Peter T. Akemann, the co-founder of the Treyarch video game studio, has pleaded guilty to recklessly flying a drone during the California wildfire. According to his own admission, the video game exec launched a DJI drone during the fires last month and it crashed into a firefighting plane. He’ll pay $65,169 to repair the plane and do 150 hours of community service related to wildfire relief.
Akemann is a 56-year-old gaming veteran with a long history in the industry. Treyarch, the studio he co-founded, is responsible for the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater franchise and the Black Ops run of Call of Duty games.
On January 9, as wildfires raged across California, Akemann drove to the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, California. He went to the top floor of a parking lot there and launched a DJI Mini 3 Pro towards the Pacific Palisades with the goal of surveilling the fire.
“Defendant flew the Drone at least 2500 meters away from its launch point and lost visual sight of the Drone while flying it,” according to court records. Then the DJI drone crashed into a Super Scooper firefighting plane that was on hand to dump water onto the fires. The crash tore a 3-inch by 6-inch hole in the left wing and it had to land. According to local news, the crash delayed firefighting efforts by a half-hour.
The reaction to the crash was swift. The FBI recovered pieces of the drone and set up a website the same day as the crash to help them find the drone’s owner. Photos on its “Most Wanted” website show the hole torn in the left wing as well as the remnants of the DJI drone.
People aren’t supposed to fly drones around during a natural disaster like this, but it happens all the time. The DJI app communicates with ADS-B and FAA systems to alert drone operators of nearby aircraft, flying limits, and other restrictions. But those warnings can be bypassed. “At the time, the Federal Aviation Administration had issued Temporary Flight Restrictions that prohibited drone operations near the Southern California wildfires, including the Palisades Fire,” court records said.
DJI also has the ability to use geo-fencing to restrict drone access to certain areas and those geo-fencing restrictions were in place for some of the fires. Despite that, California’s state fire department reported 168 drone incursions into restricted airspace during the wildfires.
DJI also took the odd step of eliminating its geo-fencing policy altogether with a software update on January 13. The drone crash had happened four days before. DJI said that this update was made to comply with European and U.S. regulations. “In these zones, in-app alerts will notify operators flying near FAA designated controlled airspace, placing control back in the hands of the drone operators, in line with regulatory principles of the operator bearing final responsibility,” it said in a press release about the changes.
“At the end of the day, the drone operator is responsible for following the rules. We put this in place about 12 years ago. Regulators have had time to catch up, and none of them have chosen to mandate geo-fencing,” Adam Welsh, DJI’s Global Head for Public Policy told NBC News 7 in California. “In effect, geo-fencing wouldn’t stop those bad actors in the first place. If you’re a person of bad intent, you would have disabled the geo-fencing anyway.”
Welsh is a corporate head of a major tech manufacturer, but he’s also not wrong. Akemann flew his DJI Min 3 Pro into a wildfire. It’s possible to bypass geo-fencing on a consumer drone, fly it beyond your line of sight, and break all kinds of other laws. The ultimate responsibility is on the person flying the drone.
Akemann, at least, admitted that he screwed up in a court of law and came forward to face the consequences. Public officials were harsh in their ritual scolding of Akemann in the DOJ press release about his guilty plea. “Lack of common sense and ignorance of your duty as a drone pilot will not shield you from criminal charges,” Akil Davis, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office said. “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.”
“This defendant recklessly flew an aircraft into airspace where first responders were risking their lives in an attempt to protect lives and property,” Acting United States Attorney Joseph T. McNally said. “This damage caused to the Super Scooper is a stark reminder that flying drones during times of emergency poses an extreme threat to personnel trying to help people and compromises the overall ability of police and fire to conduct operations.”