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APSPT

A drone crash during a US Open match has tennis officials thinking about whether they can do more to safeguard the sprawling National Tennis Centre from such hazards, a spokesman said.
“Obviously, it’s something we are looking at” after an unmanned aircraft plummeted into empty seats and caused a scare during a women’s singles match on Thursday night, US Tennis Association spokesman Chris Widmaier said.
WATCH: Report on moment drone flew over tennis court before crashing into empty stands

A high school science teacher who had been flying the drone from a park outside the tennis venue was arrested on Friday on reckless endangerment and other charges, police said.
While drones have come too close for comfort to other sporting events, Widmaier said they hadn’t been an issue before at the Open, which bans patrons and broadcasters from using them.
A little bit scary, I have to say. With everything going on in the world ... I thought, ‘OK, it’s over'
Flavia Pennetta
But security officials have had drones on their list of concerns as they work to protect the 46.5-acre complex, which includes three stadiums and numerous other courts in the city’s Flushing Meadows Corona Park near LaGuardia Airport.
Drone pilots generally must get clearance to fly within 8kms of a sizeable airport.
The US Federal Aviation Administration put drone and model-plane enthusiasts on notice in October that it’s illegal to fly the aircraft near Major League Baseball, NFL and NCAA Division I college football games and major motor races.
The move came months after police detained people for using small drones at Carolina Panthers and University of Texas football games. In June, police questioned a man flying a drone near a gate at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia during a Colorado Rockies-Philadelphia Phillies game.
It’s unclear what steps the tennis centre might take, Widmaier said.
The drone buzzed diagonally over the court in the 10,000-seat Louis Armstrong Stadium before crashing into the seats and breaking into pieces as 26th-seeded Flavia Pennetta, of Italy, played Monica Niculescu, of Romania. No one was injured.
“A little bit scary, I have to say,” said Pennetta, who thought the drone might have been a bomb when she heard it fly by. “With everything going on in the world ... I thought, ‘OK, it’s over.”’
The match was briefly interrupted between points while police and fire department personnel went to look at the broken drone. Pennetta ultimately won, 6-1, 6-4.
Drone pilot Daniel Verley turned himself in. He was released with an appearance ticket for a September 16 court date.
The New York Police Department said security at the US Open was already tight before the drone episode and would remain so.


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US Open tennis 2015

'I thought it was a bomb': Drone crash at US Open sparks tennis centre security review

Flavia Pennetta thought the crashed drone might have carried a bomb. Photo: AP

A police officer stands guard over the crashed drone. Photo: AP

Sport