Trio of criminal drone offenses sentenced lightly under plea deal

In UAV terms, in may rank up there with standing “in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot(ing) somebody” with quasi-impunity. Yesterday, a California man was sentenced for buzzing three different piloted aircraft with his drone, yet suffered nothing worse than community service and a hefty fine for acts the law defines as criminal offenses.

A court in Santa Ana on Monday ruled on a case that DroneDJ reported in July – and already couldn’t believe back then – when a UAV pilot entered a guilty plea to three federal criminal charges for violating drone rules. Those covered a trio of incidents during which the operator willfully and dangerously approached piloted aircraft – including a US Coast Guard helicopter ­– forcing all three to undertake emergency evasive maneuvers.

Law enforcement officials were tipped off to who was behind of last outrage from “videos posted on the TikTok social media application” by the defendant showing his “drone flying dangerously close to aircraft.” 

D.B. Cooper of the UAV scene, he wasn’t.

Detractors of plea-bargaining agreements will be further edified to learn that in return to copping to his voluntary, criminally punishable recklessness, the offending drone pilot came away with one year of probation, a $7,500 fine, and 120 hours of community service. The maximum penalty otherwise would have been a year in prison on each count.

Were there any doubt as to defendant Alexander Milinovic’s good fortune in the sentencing, details from the US Attorney’s Office notice of the guilty plea last July should dispel those.

• On June 19, 2022, Milinovic launched his drone at a father and son who were flying an open-cockpit gyrocopter on Father’s Day. Milinovic flew the unmanned aircraft to within 10 to 20 feet of the gyrocopter, which was off the coast of Crescent Bay Beach in Laguna Beach, which caused the son, who was operating the gyrocopter, to make an emergency course correction to avoid striking the drone and crashing into the Pacific Ocean.

• On July 26, 2022, Milinovic launched a drone at and flew it next to a Discovery Channel “Shark Week” blimp flying at an altitude between 500 and 1,000 feet over the Pacific Ocean in the Laguna Beach area. The blimp’s pilot estimated the drone to be in line with hitting the blimp and causing him to navigate a life-threatening emergency crash landing.

• On March 19, 2023, four members of a Coast Guard flight crew were flying a rescue helicopter about 200 to 300 feet above sea level in Laguna Beach. Milinovic launched a drone and flew it directly at the Coast Guard helicopter, coming to within 200 feet of it. The crew maneuvered the helicopter away from the drone, fearing it would hit their tail rotor and cause the helicopter to crash into the Pacific Ocean.

In making their agreement, prosecutors opted to drop the criminal recklessness chargers in exchange for a guilty plea to three misdemeanor counts of “unsafely operating an unmanned aircraft.” To ensure nobody would accuse the defendant of getting off lightly, Milinovic’s lawyer noted his client “regrets any apprehensions that his drones caused.”

Good thing he didn’t fly it down the middle Fifth Avenue, or he might have gotten off without even feeling bad.