A Dallas man faces up to eight years in federal prison for flying a drone into protected airspace at Dallas Love Field and Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, the US Attorney for the Northern District of Texas said on 8 October.
A grand jury indicted Pujan Prashantkumar Gajjar, 24, on four counts on 16 September, and federal agents arrested him on 22 September. According to the indictment, at about 11:30 pm on 26 June 2025 his drone entered the runway exclusion zone at Love Field and crossed an active runway. The next night, prosecutors say, he flew the same drone into restricted airspace around DFW.
He is also charged with serving as an airman without the required certificate. The FBI and the Federal Air Marshal Service investigated, and a prosecutor from the office’s National Security Section is handling the case. An indictment is an allegation, and Gajjar is presumed innocent.
US Attorney Ryan Raybould said such flights endanger “pilots, passengers and the entire community.”
Where the eight years come from
The release does not name the laws, but its wording matches two. Flying a drone without authorisation in a runway exclusion zone, a strip a mile beyond each end of the runway and half a mile wide, has been a federal crime since 2018 and carries up to a year. Serving as an airman without a certificate carries up to three. Two counts of each would add up to eight years.
Hobby pilots do not need an airman certificate, but only while they follow the recreational rules. One of those rules is getting permission before flying in the controlled airspace around an airport. A flight outside them falls under the FAA’s Part 107 rules, which require a remote pilot certificate.
