Teenager’s ‘gun-firing drone’ investigated by U.S. aviation watchdog

A viral online video apparently showing a home-made drone firing a handgun in the US is being investigated by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The announcement came after the video had been watched more than two million times since being uploaded to YouTube on July 10. The 14-second video, called “Flying Gun”, shows a multi-rotor drone hovering off the ground, buzzing furiously and firing a semi-automatic handgun four times at an unseen target in the countryside. The device was reportedly created by 18-year-old Austin Haughwout, a university mechanical engineering student from Clinton, Connecticut.

People have been playing with RC [remote-controlled] toys for many decades.

Bret Haughwout, father of drone-maker Austin

“The FAA will investigate the operation of an unmanned aircraft system in a Connecticut park to determine if any Federal Aviation Regulations were violated,” the administration said in a statement. Haughwout said the FAA had not been in touch. “I don’t understand why people are making such a big deal of it." The FAA has a September deadline for a final set of rules to govern civilian drones in crowded US skies, but it is expected to miss it. The industry argues that strict regulation would mean the US will fall behind other countries in developing high-value drone technology.

The proper name for this is an RC quadcopter. The media keeps using the inappropriate word because it helps you to generate fear.

Haughwout’s father, Bret Haughwout

Technology flying gun