Man agrees to plead guilty for flying drone that grounded firefighting aircraft in LA wildfire

Peter Tripp Akemann, a 56-year-old from Culver City has agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge after his drone collided with a firefighting aircraft during the Palisades fire. The collision on Jan. 9 caused the firefighting aircraft to be grounded for several days.

Federal prosecutors said on Friday that Akemann will pay a fine, complete community service and could face up to a year in federal prison.

Akemann was charged with unsafe operation of an unmanned aircraft after his drone which authorities say was flying in restricted airspace on January 9, struck a Super Scooper. The collision caused a fist-sized hole in the plane’s wing and grounded it for about five days, while the drone was destroyed. The Super Scooper is a large fixed-wing aircraft that drops water on fast-moving fires.

“Lack of common sense and ignorance of your duty as a drone pilot will not shield you from criminal charges,” said Akil Davis, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office.

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Davis said there was no evidence Akemann intentionally caused the collision.

“However, flying drones in a restricted area could cause a catastrophe,” Davis said.

Officials say the plane was owned by the government of Quebec and that Akemann has agreed to pay restitution. He has also agreed to 150 hours of community service related to wildfire relief.

Akemann is scheduled to appear in court Friday afternoon.

The wind-driven blaze in the upscale Pacific Palisades began Jan. 7, destroying or damaging nearly 8,000 homes, businesses and other structures and killing at least 12 people.

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The conflagration fueled by dry Santa Ana winds has scorched at least 36 square miles (94 square kilometers) of land. It was 98% contained as of Friday.

Authorities say Akemann launched the drone from the top of a parking structure in Santa Monica on Jan. 9 and flew it more than 1.5 miles toward the Palisades Fire before losing site of it. It then crashed with the Super Scooper firefighting plane that was carrying two firefighters.

The crash caused a hole in the left wing of the aircraft.

Drone operations were prohibited in the area at the time due to the firefight.

The fire in the hilly Los Angeles neighborhood, home to Hollywood stars like Jamie Lee Curtis and Billy Crystal who lost houses in the fire, forced thousands of people from their homes, and knocked out power to tens of thousands.

Investigators are still trying to determine what caused the fires. Officials have placed the origin of blaze behind a home on Piedra Morada Drive, which sits above a densely wooded arroyo.

Another wind-whipped fire that started the same day in Altadena, a community about 35 miles (56 kilometers) east of Pacific Palisades, killed at least 17 people and destroyed or damaged more than 10,000 homes and other buildings.

The Santa Ana winds have turned seasonal wildfires into infernos that have leveled neighborhoods in and around Los Angeles, where there has been no significant rainfall in more than eight months.

Several Altadena residents who lost homes in the Eaton Fire told the AP they received no notifications about their neighborhoods. For others, the first warning was an urgent text message in the middle of the night.

On Tuesday, Los Angeles County officials approved an outside review of how alerts functioned in the Eaton Fire and Palisades Fire in response to residents’ demands. City officials declined to answer The Associated Press’ questions about a lag in some Palisades Fire alerts, though Fire Capt. Branden Silverman said responding to a fire and determining evacuation needs can take some time.

With inputs from agencies