The defendant has agreed to pay more than $65,000 in restitution and faces up to a year in federal prison, prosecutors said.

A California man has agreed to plead guilty to recklessly operating a drone that crashed into a "Super Scooper" firefighting aircraft during the deadly Palisades Fire in Los Angeles, prosecutors announced Friday.

A Southern California man admitted to operating a drone that collided with a firefighting airplane during the Palisades Fire as the blaze was charring tens of thousands of acres earlier this month, officials said Friday.

A Culver City man has agreed to plead guilty to crashing a drone into a Super Scooper aircraft making water drops over the deadly Palisades Fire, grounding the powerful firefighting aircraft early into the battle against the growing wildfire.

Peter Akemann will plead guilty for his drone colliding with a Super Scooper, halting wildfire efforts. He faces penalties and community service.

Peter Tripp Akeman, 56, admitted to launching a private drone from a rooftop on Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade Jan. 9 that hit an aircraft fighting the inferno in the sky

The drone put a fist-size hole in the wing of the aircraft which grounded it for five days. The fist-size hole in this Super Scooper's wing caused more than $65,000 damage. Find Firehouse.com’s full coverage of the 2025 California Fire Storm,

A California man agrees to plead guilty to one count of unsafe operation of an unmanned aircraft after his drone collides with firefighting Super Scooper aircraft battling the Palisades Fire.

Federal authorities say a man has agreed to plead guilty to unsafely operating a drone that collided with a firefighting aircraft during the deadly Palisades Fire in Los Angeles.