A Pennsylvania man has been charged with violating federal aviation laws after the FBI said he piloted a small drone over Baltimore’s M&T Bank Stadium during a National Football League playoff game Jan. 28, causing security officials to briefly order a stoppage of play.
After the drone departed the federally restricted airspace, Maryland State Police “deployed to the area” where it landed, in a residential neighborhood a half-mile north of the stadium, according to the complaint. There, in the 500 block of South Sharp Street, the complaint says, troopers encountered 44-year-old Matthew R. Hebert, clad in a Ravens jersey, who professed to be unfamiliar with many of the government rules regarding drones — known as unmanned aircraft systems, or UAS, in regulatory parlance.
“Hebert did not have any training on how to operate a UAS,” the complaint says. It says Hebert bought his DJI Mini 2 online in 2021. The craft weighs a half-pound and cost about $300, according to retail websites. “Hebert was unaware of any public notifications” about the airspace restriction.
Hebert, of Chadds Ford, Pa., a suburb of Wilmington, Del., told the troopers that he was visiting Baltimore to watch the game on TV with friends, the complaint says. The U.S. attorney’s office in Baltimore said he was charged with violating four aviation laws that carry possible prison terms adding up to three years. Under advisory federal sentencing guidelines, the penalties meted out in many cases are often far less than the statutory maximums.
Online court records do not list a lawyer for Hebert, whose arraignment has not yet been scheduled. He could not be located Tuesday to comment on his alleged aerial transgression. The Federal Aviation Administration had imposed a flight restriction on airspace within a three-nautical-mile radius of the stadium from an hour before until an hour after the game, with the Chiefs and Ravens battling to advance to Sunday’s Super Bowl.
Hebert piloted the drone to an altitude of about 330 feet and took six photos of himself and the stadium, the complaint says. Besides being charged with violating the airspace restriction, he is accused of breaking rules on recreational drone flights.
The complaint says that there are two ways to lawfully fly a drone in public airspace: One is by obtaining a “Remote Pilot Certificate” from the FAA, which requires training and testing. The other is called “flying under the Exception for Recreational Flyers.” Under the exception, operators are more restricted in the type of flying they can do.
For example, a recreational drone must be “flown within the visual line of sight of the person operating the aircraft” or an observer “in direct communication with the operator,” the complaint says. Hebert is accused of violating that rule, among others.
The complaint says Hebert stepped out of the residence on South Sharp Street about 3:15 p.m., around kickoff time, “and used his phone to access the DJI mobile application which allowed him to operate his UAS.
“Hebert was surprised the DJI application allowed him to operate the UAS, because in past occasions the DJI application prevented him from operating the UAS due to flight restrictions,” the complaint says. “Hebert relied exclusively on the DJI application to tell him if he was not allowed to fly the UAS. Hebert assumed he was allowed to fly his UAS since the DJI application did not prevent him from doing so.”
Whether many Ravens fans in the stadium that Sunday noticed the drone above them isn’t clear. They left with eyes cast downward, their Super Bowl hopes dashed in a 17-10 defeat.
