The drone, which authorities say was flying in restricted airspace on Jan. 9, put a fist-sized hole in the wing of a Super Scooper — a massive fixed-wing plane that can drop large amounts of water onto a fast-moving fire.

As part of his plea deal, the Culver City resident will pay about $65,000 for the damage his drone caused to the Super Scooper provided by the Quebec government.

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, Federal authorities said Friday. Peter Tripp Akemann reached a plea agreement and will avoid prison but he will pay full restitution for the damage on the plane and do 150

A Culver City man has agreed to plead guilty to flying a drone that crashed into a Super Scooper firefighting aircraft, grounding it in the midst of the devastating Palisades Fire​, federal prosecutors announced Friday.

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

A Los Angeles-area man has agreed to plead guilty to recklessly flying a drone that crashed into a firefighting aircraft battling the Palisades wildfire as it burned out of control, federal prosecutors said on 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 56-year-old Californian man has pleaded guilty to operating the drone that crashed into a Quebec water bomber plane fighting the Palisades Fire in Los Angeles earlier this month.