The whole drone community stood together this week in anger as Andy Sage, head of UTM at NATS could well have set his career on a rapid downward spiral
During a parliamentary inquiry into commercial and recreational drone use, he categorised drone users as either "careless, clueless or criminal"
As the words slipped from his mouth he was watched in amazement
We caught up with Andy at a conference in London shortly after the event and confronted him. We asked for a statement for Drone User Magazine
"I have issued an apology on my blog," he said, "and I don't really want to add to that...... I will say though that those are not my views, nor the views of NATS ..... I admit, I was very lazy with my words," he added
In his defense, I think it was a genuine, heartfelt apology and I doubt he actually said it on purpose, however, holding the position that he does, it shouldn't have happened. He should have been far more careful with his words
Some drone users are calling for his resignation and others think he should re-sit the inquiry and make it clear to the panel that he slipped up
All this comes at a time when drone users are being attacked from every angle and it's a thin line. The breaking point is coming ever closer when drone users will start to take action of their own
NATS is known to work closely and well with drone users so one has to ask, is Andy Sage the right person to be speaking about drone users at all?