Missouri Man Sent to Prison for Trying to Shoot Down Crop Duster

A Missouri man was sentenced to six and half years in federal prison for shooting an agplane flying low near his home.

According to court documents, on December 3, 2014, David Leroy Dickenson, 39, became irate that a low-flying Thrush 510 aerial application aircraft was keeping him from sleeping during the day. So he went outside with his 20-gauge shotgun and attempted to silence the plane by brute force.

The pilot of the plane, a 1997 S2R 510 Thrush, was spraying herbicide on a field in Miller, Missouri, when he saw Dickenson with the shotgun. When the pilot landed, mechanics inspected the airplane and found buckshot holes through the rear elevator and several more holes in the cowling.

In addition to prison time with no chance for parole, Dickenson was ordered to pay restitution of $17,500 to the airplane owner.