Drone Pilot To Plead Guilty In Collision That Grounded Aircraft Fighting Palisades Fire (latimes.com) 29
Earlier this month, a civilian drone collided with a Canadian CL-415 firefighting plane combating the Palisades Fire, causing damage that grounded the aircraft and temporarily halted all aerial firefighting operations. Federal and state officials have since identified the operator of that drone as Peter Tripp Akemann of Culver City, who has agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor, pay a fine and complete community service. Prosecutors said he could still face up to a year in federal prison. The Los Angeles Times reports: The drone, which authorities say was flying in restricted airspace on Jan. 9, put a fist-sized hole in the left wing of a Super Scooper -- a massive fixed-wing plane that can drop large amounts of water onto a fire. The collision knocked the plane out of commission for about five days and destroyed the drone.
"Like a lot of individuals, he was curious about what was happening in that area," acting U.S. Atty. Joseph T. McNally said on Friday. "The problem with that... is with the amount of firefighting planes you have in that area dropping so they can get water in the Pacific Ocean it interferes with those operations. It's not the time to fly drones anytime that we have these emergencies in Southern California."
As part of the plea agreement, Akemann agreed to pay full restitution to the government of Quebec, Canada, which supplied the plane, and the company that repaired the plane. It cost at least $65,169 to fix the aircraft, prosecutors said. Akemann also agreed to complete 150 hours of community service in support of wildfire relief efforts.
"Like a lot of individuals, he was curious about what was happening in that area," acting U.S. Atty. Joseph T. McNally said on Friday. "The problem with that... is with the amount of firefighting planes you have in that area dropping so they can get water in the Pacific Ocean it interferes with those operations. It's not the time to fly drones anytime that we have these emergencies in Southern California."
As part of the plea agreement, Akemann agreed to pay full restitution to the government of Quebec, Canada, which supplied the plane, and the company that repaired the plane. It cost at least $65,169 to fix the aircraft, prosecutors said. Akemann also agreed to complete 150 hours of community service in support of wildfire relief efforts.
Re:OMG! (Score:5, Funny)
If everyone did that there would be no tiktok videos.
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So there are two upsides!
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How the fuck do you think those TikTok videos are made?
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From authorized Cal Fire flights?
Better than the alternative (Score:2)
Akemann also agreed to complete 150 hours of community service in support of wildfire relief efforts.
At least he'll be working outside rather than sitting a classroom for all those hours listening to someone ... what's the word for it - go? ... on-and-on about things. :-)
Not just any drone operator... (Score:5, Informative)
Not just ANY drone operator: Game developer (Dr.) Peter Akemann
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming... [pcgamer.com]
https://www.sfgate.com/califor... [sfgate.com]
https://www.hollywoodreporter.... [hollywoodreporter.com]
Maybe he was practicing for the next Call of Duty
In any case: I expect he can afford the $65,169 to fix the aircraft.
Was he live-streaming? (Score:3, Informative)
"According to the plea agreement, while the wildfire was burning in and around Pacific Palisades on January 9, Akemann drove to the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica and parked his vehicle on the top floor of the parking structure. He then launched a drone and flew it towards Pacific Palisades to observe damage caused by the Palisades Fire.
Akemann flew the drone at least 2,500 meters (more than 1.5 miles) toward the fire and lost sight of the drone. As Akemann was flying the drone, it collided with a Government of Quebec Super Scooper carrying two crewmembers attempting to fight the blaze. The impact caused an approximately 3-inch-by-6-inch hole in the left wing. After landing, maintenance personnel identified the damage and took the aircraft out of service for repairs.
At the time of the collision, the Federal Aviation Administration had issued temporary flight restrictions that prohibited drone operations near the Los Angeles County wildfires that erupted earlier this month."
https://www.justice.gov/usao-c... [justice.gov]
Drone operator reportedly founder of game company. (Score:3, Informative)
"As firefighters struggled to contain the devastating Palisades Fire in Los Angeles in early January, someone wanted a bird's eye view, and ended up hitting a Super Scooper firefighting aircraft with their remote-controlled drone. That person has now been identified as Peter Akemann—and both SF Gate and The Hollywood Reporter have identified him as the same Peter Akemann who co-founded Treyarch, the game developer best known as the every-other-year Call of Duty studio (or every few years, these days).
