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A wildlife documentary filmmaker told an inquest she feared for a cameraman’s safety after she saw him filming a Facebook Live broadcast with a handheld camera shortly before he was involved in a paramotor collision with colleague Sacha Dench.
Dan Burton, 54, died in September 2021 while working with Ms. Dench on a documentary about climate change when a paramotor flown by Ms. Dench, known as the “human swan,” collided with a paramotor flown by Ms. Dench, known as the “human swan.”
Climate activist Ms Dench has previously been praised for similar expeditions, which were recounted in the BBC documentary Flight of the Swan.
Ms Dench survived the accident but was seriously injured while attempting a 3,000-mile paramotor challenge around the UK to highlight climate change ahead of the Cop26 conference.
The hearing into the fatal crash, which occurred near Lake Nagemhitch in Sutherland, is being investigated at Tyne Magistrates’ Court and took place virtually on Friday.
Amber Eames, who directed and produced “Swan Flight” in 2016-17, told the inquest that “flying and filming is not something that one person really does” and that she implemented protocols on previous projects to reduce risk.
She was not involved in the 2021 Tour of Britain attempt but watched Mr Burton’s Facebook live broadcast, whom she described as a friend and colleague.
Finance representative Jemma Eadie played 53 seconds of Facebook Live to the inquest. It shows shaky footage of the terrain and coastline, then rotates to show the pilot’s knee.
Ms Eames confirmed this was what she saw as footage described as “hand-held”.
She told the inquest the protocol for dividing tasks was “good practice” learned during safety courses and avoided “task burdening” – distracting those in dangerous situations such as pilots or divers by adding extra responsibilities.
Ms Eames said she had worked in some 40 countries and organized training sessions for the 15-member crew before filming “Swan Flight”. She said the documentary relied on fixed cameras mounted on paramotors, drones operated by different pilots and other crew members on the ground and in light aircraft.
She said she became concerned when she saw the Facebook Live video at around 4pm on September 18, 2021, and later discovered that Mr Burton, from Devon, had died.
Ms Eames said: “I was worried because the camera was unstable and I could see the person filming it was in the air.
“I was a little worried, especially because Dan Burton is a great photographer… and he’s always keen to do more shoots.
“We had extensive discussions about limiting the flying in the shoot, and I took other approaches to capturing the pilot so that Dan could fulfill his primary role as support pilot.
“When I saw the live broadcast and when my friend arrived I commented to her that I was worried because the footage wasn’t steady and I was worried. I didn’t hear about the accident until the next day. There was nothing in the video to show any accident.
“I’m just worried about the footage not being steady, and I’m worried about multitasking.”
Ms Eames also told the inquiry she had a “difference” with Ms Dench over the use of selfie sticks during the filming of Flight of the Swan, but admitted the environmentalist was “well qualified to say what she was happy to do”.
Ms Eames said: “My protocol is to take the pilots away from filming so they can focus on flying and we can take the pressure off the ground and in the air. Any filming using selfie sticks is at their own discretion.”
She also said that a Russian photographer resigned due to safety concerns while filming “Flight of the Swan”.
She told the inquest she had asked for a ground manager to be appointed for the expedition.
Witness Peter Cranswick, the project manager for Flight of the Swan, was later questioned by Simon Richards, who was representing Ms Dench.
Mr Cranswick said: “We always wanted a couple of pilots because when Sasha landed she had to do interviews and focus on protecting the story and Dan was there specifically to take photos and film.
“The premise of this expedition was to capture and communicate what we do socially and put it on film. I’ve seen a lot of video of pilots shooting in the air. We knew Dan was a pioneer in filming.”
Under cross-examination by Peter Anderson, representing the British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association insurance company, he said: “There is no point in talking to Amber or anyone else about ‘shooting in the air is something we need to worry about’.”
“There’s nothing that says ‘this is what we’re going to do to push the boundaries’, or ‘I know people do this, but we need to be careful’.”
“I believe Amber didn’t tell me that was the case. If it was something she was concerned about, she would have been checking in on me on a regular basis. We didn’t have a conversation about her concerns about the pilot filming and she put Dan in the air filming on her schedule.
“No questions were raised about any aspect and no concerns were raised about any aspect of the pilot’s filming.”
He added: “The health and safety issue with filming is not to let the filming create a distraction that takes your mind off the main activity you are doing.”
The investigation continues.