeding 200 feet above mean sea level; or
- within any restricted/ danger/ protected area; or
- within 5km of any airport or military base.
For operating an unmanned aircraft within 5km of Tengah aerodrome without a Class 2 Activity permit, Xu could have been jailed for up to two years, fined up to S$50,000 or both.
Danger Zone
Using drones could interfere with flight operations.
In September 2022, a man endangered the lives of four Singapore air force personnel by illegally flying his drone into the flight path of two aircraft, impeding the aircraft’s landing procedures.
He was later fined S$51,000 for his actions
Top photo via NTU and IStock
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