Drone Operator Faces Federal Charges In Police Helicopter Collision

https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/...ter-collision/

Drone Operator Faces Federal Charges In Police Helicopter Collision

Russ Niles
November 21, 20204

https://s30121.pcdn.co/wp-content/up...ller-PHOTO.png

A 22-year-old drone operator who wanted to “see what was going on”
could face a one-year jail term after his aircraft hit a Los Angeles
Police Department helicopter Sept. 18. According to Fox News, Andrew
Rene Hernandez’s drone hit the fuselage of the chopper, prompting an
emergency landing but no injuries. It’s not clear if the aircraft was
damaged but a car was hit by the falling drone. Police recovered the
wreckage and checked the video card, which had nice clear images of
the owner. He was arrested by the FBI last Thursday and charged with
one count of unsafe operation of an unmanned aircraft, a federal
misdemeanor offense with a maximum one-year sentence. There was no
suggestion the collision was intentional.

The helicopter was responding to a call from officers on the ground
investigating the burglary of a drug store when the incident occurred.
Federal officers told the court the incident could have been much
worse. “If the drone had struck the helicopter’s main rotor instead of
the fuselage, it could have brought the helicopter down,” according to
the complaint. Hernandez admitted to flying the drone.