Authorities in Australia are investigating a man who used a drone to pick up a sausage from a barbecue and deliver it to a friend in a hot tub.
The man faces a £5,600 [$AUS9,000] fine after he posted a video on YouTube which showed him sitting at home and piloting a drone which travelled over a busy motorway before descending to collect the cooked sausage from a barbecue – or “sausage sizzle” – at a hardware store in Melbourne. The video has since been removed.
Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority said it was investigating the incident over concerns the flight breached rules which ban drones from entering populous areas or flying within 33 yards [30 metres] of people.
“You can clearly see people walking to and from their cars, you can clearly see people around the sausage sizzle,” a spokesman told Fairfax Media.
“This is a classic example of a place where you should never fly a drone.”
The video begins with a man writing a note which said: “Please buy a snag [sausage] and put in bag. Here’s $10.”
It then shows the drone flying to meet a man at the barbecue – apparently an accomplice – who put the sausage into a container attached to the machine.
The sausage was then delivered to a man in a hot tub in a back garden.
The man who posted the video online told EFTM, an Australian men’s lifestyle website, he wanted to buy a new drone and had sold the footage to a viral video company.
He said the footage had been edited and the flight posed no threat to the public.
“We shot it in parts, never going over homes or people,” the man said.
