Real Estate Photographer’s Drone Blasted Out of the Sky
A real estate photographer in Alabama had his drone shot down and is now working with authorities, hoping to identify the shooter.
WAFF reports that Michael Gardner, who operates Deep South Aerial Photography, was flying his DJI Mavic 4 Pro on Saturday near Athens, shooting professional content for a client.
“So I was shooting a house for a client in Athens off of Lindsay Lane. And I got my drone up there doing my normal thing like I do. All of a sudden, I hear a gunshot,” Gardner says.
After the gunshot rang out, Gardner looked down at his controller that has a screen attached and saw it was going haywire.
“I look in my controller and my video feed is going crazy and it is crashing to the ground,” Gardner says.
The drone crash-landed, but Gardner wasn’t sure where and couldn’t find it. He only retrieved it two days later when someone else discovered it.
“I’ve heard of people’s drones getting shot down. I have been threatened to have mine shot down by property owners not liking it flying over their property,” Gardner tells WAFF.
“But one thing that they don’t realize is they don’t own the airspace above the tallest blade of grass in their yard.”
Shooting a drone out of the air is illegal, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rules, which say that the act poses a “significant safety hazard.”
“If you shoot a drone, it can become a flaming fireball in the sky, more or less, because that battery punctures, it will ignite and it will catch on fire,” says Gardner.
“And then with that being said, if that drone was to fall on somebody’s roof and catch their house on fire, well, then the person who shot the drone down can be held responsible.”
Shooting at a drone could result in a civil penalty from the FAA. The shooter may also face criminal charges from law enforcement; Gardner is speaking to the FAA in Birmingham and working on a police report.
Back in 2024, a 60-year-old man in upstate New York was arrested for shooting down his neighbor’s drone with a shotgun.
Image creditsHeader photo licensed via Depositphotos.
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