MOSCOW, October 4 (RIA Novosti)- A third defendant has been convicted of using an unmanned aircraft in Yellowstone National Park and fined $1,000 plus court costs for violating a ban on drones at US parks, according to Reuters.
The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) enthusiast, Donald Criswell of Oregon, wanted to take videos of wildlife and natural landscapes by launching a camera-equipped drone over the crowded Midway Geyser Basin, close to the park’s herd of wild bison.
He pleaded guilty in a federal court in Wyoming, making him the third park visitor to be prosecuted for using a UAV in the park despite warning signs prohibiting their use.
In late September, Theodorus Van Vliet of the Netherlands pleaded guilty in connection with a similar incident, when his unmanned device crashed into Yellowstone's Grand Prismatic Spring, the third largest hot spring in the world. He was fined $1,000 and ordered to pay over $2,200 in restitution.
Also in September, Andreas Meissner of Germany pleaded guilty to charges of operating a UAV which crashed into Yellowstone Lake near the West Thumb Marina in July. Meissner was sentenced to a one-year ban from the park, placed on one year of unsupervised probation, and ordered to pay over $1,600 in fines and restitution.
Yellowstone spokesman Al Nash said he was hopeful that the cases will raise awareness of the ban among tourists who flock to the park, which spans parts of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho.
"When we look at unmanned aircraft, they present a variety of hazards and challenges in an environment where you have many wild animals, unique landscapes and millions of visitors," Reuters quotes him as saying.
