He'll pay almost $70,000 to repair the plane and do 150 hours of community service.

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.

  • MechanicalJester@lemm.eeEnglish
    81·
    14 hours ago

    I know planes are fast etc but the drone he used is 250g which is 10 to 30 times lighter than a goose.

    I would have expected light scratches maybe?

    I’d thought someone sent out a Hollywood grade heavy drone weighing much more with a lot more metal because… Hollywood is right there.

    That’s a lot of damage for 250g of plastic and LiPo

    • GBU_28@lemm.eeEnglish
      7·
      18 hours ago

      Drones are cheap. The “I point lasers at planes” and the “I fly drones during emergencies” crowds overlap

  • lurch (he/him)English
    91·
    20 hours ago

    Interesting. But why is this in a politics community? I don’t see any relation to politics.