Calif. tourist fined $20K for out-of-control drone that landed at airport in Las Vegas flight in 2018

[BigAl07]

Fines started around $15K but late fees etc have it up to $20K and climbing.

Calif. tourist fined $20K for out-of-control drone that landed at airport in Las Vegas

Flying drones on the Strip requires Federal Aviation Administration approval. This approval is only given to licensed, professional pilots. If you are not licensed and something goes wrong, you would

www.fox5vegas.com

 

[dronesky]

Hope others take note of this & learn from it

 

[PhantomFandom]

Fines started around $15K but late fees etc have it up to $20K and climbing.

Calif. tourist fined $20K for out-of-control drone that landed at airport in Las Vegas

Flying drones on the Strip requires Federal Aviation Administration approval. This approval is only given to licensed, professional pilots. If you are not licensed and something goes wrong, you would

www.fox5vegas.com

I guess we don't have all of the details referred to by the FAA as many serious problems. However it is an excellent example of what can happen when people don't obey regulations and say things like "I'm only flying below tree level". I think that if he had obeyed regulations, applied for appropriate clearances/waivers, and followed proper procedures then there would not have been such a fine, even if the drone did fly away on its own.

 

[Alan Russel]

Expensive mistake for trying to take a picture.

 

[Meta4]

”I went up to the parking structure at Caesars Palace and had no problem with GPS," Burciaga said. "It started acting weird and just took off.”
He gave his drone a bad case of the Yaw Errors by launching from a reinforced concrete surface.
How many cases like that have we seen?

 

[BigAl07]

”I went up to the parking structure at Caesars Palace and had no problem with GPS," Burciaga said. "It started acting weird and just took off.”
He gave his drone a bad case of the Yaw Errors by launching from a reinforced concrete surface.
How many cases like that have we seen?

I'd love to see his Flight Log for this incident.

Here's a thread he started over in the DJI forum (he apparently has multiple user names there LOL)

IMPORTANT INFO ! SOFTWARE GLITCH

IF YOU ARE FLYING YOUR DRONE AND YOUR CONTROLLER TELLS YOU ATTI MODE EXITING GPS IT WILL REAQUIRE GPS AGAIN ONCE IT PASSES WHATEVER INTEFERNCE CAUSED THE LOSS OF GPS ONCE IT RE AQUIRES GPS WHEREVER YOUR CURRENT POSITION OF YOUR DRONE IS WILL BE YOUR NEW HOME POINT. YOUR DRONE WILL RETURN TO THAT...

forum.dji.com

 

[PhantomFandom]

I'd love to see his Flight Log for this incident.

Here's a thread he started over in the DJI forum (he apparently has multiple user names there LOL)

IMPORTANT INFO ! SOFTWARE GLITCH

IF YOU ARE FLYING YOUR DRONE AND YOUR CONTROLLER TELLS YOU ATTI MODE EXITING GPS IT WILL REAQUIRE GPS AGAIN ONCE IT PASSES WHATEVER INTEFERNCE CAUSED THE LOSS OF GPS ONCE IT RE AQUIRES GPS WHEREVER YOUR CURRENT POSITION OF YOUR DRONE IS WILL BE YOUR NEW HOME POINT. YOUR DRONE WILL RETURN TO THAT...

forum.dji.com

The guy is clueless. Another one of those who has no idea what he is doing and then blames it on a software problem. The hefty fine now makes even more sense since the Secret Service was there. What it comes down to is poor planning, not knowing your equipment, and no regard for controlled airspace.

 

[GFields]

Was NOT a fly away. Just a cop-out for his mistake. I have little sympathy for him. In addition to his breaking so many FAA regulations, he didn't bother to respond to the letters sent to him. Pure stupidity if you ask me

 

[Deleted member 62848]

I would class that as his own fault,multiple hazards,probably only watching his screen,lost GPS and drone was off in atti mode,,just my thought,,I sort of wonded why this was 2018 till I read it.1 year of him avoiding them says he is guilty, must have $$$ to be in Las Vegas so he can afford the other half of his pay check to pay the fine,,he better not pay it $ 10 a week either,which I almost see happen

 

[CharlieU]

Here;s the video he posted on YouTube.

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It looks like the battery finally ran out of juice.
A picture of the pilot with his modified controller.

 

[terrence davidson]

he blew it big time. must have used the big bucks not to land the 10 year prison time which the DOJ could have hit him with for violating tfr and the airport landing incident alone. those that are107 and responsible pilots got lucky and there was not drone hit to a loaded passenger airliner at the intake of the engine or playing the wicked me. I should say unluckey for him that he did not hit a loaded passenger plane with his drone at the engine intake. but that be very very bad for every good uav pilot due to the outcry of public.

