Man fined after his remote controlled plane crashed onto school tennis court near coach

Man fined after his remote controlled plane crashed onto school tennis court near coach

SINGAPORE – A man who lost control of a remote controlled plane before it crashed onto a Methodist Girls’ School (MGS) tennis court, mere metres from a coach, was fined $7,000 on May 20.

Ng Tchi Mun, 68, pleaded guilty to one count of operating the unmanned aircraft (UA) in a manner which could endanger another person’s property.

His UA – a Hangar 9 Pulse 125 weighing around 3.7kg – broke into pieces upon impact, leaving part of the tennis court scratched and cratered. Specifications of this plane model found online state that it is 159cm in length, with a wingspan of 193cm.

The crash, which happened on Aug 20, 2023, a Sunday morning, took place around 4m from a tennis coach who was preparing for a 12pm private class.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Ariel Tan said the coach was “completely taken aback” by the UA crashing onto the tennis court and “began shaking in fear at the thought that he could have been harmed”.

“After he composed himself, he called the MGS facilities manager to report the incident before lodging a police report.”

The court heard that Ng was operating the UA from an open field in Old Holland Road around 250m away from the MGS sports complex. There were also residential homes in the vicinity.

Ng, a Singaporean, held an unmanned aircraft basic training certificate issued on Jan 31, 2021.

DPP Tan said: “At about 10.15am, the accused noticed that the wind was getting stronger, so he decided to steer the UA back towards the open field.

“The accused estimated that the UA was about 50m away from the sports complex of MGS when he tried to manoeuvre it back to him. He ultimately failed to do so and the wind propelled the UA towards MGS.”

Ng then lost control of the UA, which crashed onto one of the tennis courts, located on the third floor of the school’s sports complex.

The coach was walking across the court when it landed about 4m away. Ng arrived at the scene soon after and identified himself as the owner of the UA.

The DPP said: “He (later) agreed to pay the repair cost of $410.40 when presented with the quotation from MGS’ contractor.”

On Dec 1, 2023, MGS proceeded with the repairs under its facilities refurbishment plan, and Ng paid the contractor $410.40 a month later.

Without revealing details, the DPP said that the payment was later returned to him on Jan 9, 2025.

This was not the first case involving a UA that crashed near people.

A company was fined $18,000 in April after a drone it was operating crashed into a building in July 2024 while flying towards One-North Residences near North Buona Vista Road.

The device fell to the ground just 1m away from two residents and caught fire.

The company was convicted on April 1 of operating a drone in a manner that could endanger lives or property.

Shaffiq Alkhatib is The Straits Times’ court correspondent, covering mainly criminal cases heard at the State Courts.

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