Air Accident Investigation Branch finds police officer ‘didn’t spot’ overhead cable while flying drone that hit child in Sheerness

A police officer who was flying a drone when it fell and injured a child did not spot an overhead cable, an investigation has confirmed. The Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) published its findings following the incident on Sheppey[1] last year.

The drone that crashed in Sheerness and injured a child. Picture: Bunny

Police had been called to a report of an assault in Sheerness shortly after 4pm on August 2. They deployed a drone to search for the suspect but the device fell to the ground and hit a child.

The youngster was taken to a London hospital with serious hand injuries. Since then, the AAIB has launched an investigation[2], along with the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), which served a misconduct notice on a special inspector. The IOPC also noted that this was the first time it had ever investigated a civilian being injured by a police drone.

A special inspector was given a misconduct notice by the IOPC. Stock image

Yesterday (January 8), the AAIB's findings were published in the Air Accident Monthly Bulletin.

It said that to "assist with an emergency response", an unmanned aircraft (UA) was deployed.

"While taking off, the UA struck a telegraph cable and subsequently collided with a member of the public, causing a hand injury that required hospital treatment," the report went on to say. "The remote pilot noted that the cable hazard had not been identified during the rapid deployment of the UA." The incident was subject to a "record only" investigation, which means it has been largely based on information provided by the aircraft operator or from other sources at the time of reporting.

The police were flying the drone after being called to a report of an assault on the Island

As a result, the accuracy of the information "cannot be assured".

A spokeswoman for the AAIB said: "We receive around 700 notifications of incidents and accidents each year, and our role is to identify safety lessons that can help prevent future occurrences. "We take every notification seriously and carefully assess each one against established criteria to determine the most appropriate level of investigation. "We recognise that any incident involving injury, particularly to a member of the public, is deeply concerning for those affected.

"In this case, having reviewed the circumstances and available evidence, we concluded that a full investigation was unlikely to yield new safety findings that would benefit wider aviation safety. We recognise that any incident involving injury, particularly to a member of the public, is deeply concerning for those affected. "For this reason, a record-only investigation was conducted.

This does not diminish the seriousness of the incident itself, but reflects our judgment on where investigative resources can have the greatest impact on improving safety."

The incident involved a high-performance drone, specifically a DJI M30T model. It weighs around 4kg and was designed for professional use - equipped with thermal, wide and zoom cameras. Kent Police confirmed it made a mandatory referral at the time to the IOPC.

The IOPC has told KentOnline its investigation is ongoing and there are no further updates at this stage.

References

1. ^ Sheppey (kentonline.co.uk)
2. ^ has launched an investigation (kentonline.co.uk)