Warnings about using drones around emergency services in the North East
It's illegal and brings serious consequences to anyone who's caught
Anyone in the North East and Teesside who's been gifted a drone for Christmas is being warned to not use it around emergency services.
It's illegal and brings serious consequences to anyone who's caught flying one over incidents and air fields.
Phil Lambert, chief pilot at the Great North Air Ambulance,which is based in Eaglescliffe, said: "We do get them but they're quite infrequent. If a drone does get into contact with the blades of an aircraft, it would cause some damage and at worst it'll cause catastrophic failure of the blades which would be a real danger to people in the immediate area and the crew.
"Clearly it's illegal to fly a drone in the vicinity of a helicopter or an airfield and it's actually also illegal to film the scene of an emergency, so my advice would be just don't fly a drone near an aircraft and if you hear one coming, then land your drone immediately to keep everyone safe.
"I've flown drones myself and it's really good fun. It's a great hobby to have and it can indeed progress to a career for some people. I think the message would be that the vast majority of people who fly drones do so safely and have great fun with them."