 

[gyrex]

The only thing worse than his flying and abysmal drone video skills is his spelling and grammar.

 

[mossphotography]

I would hope those who know me would characterize me as a very level headed person in the UAS community.

But I am 100% behind the FAA fining the crud out of this idiot.

We all make mistakes. I've sure made my fair share (nothing even removed close to this idiocy though). But if he really has 100's of flights under his belt, he should have known. And ignoring the FAA just made it even worse. In the Fox5 interview he still insists his fine is too great.

If he had taken responsibility from the very beginning, this would have ended much, much differently.

Yeah, he deserves 100% of what is coming to him.

 

[AntDX316]

Fines started around $15K but late fees etc have it up to $20K and climbing.

Calif. tourist fined $20K for out-of-control drone that landed at airport in Las Vegas

Flying drones on the Strip requires Federal Aviation Administration approval. This approval is only given to licensed, professional pilots. If you are not licensed and something goes wrong, you would

www.fox5vegas.com

The

Here;s the video he posted on YouTube.

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For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

It looks like the battery finally ran out of juice.
A picture of the pilot with his modified controller.

So the modded antenna thing doesn't work or it worked but he had a compass or GPS error way out and it just kept drifting in atti mode further and further away. He prob FCC Boosted the P3 to max and NLD says if you do antenna mods and the boost it's bad but they never say how come it's bad or why it's bad.

 

[BigAl07]

I would hope those who know me would characterize me as a very level headed person in the UAS community.

But I am 100% behind the FAA fining the crud out of this idiot.

We all make mistakes. I've sure made my fair share (nothing even removed close to this idiocy though). But if he really has 100's of flights under his belt, he should have known. And ignoring the FAA just made it even worse. In the Fox5 interview he still insists his fine is too great.

If he had taken responsibility from the very beginning, this would have ended much, much differently.

Yeah, he deserves 100% of what is coming to him.

Vic is level headed and an industry advocate. We are fortunate to have you working so hard for our industry both on the hobby and commercial side.

I completely agree that this operator fully deserves whatever comes of all this. He made several horrible decisions which very COULD have lead to an "Incident" on many different levels. To say he was lucky is an understatement for me.

For those who think this is the first/only time the FAA has had sUAS interactions is wrong. It just happens to be one that was HIGHLY publicized. There have been others that were not publicized and several that have been processed out of the public's eye. Unfortunately I think we need to see more of them publicized in order to help persuade other "potential" violators from busting the regs.

 

[RKBA]

For those who think this is the first/only time the FAA has had sUAS interactions is wrong. It just happens to be one that was HIGHLY publicized. There have been others that were not publicized and several that have been processed out of the public's eye

As these actions are a matter of public record (by law), how is it possible that they are being conducted “out of the public’s eye”?

 

[Harleydude]

Fines started around $15K but late fees etc have it up to $20K and climbing.

Calif. tourist fined $20K for out-of-control drone that landed at airport in Las Vegas

Flying drones on the Strip requires Federal Aviation Administration approval. This approval is only given to licensed, professional pilots. If you are not licensed and something goes wrong, you would

www.fox5vegas.com

Yikes! I hate to say it, but dollars to doughnuts, despite flying his drone "hundreds of times," he didn't really fully understand the drone and everything that goes on under the hood. I find this a common theme with most "loss of control" issues.

D

 

[BigAl07]

Yikes! I hate to say it, but dollars to doughnuts, despite flying his drone "hundreds of times," he didn't really fully understand the drone and everything that goes on under the hood. I find this a common theme with most "loss of control" issues.

D

BINGO! It’s way too common but that’s the crutch of automation. You just charge it and hit the GO button.

 

[WV. Rootman]

Remember the drone that landed in the White House lawn? It was from an off duty, inebriated secret service agent. I don’t remember his punishment? Was it as bad as this guy?

 

[AntDX316]

Vic is level headed and an industry advocate. We are fortunate to have you working so hard for our industry both on the hobby and commercial side.

I completely agree that this operator fully deserves whatever comes of all this. He made several horrible decisions which very COULD have lead to an "Incident" on many different levels. To say he was lucky is an understatement for me.

For those who think this is the first/only time the FAA has had sUAS interactions is wrong. It just happens to be one that was HIGHLY publicized. There have been others that were not publicized and several that have been processed out of the public's eye. Unfortunately I think we need to see more of them publicized in order to help persuade other "potential" violators from busting the regs.

Same as with any decisions such as what car you buy, what job you apply to, where you choose to eat, who you hire, who you hang out with, if anything goes wrong beyond your control and you are associated to them, then you fully deserve whatever comes to you. Working for Google when they first began and you are now a millionaire, working at a company that has gone bankrupt and you lost everything, etc.