Man pleads guilty after his drone punches hole in water bomber's wing in California fires

[thewayne]

On January 9th, a Canadian water bomber fighting the Los Angeles-area fires was damaged when it collided with a private drone. Such drone flights in wildfire areas are strictly prohibited. The water bomber was out of service for a few days while the wing was repaired. Officials vowed to track down the owner of said drone.

And they did!

In addition to the water bomber being taken out of service, all air operations were suspended temporarily.

Today, the owner plead guilty to charges related to the incident, mainly operating the drone in a restricted air space. He'll probably have to pay for repairs to the airplane, to the tune of some $65,000, and probably have a suspended sentence.

And the inevitable question: why the hell was he doing this? He wanted to see what was happening. As if the news crews were not reporting on it?

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/02/03/peter-akemann-drone-hit-firefighting-airplane/78176281007/

Comments

[disneydream06]

I think he needs to be slapped with more than that bill. :o :o :o
Hugs, Jon

[thewayne]

He was also hit with 150 hours of community service related to the fire, which will take a heck of a hit from his free time. And he may yet face other charges. Plus, I wouldn't want to be hit with a $65,000 bill that your insurance isn't going to help you with!

[disneydream06]

Long may he suffer. :)

[silveradept]

Sure, news crews are reporting, but in this environment, everyone wants to believe that there's something secret going on that the news doesn't report. Especially when they do things like close off the airspace so the firefighting doesn't have to content with anything else.

[thewayne]

Good point.  There's always a government cover-up!