Dallas Drone Indictment: Love Field Runway Flight Brings Federal Charges

A drone flight across an active runway at night is about as serious as airspace violations get. Now it has led to a four-count federal indictment in Dallas, with a maximum sentence of up to eight years in prison.

Here’s what prosecutors allege, what the runway exclusion zone law says and what every pilot should take from it.

What the indictment alleges

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas announced the case on October 8. According to the office:

• A federal grand jury returned a four-count indictment on September 16 against Pujan Prashantkumar Gajjar, 24, of Dallas.
• Prosecutors allege he flew a drone into the runway exclusion zone at Dallas Love Field around 11:30 p.m. on June 26, 2025, and that the drone crossed an active runway.
• The next night, they allege, he flew the same drone into the restricted airspace around Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
• The indictment also alleges he knowingly and willfully served as an airman without the required airman’s certificate in connection with those flights.

Federal agents arrested him on September 22, and he made his initial court appearance that day. If convicted, he faces up to eight years in federal prison. An indictment is an allegation, not a conviction, and he is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould put it plainly: “Safe and secure air travel depends on strict compliance with federal aviation rules.”

What is a runway exclusion zone?

The press release doesn’t list the statutes behind each count. But “runway exclusion zone” is a term from federal criminal law, 18 U.S.C. § 39B, which Congress added in 2018. It makes it a crime to knowingly operate an unmanned aircraft inside one of these zones without authorization.

The law defines the zone as a rectangle centered on an active runway at an airport with Class B, C or D airspace at the surface. The rectangle is half a statute mile wide and runs 1 statute mile past each end of the runway. The basic penalty is a fine, up to one year in prison or both. The penalties go much higher if someone is seriously hurt or killed.

Notice what the law doesn’t require: a near miss. Being in the zone without authorization is the offense.

DroneXL’s reading is that most of the eight-year maximum comes from the airman-certificate allegations, at up to three years per count under a separate statute. It hasn’t seen the charging document, so treat that breakdown as unconfirmed.

Why the certificate part matters for hobbyists

This is the detail recreational flyers tend to miss. The recreational exception (49 U.S.C. 44809) lets you fly without a Part 107 certificate only while you follow all of its conditions. One of those is getting authorization before flying in controlled airspace, like the Class B over Dallas.

Step outside those conditions and you’re no longer flying under the recreational exception. At that point, the general rule applies: you need a remote pilot certificate. That’s how an unauthorized flight near an airport can turn into a charge for operating without an airman certificate.

What this means for drone pilots

• Check the whole flight path, not just the launch point. Love Field and DFW both sit in controlled airspace that starts at the surface. A short drift can carry you across a boundary.
• Treat zero-foot grids as walls. Near active runways, facility map grids are often zero. LAANC can’t approve a flight above a grid’s ceiling, so if the map says zero, you’ll need a FAADroneZone request with a solid safety case, or a different site.
• Night doesn’t change the airspace. Part 107 night operations need anti-collision lighting and current training, but you still need airspace authorization.
• Recreational? Authorization still applies. Use LAANC or DroneZone before flying in controlled airspace. Skipping that step can take you out of the recreational exception entirely.
• Enforcement can be slow, but it comes. These flights happened in June 2025. The indictment came more than a year later.

If you’re not sure how to read the airspace around your local airport or when LAANC applies, that’s exactly what the Part 107 exam covers. Our Part 107 test prep course teaches airspace, sectional charts and authorizations in plain English, so you never end up on the wrong side of a runway.

The bottom line

The runway exclusion zone law is short and blunt. Knowingly fly inside that half-mile-wide box around an active runway at a Class B, C or D airport without authorization, and you’re committing a federal crime. Fly legally, get authorization and give runways the respect they deserve.

Sources: U.S. Attorney’s Office, N.D. Texas release (via sUAS News); 18 U.S.C. § 39B; 49 U.S.C. § 44809; FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth

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