In recent years, mainland China has widely adopted unmanned drones in agricultural production, but improper operation has resulted in fatal accidents. A recent judgment published on the China Judgments Online website reveals a case where a farm drone operator in Qiyang City, Yongzhou, Hunan Province failed to observe the surroundings when landing the drone, causing the propeller to strike a pedestrian’s head, leading to their death. The operator was sentenced for involuntary manslaughter.
The defendant, named Liu Peng, is a professionally trained and certified agricultural drone operator. On June 26, 2025, he was invited by a local farmer to spray pesticides in a rice field in Babao Town, Qiyang City.
According to the court ruling, Liu Peng did not set up safety warning lines as required when starting the operation. He also failed to assign a professional safety officer to evacuate people nearby, only asking the farmer to “check” if there were any passing vehicles or pedestrians.
About an hour into the operation, without reconfirming the road conditions or carefully observing the safety of the landing spot, Liu Peng prepared to land the drone on the road next to the farmland.
At that moment, a motorcycle happened to pass by, and the high-speed rotating propeller of the drone struck the head of a passenger named Huang, causing severe head injuries and profuse bleeding as Huang was not wearing a safety helmet.
Upon witnessing the incident, Liu Peng called the emergency center to have the injured person taken to the hospital. However, a few days later, Huang passed away due to severe cranial brain damage and massive bleeding, despite the rescue efforts.
The next day after the incident, Liu Peng surrendered himself to the authorities. Afterwards, he compensated the victim’s family a total of 630,000 RMB and obtained their forgiveness.
Liu Peng’s actions constituted involuntary manslaughter. He was ultimately sentenced to one year and six months in prison, with a two-year probation period.