A drone operator bit off more than he could chew while filming for a documentary on crocodiles in Australia, with one of the reptiles leaping out of the water and taking out the low-flying drone.
Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) camera operator Dane Hirst was flying a drone at Crocodylus Park in Darwin in May as part of a documentary on the 50th anniversary of the ban on crocodile hunting in the Northern Territory.
Mr Hirst said he was finding it difficult to film steady and longer shots of the skittish reptiles in the lagoon.
Then he noticed one particular crocodile "eyeballing" the drone.
"I lined the drone up and moved over the top of him, and as I was doing that I looked up towards the lagoon and saw a crocodile vertical out of the water and heard the great clamping noise of a crocodile's jaws coming together," Mr Hirst said.
When he looked at his drone controller he found he had lost connectivity.
Fortunately, the damaged drone was found by Crocodylus Park staff members on the bank of the lagoon two weeks later, and the memory card was recovered to tell the tale, ABC news reported.
The drone now hangs on a notice board in a staff room at ABC Darwin, where it serves as a cautionary tale.
