Drone's-eye view: The train stopped after the driver spotted the drone lying on the tracks.

This guy was lucky to get his quadcopter back. Key sentence: "Mr Prescott, who was in Sydney as part of the support crew for US singer Rihanna's Australia tour, says he was testing new equipment on his drone when he lost control of it. He says he never intended for it to fly into the bridge."

From the Sydney Morning Herald. 

Extraordinary video has emerged of a quadrocopter crashing into the Sydney Harbour Bridge last month.

The drone was launched by British man Edward Prescott. When the vehicle collided with a bridge girder and landed on the train line, it sparked an investigation by police and air safety authorities.

An edited version of the video uploaded to YouTube by Mr Prescott shows that the drone's camera was rolling the entire time it flew through and then into the Harbour Bridge, landed on a railway line, was picked up by Sydney Trains crew, placed in the train and taken back to their office.

The reaction and comments of the rail staff are all recorded.

 

On-screen text says the flying machine went out of control because the camera mounting failed, but the drone tried to return to its starting point using GPS.

After it crashes on to the rail line on the western side of the bridge a train is seen pulling up.

Two rail workers are captured by the drone's camera.

The driver picks up the quadrocopter and reports on his radio: "It's an odd looking plane, it's got a red light flashing, I don't know whether it's a bomb or not."

Pulling up at a train station, he then hands it to a bemused Sydney Trains worker on the platform.

"That's a first... a model aeroplane that crashed on the bridge," he tells her.

"It was in the road of the train so I jumped down and grabbed it."

After a brief stay on a platform office desk, the drone is given to another Sydney Trains worker who takes it to another office.

"It's got one camera lens. And it's flashing, like it's red now," the worker says, peering straight into the camera's lens.

He's then seen taking photos of the drone while his curious colleagues look on.

Mr Prescott, who was in Sydney as part of the support crew for US singer Rihanna's Australia tour, says he was testing new equipment on his drone when he lost control of it. He says he never intended for it to fly into the bridge.

Thinking his drone was lost to the harbour, it was not until he read about a "mystery drone" in the news that he realised what had happened.

"Imagine my surprise when the results of the internet search came back with a plethora of media sites from around the world carrying a story about a 'mystery drone', counter-terrorism investigation and a police hunt for the owner.

"Needless to say I contacted the aviation authorities and Sydney police immediately," he says.

A spokesman for NSW Police said the matter was investigated and deemed not suspicious.

He said that the police team managing the International Fleet Review, which started the next day and which included counter terrorism officers, were notified but that it was handled by police transport command.

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority completed a review of the incident but has yet to decide what action, if any, to take.

At the video's end, Mr Prescott writes in the credits:

"Special thanks to a level-headed NSW Police for returning my property.

"Peculiar how things turn out..."