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Drone crash at Palisades Fire blamed on tech exec with UC Berkeley Ph.D.

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Peter Akemann , 56 , pleaded guilty to one count of unsafe operation of an unmanned aircraft.

He crashed a drone into and damaged a water-dropping aircraft as it fought the Palisades Fire earlier this month .

The drone flight and crash took place on Thursday, Jan. 9 , the third day of the fire in Los Angeles County’s Pacific Palisade neighborhood.

The use of drones near the fires was banned by the FAA at the time.