Peter Tripp Akeman, 56, admitted to launching a private drone from a rooftop on Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade Jan. 9 that hit an aircraft fighting the inferno in the sky

The defendant has agreed to pay more than $65,000 in restitution and faces up to a year in federal prison, prosecutors said.

A Culver City man has pleaded guilty to operating the drone that damaged and temporarily grounded a Super Scooper firefighting aircraft while crews battled the deadly Palisades Fire earlier this month, federal prosecutors announced on Friday, Jan. 31.

As part of the plea agreement, Akemann agreed to pay full restitution to the Government of Quebec, which supplied the plane, and an aircraft repair company that repaired the plane. It cost at least $65,169 to repair the plane, prosecutors said.

Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph McNally announced Friday that Peter Tripp Akemann, 56, of Culver City, California, admitted to "recklessly" operating a drone that collided with a firefighting aircraft during the Palisades fire.