Droneland: where hobbyists rule the skies

Formerly just deadly military devices, now anyone can buy and fly a drone - but mastering one is another matter altogether

Drones have a bad reputation. The first we heard of them, they were flying unmanned missions to kill not necessarily the right targets in the name of freedom. Next, they were going to replace Amazon delivery drivers, severing permanently the company's relationship with human beings.

This week, Nigel Wilson, 42, was fined 1,800 for flying a drone dangerously close to sports grounds and Buckingham Palace . It also emerged that drones were being used to fly contraband drugs into prisons. ("It's complicated," a prison governor tells me off the record. "The drugs are often legal. And the drones are legal. The only illegal thing they've done is fly over a prison.")