Quebec aviation entrepreneur and designer Normand Dubé has been sentenced this week to seven years in prison after being convicted in September of three counts of mischief. On December 4, 2014, Dubé sabotaged Hydro-Québec power lines, resulting in a power outage that affected 180,000 customers in Quebec, Ontario and the U.S. and cost the public utility over $28 million.

The method of sabotage has not been made public over national security concerns, but it involved the throwing of objects onto power lines in Mirabel, Wentworth and Brownsburg-Chatham from an airplane. Dubé’s frustration with Hydro-Québec reportedly stems from a disagreement over an easement the utility has over Dubé’s land.

Dubé, 56, is the designer and producer of the Normand Dubé Aerocruiser, a bush plane available in kit form. According to Dubé’s website, more than 70 Aerocruisers have been sold and are flying. Three models are offered, a two-seat Rotax-powered 912, a four-seat Lycoming-powered Plus and a six-seat, turbocharged, Lycoming-powered Turbo 450. The prototype for the latter model was seized by police as evidence for the case.

Aviation Normand Dubé, Dubé’s operating company, is also a Robinson Helicopters dealer and service centre in New Brunswick.

Known in Quebec as ‘The Pilot of the Stars’ for his many celebrity passengers, Dubé, of Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines, Quebec, also had a reputation for being quick-tempered and vengeful, according to the judge. He is facing 20 more criminal charges in the new year; 10 for alleged criminal harassment and 6 related to arson. Five men have already pleaded guilty to arson charges in which Dubé is alleged to have been involved.