‘Drone attack’ video catches fire online

RUNAWAY SUCCESS: Stunt by Ottawa-area daredevils gains more than 800,000 YouTube views

OTTAWA — Three daredevils from a rural neighbourhood northwest of Ottawa have put a new twist on the old roman candle party prank by mounting fireworks on a drone that chases two of the men across a frozen lake, firing its flaming volleys at them.

“We play with fireworks a bit,” said Andy Stewart, who was the man at the controls of the drone.

Filmed with a GoPro camera, Stewart tossed the video up on his YouTube channel where it now has more than 800,000 views and is making its way around the Internet.

Stewart, 31, was taking his shots at his brother, Jason, 30, and buddy Matt Trueman, 32.

“They were down for it, we mess around with fireworks all the time, roman candle fights and stuff like that, so we’re not opposed to being shot at by roman candles,” Stewart said.

The “don’t-try-this-at-home” stunt filmed at Constance Bay was fun, he said, especially since he wasn’t the one being shot at.

They got the idea from a different video, and filmed it in March, using 10-ball or 12-ball roman candles. The two targets are wearing shorts in the snow, “just for comedic factor,” said Stewart.

The clip, which runs about 90 seconds, shows one of the targets lighting fireworks on the drone before rushing out onto the snowy surface of the bay , the drone in hot pursuit. It looks like an old-style first-person shooter, as the roman candles attached to the drone can be seen moving up and down, taking aim as flaming material is fired at the two runners. “We used duct tape,” said Stewart, explaining how they got the roman candles onto the drone.

The drone is a DJI Phantom 2 Quadcopter and is the second drone Stewart has owned — the first one ended up in the water. (In addition to shooting fireworks, the men use the drone in more conventional ways, filming their various activities).

Stewart, who works in financing in the automotive industry, has been doing stunts for years. “I just enjoy videotaping all of our shenanigans,” he said.

— YOUTUBE Jason Stewart and Matt Trueman flee from a drone firing roman candles at them from the air. Filmed using a GoPro camera, the daredevils’ video is making its way around the Internet.