A district court judge has ordered a Philadelphia man who chronicled his drone activity on YouTube to take the channel down and cease his "reckless" unmanned flights.
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Federal prosecutors filed a civil complaint against Michael DiCiurcio, the creator behind PhillyDroneLife, in early 2024. In it, they alleged that DiCiurcio repeatedly flew his drones through severe fog and wind, at night and into controlled airspace by the Philadelphia International Airport. He also reportedly steered the aircraft close to Center City skyscrapers and landmarks, like the William Penn statue and Liberty One building, and nearly hit a church steeple on at least one occasion.
DiCiurcio continued this behavior despite three warnings from the Federal Aviation Administration, the complaint reads, and not holding a remote pilot license. Prosecutors chronicled 26 drone flights that violated safety regulations between 2019 and 2020.
Per the terms of the consent judgment finalized in late January, DiCiurcio admitted to wrongdoing and agreed to never operate a small unmanned aircraft system of any kind in the United States. He also relinquished the drones and other equipment he surrendered to the FAA in May, and agreed to remove his YouTube channel. As of Tuesday afternoon, that webpage is unavailable. DiCiurcio has also not promoted his drone videos on X, formerly known as Twitter, since April 9.
"We work hard to educate people about safely flying their drones, and we don’t hesitate to take strong enforcement action when pilots deliberately flout the rules," Deputy FAA Administrator Katie Thomson said in a statement.
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