A 56 -year -old Californian man declared himself guilty of operating the drone that crashed into a Quebec water bomber plane that fights the Palisades fire in Los Angeles earlier this month.
Peter Tripp Akemann, who is Culver City, appeared in a room of the Los Angeles court on Friday, where federal prosecutors of the United States accused him of an unsafe charge of an unscrewing operation of an unmanned plane.
The minor crime has a prison sentence of up to one year in a federal prison.
The CL-415 plane was based after the small distance controlled plane flew towards him on January 9, leaving a “considerable hole in his wing”, Christopher Thomas, a spokesman for the Firigüenzas agency of the state of California, California Fire, in time.
“Fortunately, they landed the plane without incident,” said Thomas.
The incident knocked all the planes that fought against the fire for almost half an hour that day, while the officials made sure the skies were clear, he said.
“This is very angry. It’s extremely irresponsible and people could have been killed,” he said.
In the Court on Friday, Akemann declared himself guilty of a guilt declaration agreement, which also saw him accept to pay the total restitution to the Quebec government and the company that repaired the plane. Total costs are estimated at $ 65,169 in the United States.
Akemann will also have to complete 150 hours of community service in support of the relief effort of forest fires in southern California.
“The lack of common sense and ignorance of his duty as a drone pilot will not protect him from criminal charges,” said Akil Davis, deputy director in charge of the FBI Los Angeles field office.
According to a press release from the United States Prosecutor’s Office for the Central District of California, Akemann was flying the drone to observe the damage caused by the Palisades fire, although it is not clear what his motivation was to do so.
Akemann had led to the last floor of a parking lot in Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, where he launched the drone and flew it about two and a half kilometers to Pacific Palisades.
He lost sight of the drone and collided with the Quebec Cl-415 plane that transported two crew members who work to fight fire. The impact caused a hole in the left wing that measured about seven centimeters in 14 centimeters.