Australian man investigated after fishing while dangling from drone

Stone the flamin' crows. Photo / Supplied

Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority has launched an investigation after footage was posted on social media showing a man fishing from a chair lifted by a drone.

The video, shot at a reservoir in Victoria, shows the VB-swigging man hovering above the water before catching a fish and returning to shore.

CASA spokesman Peter Gibson told the ABC that the stunt posed serious safety risks.

"It's really not a sensible thing to do in any way, shape or form...someone could have been seriously injured."

Tim French, the electrician who helped to design and build the drone has reportedly refused to comment.

Drone expert Ross Anderson told the ABC: "For the person on the chair, the risk could be computer errors where the aircraft flies away, could be motor failures where the aircraft ends up in an uncontrollable state.

"Best-case scenario is the battery sets die and it plonks straight into the water."

Drone regulations in NZ are set by our Civil Aviation Authority and tightly govern the use of the popular devices.

All drone operators have to comply with rules, including that drones are only to be flown in daylight, to not fly higher than 120m, not come within 4km of aerospaces and to get clearance when heading into controlled air spaces.

However, despite the fact that the CAA was getting reports of more than one unauthorised drone operating per week over recent times, there have been next to no prosecutions.

Last year, Air New Zealand demanded tougher rules for drone operators after a near-miss at Auckland Airport involving a flight with 278 people on board.

As of early last year, there had been a total of 696 complaints against Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) since March 2013, but only 27 of those have resulted in enforcement action.

Of the 27 complaints where action was taken, 11 resulted in warning letters, 15 in infringement notices and one person was prosecuted. 669 resulted in no enforcement action taken.