It’s a frightening moment to watch and a sober reminder of the danger of drones.

On Tuesday evening at an Alpine Ski World Cup event in Italy, a large drone carrying a TV camera crashed into the snow a fraction of a second after Austrian skier Marcel Hirscher had passed the point of impact.

Had it fallen on the skier or directly in front of him, he would almost certainly have sustained major injuries.

The drone was identified by the FIS, skiing’s governing world body, as being operated by Infront Sports & Media, a Swiss company that was providing TV coverage of the event for the world’s broadcasters. The drone was doing aerial coverage of the competition and came from an outside company that hired a human operator.

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