Culver City man pleads guilty to drone crash into Super Scooper during Palisades Fire
A Culver City man pleaded guilty Wednesday to recklessly operating a drone that crashed into and damaged a Super Scooper firefighting aircraft battling the Palisades Fire last month.
Peter Tripp Akemann, 56, entered his plea to a federal class-A misdemeanor count of unsafe operation of an unmanned aircraft, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
"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.
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.
The drone collided into a Canadair CL-415 Super Scooper the Government of Quebec had supplied to Los Angeles firefighters, which was carrying two crewmembers when it was struck on Jan. 9, authorities said. No one was injured but the crash left a hole in the left wing of the aircraft, putting it out of service for "approximately" five days as it was repaired for just over $65,000.
As part of his plea agreement, Akemann agreed to pay full restitution to the government of Quebec, which supplied the plane, and an aircraft repair company that handled the necessary fixes.
Akemann also agreed to complete 150 hours of community service in support of the 2025 Southern California wildfire relief effort.
"Please respect the law, respect the FAA's rules and respect our firefighters and the residents they are protecting by keeping your drone at home during wildfires," Davis said.
In his plea agreement, Akemann admitted to his reckless and illegal conduct in flying the drone that posed an imminent safety hazard to the Super Scooper crew.
According to the plea agreement, while the wildfire was burning on Jan. 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 toward Pacific Palisades to get a look at Palisades Fire damage.
Federal prosecutors say Akemann flew the drone more than 1.5 miles toward the fire and lost sight of the remotely piloted unit.
The impact of the drone crash caused a roughly 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, court papers show.
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