Summary
A drone collision grounded one of two Super Scooper planes battling Los Angeles wildfires, leaving a critical resource unavailable.
The collision damaged the aircraft’s wing, forcing its grounding, and temporarily paused other firefighting flights, creating significant delays.
The FAA emphasized the dangers of flying drones near wildfires, noting it’s a federal crime with penalties up to $75,000 and prison time.
Over 36,000 acres have burned, with officials warning that delays in air support allow wildfires to spread rapidly, endangering lives and property.
Having working in the field for a few years, the amount of utterly irresponsible assholes would shock you. I was on a few hundred thousand hectare fire, and someone was flying their small personal aircraft over the area repeatedly. He was arrested when he landed at the nearest airport, but for a few hours all the helicopter support was grounded because of one jackass who wanted a better view.
I’m sure it was worth the money made from the videos they took.