Drone pilot charged with violating airspace over two NFL games

Blitz

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Mar 20, 2019
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A Northern California man has been charged with violating airspace restrictions by flying a drone over a pair of NFL games in 2017.

According to Alex Johnson and Andrew Blankstein of NBC News, Tracy Michael Mapes of North Highlands, Calif. was officially charged on Tuesday after he flew a drone over Bay Area games in November 2017 to drop anti-media flyers.

The two games he created an incursion over were between the Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers at Levi’s Stadium and the Denver Broncos and Oakland Raiders at the Oakland Coliseum.

The temporary flight restrictions prohibit all aircraft from operating within three nautical miles of any stadium seating at least 30,000. The restrictions are in effect from one hour before to one hour after the end of the event.

Authorities tracked the drone flight back to Mapes, who was piloting the craft via an iPad and had recorded images over the games saved on its hard drive.
 
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