Agree Squeamish. It was an accident. They happen and lessons are learned. No one was hurt.
Apparently you're giving the hobby a bad name. : )
Unbelievable.
SD
All that being said, 'just an accident" is a poor rationale or justification for what really amounts to bad judgement, lack of experience or plain stupidity for ones actions. Not saying the OP displayed any of these traits, but flying at night, just above tree top level is questionable in my mind. He clearly recognizes he is responsible for the damage to his AC. Would he be as quick to accept fault if someone were injured or killed due to his actions?
What if his ejected battery struck a roof, burst into flames when damaged and caused a house fire? Entirely plausible.
Any incident that becomes public knowledge is damaging to our hobby. Any. The media, especially local news, preys on hype and public fear, all in an effort to increase viewer market share.
I work as a firefighter/EMT in Seattle. We recently had a drone related incident that was clearly preventable, the media quickly jumped on the incident. It made the national news.
A new phantom "pilot" decided he wanted to video a parade in downtown Seatlle. It crashed into the side of a high rise building, fell from the sky and struck a bystander on the sidewalk from a height of about 150 feet.
The pilot got too close to the building, a wind gust blew it into the building and idown came the drone. Witnesses reported to the police that the pilot had been flying erratically, probably lacking experience, ability IMO. He fled the scene.
Drone flying over Seattle parade crashes, strikes woman
The media did not know the entire story, only that the victim was injured. Actually "injured" was an understatement, suffering a skull fracture, inner cranial swelling that lead to multiple seizures, brain damage.
Another negative drone story became hyped by the media.
The operator later came forward, was charged by the City attorney and could face 364 days in jail if found guilty.
Drone operator charged with knocking out woman at Pride Parade
I hope he goes to jail if he's convicted, despite my knowing the media will have a field day.
My community recently banned RC aircraft in a large park that has a huge field that has been used by RC AC for many years. Despite no known incidents ever of anyone being hurt, the City council's actions to ban RC AC were motivated by "many concerned citizens contacting their elected officials, worried over their safety". This happened within weeks of this incident. Old men that have been flying RC AC in this park no longer are able to do so. It's truly sad and disheartening.
I frequently see people hurt by others, sometimes critically. Very rarely was it done intentionally. "accidental" does not make the patient or the family of the patient pain/injuries less severe, less life altering. We went on a call where a 16 y/o girl.talking on her cell phone made a right turn on red at an intersection that is clearly marked "no right turn on red". She didn't comply with the sign, most likely due to being distracted by her illegal cell phone call use while driving. She didn't see the mother and three year old in the crosswalk, struck both and dragged the 3 y/o 100 feet under her car. We had to lift the car up to get the child out. Thankfully the child died, having suffering multiple disfiguring injuries/burns from the catalytic converter. The FFs that responded to this call were also victims of this events, traumatized deeply by the stupidity of thie driver and the screams of agony from both the mother and the dying child. Dumb. Preventable. Accident.
Accidents can have long term effects on many. Unfortunately many don't think before they act and others suffer a lifetime afterwards.
Sorry for the rant, but many dumb events by drone pilots have lead to our recent FAA regulations and multiple communities banning drone flights.