Man arrested for drone intrusion over Goodwin Fire

[Ptah]

Planes were grounded because of intrusion of airspace

Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office says they’ve made an arrest in the case
of a drone that forced aircrews fighting the Goodwin Fire to be grounded.

Gene Alan Carperter, a 54-year-old resident of Prescott Valley, was arrested
and charged with 14 counts of endangerment, all felonies, and a count of
unlawful operation of an unmanned aircraft, which is a misdemeanor.

A news release from YCSO said that on Wednesday, June 28, a drone began
circling one of the airplanes that was battling the Goodwin Fire. Because of
that intrusion, the plane left the area, leaving ground crews unprotected.
Those ground crews had to disengage from fighting the fire and all aircraft
were grounded for nearly an hour..

https://www.dcourier.com/news/2017/jul/01/man-arrested-flying-drone-over-goodwin-fire/

[Mosby]

1. Sounds like bullshit to me.

A radio controlled plastic toy grounded aircraft for an hour and endangered 14 people. sure thing.

[Warpy]

2. Depends on how big it was and how high it was.

Flying anything in a fire zone is tricky as hell. Not having airspace cluttered up by idiots with their drones and GoPro cameras trying to be immortalized on You Tube is serious business.

[Mosby]

3. his current charges add up to 7 years in prison minimum.

And as the article states, they might add on federal charges.

I don't know if you know anything about our criminal "justice" system, but this is how they get defendents to cop pleas.

[Warpy]

6. I think he'll likely end up with a fine since no

firefighters on the ground were injured or worse. The fine will be big enough to make an example of him so that other idiots don't try it.

[Ptah]

4. The pilots disagree with your ridiculous opinion.

[Mosby]

7. Sending the guy to prison for 7 years is ridiculous.

Let's try to keep a little perspective.

The cops charged him with 14 felonies for flying a toy helicopter.


This is an example of the kind of "drone" that "grounded aircrews":

[CanonRay]

5. Seriously, he made it a very dangerous situation

which is why they don't allow drones anywhere near airports

[Kali]

9. There was a lot of discussion about this during the fire near me

apparently they have to ground everything until those things are found and shut down, it seriously hampers any air craft and can endanger lives and property since so much rugged terrain is involved. The folks coordinating all the air traffic have a huge job and a "toy" could cause real damage beside just the general confusion and risks involved from that.

they are considered an aircraft and have to follow the regulations.

[Mosby]

10. I get it, I just hate cops and the system

For a lot of good reasons IMO.

[liberalla]

8. This has been announced frequently on our newscasts in AZ, to not fly a drone over/near a wildfire.

Drones can be Deadly for Wildland Firefighters


Unauthorized Dones Near a Wildfire can Cost and Kill