North Canterbury drone pilot Simon Roy Reeve has avoided convictions for flying his aircraft at Pines Beach without authorisation when he was taking airborne footage of fire-fighting operations.
Christchurch District Court Judge Gary MacAskill ordered the 39-year-old to make a $500 donation to a charity of his choice by next Friday, when he discharged him without conviction at the sentencing today.
He also fined him $250 for breaching controlled airspace with the drone, but again did not enter convictions against the Kaiapoi man for the Civil Aviation Department prosecutions.
Reeve had denied the charge of causing danger by operating his drone on January 5 when a helicopter was in the area fighting a bush fire, and the two other air space breaches. Judge MacAskill reserved his decision at the judge-alone trial in April, and later issued his decision finding Reeve guilty.
Defence counsel Rupert Glover argued at today’s sentencing for discharges without convictions.
The judge said Reeve’s actions had made it possible that the drone and the helicopter could have collided, and the danger was unnecessary. There had been no reason for creating the danger, except to gain footage that might be sold to television.
The helicopter pilot had been rightly concerned to learn later that a drone was operating in the area, but the judge’s finding was that there was no “imminent danger”. There had been no near miss, and Reeve’s actions had been “at the lowest end of the scale in terms of actual risk”.
The prosecutor for the Director of Civil Aviation, Chris Macklin, said the department regarded it as “moderately serious offending” and he urged that a conviction, and a fine or community work be imposed. He said: “The stakes are deceptively high in this sector.”
Defence counsel Rupert Glover said the prosecution had been “an extremely educational exercise” for Reeve and everybody else.
Reeve, at the judge’s suggestion, had written a paper on current drone rules in New Zealand. This referred to concerns about tourists who might bring their drones into the country but did not know the rules.
Mr Glover told Judge MacAskill that Reeve had “never had so much as a library fine or a parking ticket” and he strongly urged that his life not be blighted with a conviction.
After the sentencing, Reeve said the outcome was “better than it could have been”.
Mr Glover said: “It means he’s got a clean record. This would have been a nasty conviction to have on the record for someone who wants to use drones to make a living.”
The prosecution had been “18 months of sheer hell” for Reeve, he said.
The post No flying convictions for drone pilot appeared first on Courtnews.co.nz.