While fire fighting planes carried out his fire fighting missions, the defendant went to the region near the third street walk in Santa Monica, California, and parked his vehicle on the top floor a parking structure. The defendant launched the drone and stolen it to the Pacific Palisades to observe the damage caused by the fire of the Palisades. At the time, the Federal Aviation Administration had published temporary flight restrictions which prohibited drone operations near forest fires in Southern California, including the fire of Palisades.
The defendant piloted the drone at least 2,500 meters from its launch point and lost the visual view of the drone while flying. Subsequently, the drone collided with the fire -fighting aircraft, causing a hole of about 3 inches per 6 inches in the left wing of the fire fighting aircraft.
