[lee martell]

$65K in fines, plus community service, as a consequence of playing with his new toy. I am guessing his drone was found near the scene and somehow traced back to the owner.

[Ronald77]

Not enough, he put the lives of the crew in jeopardy. Long jail time is needed.

[Drew68]

and somehow traced back to the owner.

Probably downloaded an app when he bought the drone, scanned the QR code on the instruction manual, and entered all of his personal information.

Most people don't think twice about doing this.

[verum ago]

I am guessing his drone was found near the scene and somehow traced back to the owner.

It was even easier than that; they didn't have to look for the drone at all: it passed through the skin on the leading edge but then was stopped by a structural member and came to rest inside the airplane's wing. They found it as soon as they removed the damaged leading edge panel. From there just a matter of matching the serial number to sales records.

I bet they had the mutt ID'd within an hour of the repair being initiated.