UK pilot heavily fined for drone flight during historic plane flypast

A UK drone pilot has been slapped with a hefty fine and a suspended prison sentence for having flown his UAV during a historic airshow event last July, during which it came dangerously close to a rare World War II-era Royal Air Force plane as it passed.

As DroneDJ reported at the time, defendant Mark Bagguley admitted guilt in the incident during his trial in January, and had been waiting sentencing since then. Though he risked receiving a maximum five-year prison term, Bagguley was handed a six-month suspended sentence and ordered to pay a total of $4,303 in fines and other penalties. During the proceedings, a letter was read voicing Bagguley’s apology to the pilot whose plane the drone endangered for “unnecessarily putting his and other people’s lives at risk that day.”

Read more: UK drone pilot who buzzed WWII plane during airshow pleads guilty

The incident occurred during the annual Buxton Carnival in Derbyshire last summer. Bagguley…