"Akemann co-founded Treyarch back in the '90s, and the studio was purchased by Activision in 2001. He later co-founded The Workshop, which supported development of Gears of War 4, XCOM 2, and other games. That studio became Skydance Interactive after an acquisition by Skydance Media, and Akemann served as president of the division for a time."
https://yro.slashdot.org/story... [slashdot.org]
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
So he wasn't just some fucking bumpkin; he should have known better.
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What I really want to know: (Score:1)
What the hell was this drone made of that it could put a "fist-sized" hole in a jet wing at what I assume was a comparatively slow, low-altitude cruising-speed collision.
Re:What I really want to know: (Score:5, Informative)
Super scoopers are designed to get to and from fires pretty fast. They cruise at 180 knots.
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The skin of large aircraft is horrifyingly thin. There's a cross section of an airliner fuselage that you can check out in the Boeing factory tour in Mukilteo (near Seattle). While the leading edge of the wings would be reinforced against something like a bird strike a metal framed drone would be another matter entirely.
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The plane in question was not a jet, it's a two-engine turboprop.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
The skin of the wings is not designed to take impacts.
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The skin of the wings is not designed to take impacts.
Bits of this aircraft [flickr.com] are. You can even see the impact locations.
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Your link does not relate to the plane that was damaged by the drone in this story. According to the post you linked, the photo was taken in 2014. It's not even the same type of aircraft. The Wikipedia link I posted https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org], shows the type of aircraft that is the subject of this story.
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"A turboprop is a jet engine."
A turboprop is a TURBINE ENGINE that drives a PROPELLER for thrust.
A turbojet is a TURBINE ENGINE that drives a JET for thrust.
Re:What I really want to know: (Score:5, Informative)
What the hell was this drone made of that it could put a "fist-sized" hole in a jet wing at what I assume was a comparatively slow, low-altitude cruising-speed collision.
You have a strange view of aeronautical engineering. These aren't tanks we're talking about, these are flying things designed for minimum weight and airflow control. I remind you a small piece of ice destroyed a space shuttle.
I remind you that force is mass x acceleration. A typical small hammer impacts at 10m/s and weighs about twice as much as a small video drone. That is 1/10th of the speed of the plane in question (which already is very low - the plane is designed to fly slower than other planes) meaning the force exerted on the plane is larger than what you would do if you start hitting it with a hammer (something that would absolutely make a hole in a plane wing if you tried it).
STUPID acting USAtty (Score:1)
> acting U.S. Atty. Joseph T. McNally said on Friday. "The problem with that... is with the amount of firefighting planes you have in that area dropping so they can get water in the Pacific Ocean it interferes with those operations. It's not the time to fly drones anytime that we have these emergencies in Southern California."
Nothing about "Don't fly in a TFR" or "Don't fly in restricted space", just a pussy "I'ts not the time to fly..." message.
Get this "acting" bozo gone and put someone who can talk th
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
OH THAT WILL DISCOURAGE EVERYONE ELSE including media and facebook and tiktok influencers FROM EVER TRYING THAT AGAIN.
Anyone with property lost after the loss of the air fire support can attempt to sue Mr. Akemann for their loss (and while some individuals may, insurance companies love to sue anyone, so I expect a few to do so). Some of the litigation may succeed, and put Mr. Akemann in long term servitude to pay for his contributions to their losses.
Re: STUPID acting USAtty (Score:2)
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"deeply sorry for the mistake he made," --- NOT A MISTAKE... a purposeful decision to endanger other poeple's property and lives by flying his drone in an area where it has been deemed too dangerous to do so.
As a very active member of the drone community and an international advocate for *reasonable* regulation, I believe this guy should have got a custodial sentence. Many of the regulations controlling recreational drone flyers are excessively restrictive but no rules have any effect unless they are enfo
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Ackermann put the judge in a difficult spot. He's way too rich to throw the book at him, but not quite rich enough to be diagnosed with affluenza. So this was a sort of middle of the road approach. I guess the anonymous guy in Philly wasn't rich enough to get a break.
This is how you thank us? (Score:3)
We send helis to put out your fires and you thank us with tariffs.
Fuck you guys.