A drone enthusiast was using his device to capture aerial pictures of an ancient cathedral, reportedly in the Netherlands, when the battery of his remote controlled aircraft fell below its required charge.

At this point, the owner lost control and the drone went onto auto pilot and attempted to fly itself back to earth.

As the camera continued to roll, the drone crashed straight into the steeple.

The video currently has over 10,000 views on youtube.

Anthony Ter Host, the owner of the DJI Phantom 3 Advance, described the event on Youtube:

"Trying to film the church, but lost signal and Return to Home was activated. It tried to fly back to the Home Point, but there was something in the way and crashed."

Its camera caught images of the town as it circled around the steeple of the cathedral before apparently making a bee-line for it, ending seconds before the device smashes into the brick tower.

Ter Host is not alone in having crashed his remote-controlled device.

In February this year, a man was arrested after he crashed his drone into the Empire State Building in New York.

There is an entire website dedicated to reporting domestic drone-related accidents in America, which has a live-feed of newly-reported accidents.