A production drone crashed during a planned aerial stunt at the RLCS 2026 Paris Major, ending what should have been one of the broadcast’s flashier camera moments with a hard smack into a ring.
The shot was an ambitious one. The drone was set to weave through a series of suspended rings, a clear nod to Rocket League‘s aerial mechanics and the community’s beloved ring training maps. It cleared a larger tunnel ring without issue before lining up for a tighter one.
That’s where things fell apart. The drone seemed to hesitate near the smaller ring, jerk slightly as if correcting its line, and then clipped the structure instead of passing through.
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The maneuver had all the hallmarks of FPV flying, a fully manual style where a pilot wears goggles and controls the drone in real time from its onboard camera. FPV is what makes those fast, cinematic fly-through shots possible at concerts and sports broadcasts, but it’s also notoriously hard, especially indoors where GPS is unreliable and there’s zero margin for error around tight obstacles.
Small course corrections visible in the footage point toward a human pilot rather than a pre-programmed route, though the production team hasn’t officially confirmed the setup.
No injuries, damage reports, or broadcast delays have been mentioned by event organizers. FPV drones are generally built to survive crashes, so the unit may be back in the air after some new props and minor repairs.
The stunt itself was reportedly performed cleanly multiple times during the event before this attempt went sideways, making it less of a doomed idea and more of a single unlucky run on a high-difficulty shot.
