Drone pilot going to jail

wco81 · Oct 3, 2025

anotherlab said:
More important than the 2 weeks of jail time, the pilot will pay about $156k in restitution and fines.

The guy is apparently rich, supposedly was involved in the creation of Call of Duty game.

He flew a Mini 3 and it caused wing damage and the "super scooper" plane is still out of commission.

MS Coast · Oct 3, 2025

wco81 said:
He flew a Mini 3 and it caused wing damage and the "super scooper" plane is still out of commission.

Not still out of commission. C-GQBE was flown as recently as Wednesday.

Source:

C-GQBE Flight Tracking and History - FlightAware

Track C-GQBE flight from Millinocket, ME to Millinocket, ME

www.flightaware.com

Skyryder · Oct 7, 2025

The one thing this all highlights though is the sub 249g drones are not any more safer than the ones a little larger than that. Part of the whole arrangement about small drones like that was about how safe they would be even if in an accident.

dmiles119 · Oct 26, 2025

Skyryder said:
The one thing this all highlights though is the sub 249g drones are not any more safer than the ones a little larger than that. Part of the whole arrangement about small drones like that was about how safe they would be even if in an accident.

Kind of highlights the silliness of that 249g line in the sand, and all the angst over the mini 5 being one or two tenths of a gram over. Life is short people, let it be.

JAW · Oct 26, 2025

18 U.S. Code § 39B - Unsafe operation of unmanned aircraft

(a)Offense.—Any person who operates an unmanned aircraft and:
(1)

(2) Recklessly interferes with, or disrupts the operation of, an aircraft carrying 1 or more occupants operating in the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States, in a manner that poses an imminent safety hazard to such occupants, shall be punished as provided in subsection (c).

(c)Penalty.—
(1)In general.—
Except as provided in paragraph (2), the punishment for an offense under subsections [1] (a) or (b) shall be a fine under this title, imprisonment for not more than 1 year, or both.

It's a misdemeanor.