Peter Akemann, co-founder of Treyarch and president of Skydance Interactive, has pleaded guilty to flying a drone that crashed into a firefighting plane. The damage to the plane was so severe that it had to be grounded for repairs for several days, preventing it from helping to stop the spread of the deadly LA wildfires.
The drone crashed into the plane on January 9th. Damage was mainly done to the craft's left wing. The plane that Akemann's drone hit was one of the Super Scooper firefighting planes that are capable of carrying over 1,000 gallons of water to dump on to the wildfires.
The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) placed a temporary flight restriction on drone flying near the wildfires. Despite this restriction, Akemann reportedly launched a drone from atop a Santa Monica parking garage just to get a better view of the Palisades Fire. Akemann then reportedly lost track of his drone roughly 1.5 miles from where it was launched, at which point it then collided with the Super Scooper resulting in a 3 inch by 6 inch hole in the left wing.
Authorities were able to easily trace the drone back to Akemann.
Akemann's guilty plea (PDF link) is for one count of unsafe operation of an unmanned aircraft. This is a misdemeanor level offense that can carry a maximum prison sentence of up to one year. Akemann hopes to avoid going to prison in exchange for 150 hours of community service helping wildfire relief, in addition to paying $65,000 to cover the cost of repairs for the plane.
A statement released by Akemann's defense attorney notes that Akemann is "deeply sorry" for what happened. He says that he "accepts responsibility for his grave error in judgment." He also blamed a "supposed failure of a geo fencing safeguard feature" that should have prevented Akemann's drone from ever entering that restricted airspace.
Akemann was one of the co-founders for Call of Duty studio Treyarch back in 1996. In 2016, Akemann changed careers and served as the president of Skydance Interactive (The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners, Skydance's Behemoth). According to The Hollywood Reporter, Akemann recently stepped down as president of Skydance Interactive, though an exact timeframe on when that occurred is unknown.
(Image via ABC News)
