A pair of drone enthusiasts could find themselves landing in hot water after video was uploaded of a man dangling a fishing line above a reservoir while dangling himself from a rope attached to a drone purpose-built to carry a person.

Australia's aviation regulator, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, is investigating whether the use of the drone at the Upper Coliban Reservoir in central Victoria by cousins Tim French and Sam Foreman — and their unidentified pilot — breached safety regulations.

Mr Foreman, a carpenter from Kyneton who also considers himself a bit of a stuntman, said the project was the brainchild of his electrician cousin but he helped put it together – before playing the crucial role of test dummy on August 17 when the video was shot in front of a few dozen friends and family.

"It was a very crazy experience and we put a lot planning into it, a lot of time. We did lots of tests out in a paddock at the start. We couldn't test it with a person because we didn't want to take it out in public until it was actually ready to lift a person up," Mr Foreman said.