Feds file $182,0000 suit against drone video maker PhillyDroneLife

A popular, albeit decidedly quirky drone video enthusiast known as PhillyDroneLife has received a jolt of very conventional reality with US prosecutors filing a case against him for breaking flight regulations, and reportedly seeking nearly $200,000 in fines.

Eastern District of Pennsylvania United States Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero filed the suit with a at Philadelphia’s federal court Tuesday, alleging Michael DiCiurcio repeatedly violated Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations while making his PhillyDroneLife videos. The clips, which attract decent enough YouTube traffic, are a combination of drone footage of the city’s landscapes and monuments, and heavy-handed antics à la “Jackass,” set to DiCiurcio’s voice-overs and strange noises.

So what’s the Department of Justice’s gripe with that? 

The suit says DiCiurcio flew the craft “unlawfully and unsafely in the Philadelphia area between at least December 2019 to the present,” repeatedly violating FAA rules and ignoring the agency’s cease-and-desist warnings. It seeks fines of $1,501 for each drone rule violation, or a total of $182,004.

In addition to flying his drone at night, in foul weather, and above cars and people – a pretty hefty list of infractions right there – city publication Philly Mag neatly summed up PhillyDroneLife’s allegedly illicit activities as follows:

“DiCiurcio violated controlled airspace around Philadelphia International Airport, intentionally flew during dangerous conditions, flew in such a ‘reckless’ manner that he lost control of his drone with people down below, operated his drone perilously close to the William Penn statue atop City Hall and the Comcast Technology Center, nearly hit a church steeple on one flight, (and) piloted his drone much higher than is allowed,” the publication said, before adding what animal lovers will consider the coup de grace. “And, yes, (he) ‘chased and harassed’ the poor birds.”

Feds didn’t have to do a ton of digging for evidence of infractions: A lot of visual proof is available in DiCiurcio’s drone videos, including ostensibly zany intentional craft crashes, and flight coordinates and altitude readings indicative of regulatory infraction. 

In response to the filing, DiCiurcio unabashedly played what might be described as the “just a guy trying to make a difference in an otherwise less than ideal life” defense card, telling local TV station WPVI:

“(I)magine you’re on welfare, you have nothing, and you live in your mother’s home, now what’s going to happen to you?” he said, referring to his own biographical details. “I needed to find another source of things to do other than eat. So I bought a drone to get myself out of the house and it worked… (Prosecutors) look into a person, and find out they have nothing, so let’s throw the book at him, $182,000. Let’s do it.”

Well, yeah, but there are the banned airspace violations, overflights of people, and birds that will never get over the trauma of being pursued by a drone, too. Not to mention nearly six years of FAA warnings to DiCiurcio to limit his aerial videos to the realm of regulatory compliance. Those having allegedly gone unheeded, prosecutors say they’re going to take more convincing dissuasive action.

“Failing to adhere to the safety requirements for flying drones endangers people and property,” Romero wrote in the filing. “All drone operators have a responsibility to ensure that they observe all applicable regulations and guidance. Our office is committed to ensuring total compliance with the FAA regulations and we will vigorously enforce violations wherever we find them.”

Image: James Lewis/Unsplash