A Missouri man has been sent to prison for six and a half years, without chance of parole, for trying to shoot down an aerial application aircraft flying near his home. According to KOAM TV, David Leroy Dickenson, 39, of Miller, Missouri, was handed the sentence by U.S. District Judge Stephen Bough in Springfield last week. He also has to pay $17,500 in restitution to the owner for damage caused with shotgun fire in December of 2014. He had earlier pleaded guilty to a charge of destruction of an airplane.
The TV station said that court documents released by U.S. Attorney Tammy Dickinson showed that Dickenson became angry when the low-flying aircraft woke him up. He grabbed a 20-gauge shotgun and fired at the aircraft, a Thrush crop-dusting plane. The plane was spraying herbicide on a neighboring field. The pilot saw a man with a gun near the field he was spraying. When the pilot landed, he and others found buckshot holes in the cowl and elevator.
