Drones overhead tonight (many)
- Thread starter jdog
- Start date
Different Brown and no relation.
This came up on my feed, although I can't read it because paywall
Unidentified Drones Light Up New Jersey’s Skies, Baffling Residents
People across the state have reported seeing scores of large, low-flying objects in recent weeks. Officials haven’t said where they’re coming from, or why they’re here.www.nytimes.com
Unidentified Drones Light Up New Jersey’s Skies, Baffling Residents
People across the state have reported seeing scores of large, low-flying objects in recent weeks. Officials haven’t said where they’re coming from, or why they’re here.
Dec. 7, 2024
A recent image of a drone in Bernardsville, N.J. Sightings of the flying machines have been reported in at least 10 counties in the state since mid-November.Fox News
Brightly lit against a dark night sky, the low-flying object wasn’t a star, and it wasn’t moving like a plane or a helicopter.
Kat Dunbar spotted the strange object early one night several weeks ago while driving home with her children, and she was stumped.
“I was like, ‘What is that? Is that a U.F.O.?’” said Ms. Dunbar, a 37-year-old acupuncturist and mother of three. “And we watched it the whole way home.”
Then, she said, she thought nothing more about it. Until earlier this week, when similarly bright, large and buzzing objects began flying low over her home in Bedminster, N.J.
They were drones, she realized. And since then, she said, they have been back every night. Usually she and her husband, Nick Dunbar, see the first drone not long after sunset. Then they keep coming, one after another: sometimes five or more, following the same flight path.
“In the last week, it became a little bit of a menacing and, like, creepy thing,” Ms. Dunbar said.
Ms. Dunbar is not alone. Drone sightings have been reported in at least 10 New Jersey counties since mid-November. They have been spotted flying over important infrastructure, like reservoirs, power lines and railroads, in people’s backyards and above highways. They often fly in groups and emit a loud humming noise that Mr. Dunbar, 39, described as similar to the sounds made by electric cars. The drones appear to be significantly larger than those widely available to hobbyists.
The sightings have prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to temporarily ban drones from flying over a military base in Morris County and a golf club owned and frequented by President-elect Donald J. Trump. On Nov. 26, drones flying near a landing zone prevented a medical helicopter from picking up a person injured in a car crash in Somerset County, according to NJ.com.
State leaders and elected officials have said the drones do not pose any threat to the public. But they have yet to provide any information about who might be operating them, or why.
The reported sightings have alarmed local law enforcement officials. The police chief of Florham Park, N.J., said in a statement on social media that the drones’ presence appeared “nefarious in nature.” In Hunterdon County, officials said that drones had been seen near the county’s emergency communications center and near Round Valley Reservoir, the largest in New Jersey and a critical part of the state’s water supply.
In recent days, drone sightings, which had been concentrated in northern New Jersey, have been reported in the southern part of state, in the Philadelphia suburbs and in towns near the coast. In New York, some Staten Island residents have reported drones near the Howland Hook Marine Terminal and on the west shore. Vito Fossella, Staten Island’s borough president, asked the F.B.I. and the F.A.A. to investigate the sightings in a letter, describing the ongoing mystery as “odd and quite bizarre,” according to reports.
The F.B.I.’s Newark field office has urged anyone with “relevant information” about the drones to call the bureau’s tip line or submit information online.
On Thursday, Gov. Philip D. Murphy of New Jersey said in a statement on social media that his office was “actively monitoring the situation” in coordination with federal and state law enforcement officers, and that there was “no known threat to the public at this time.”
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday evening.
Unmanned objects in the sky have been spotted near U.S. military bases several times in the past year. In December 2023, drones swarmed the Langley Air Force Base in Virginia for 17 days, according to a Wall Street Journal report, which added that similar sightings had been made this year near an Air Force base in California.
In the last few weeks, the U.S. Navy said “small unmanned aerial systems” had been seen flying near or above four military bases used by the United States in Britain. Pentagon officials said they were taking the reports seriously, but that they did not present “any significant mission impact.”
For many New Jersey residents like the Dunbars, the drones feel more like an oddity, and a nuisance, than a threat. Still, the family is on edge, unnerved by the nightly mystery. They wonder when, or if, the flyovers will end.
“The thing that really feels unsettling is just like, is this always going to be like this?” Ms. Dunbar said, adding that she feared for her family’s privacy, not knowing what surveillance capabilities the drones might have.
“I’m not a conspiracist by any means,” she said, “but I don’t love the idea of massive drones patrolling where I live.”
Tracey Tully contributed reporting.
Because 99% of the drone sightings are really just airplanes?
iman29
Well-Known Member
Swat it down with a stick it’s flying low ..
So there is a fb page and they had people out there, no crash site, just the sp looking for something... That helicopter has a FLIR camera on it, so probably why they are using it.
I think we need we need only to look at the Chinese spy Ballon a couple years ago..... Was it some huge secret that the government was trying to cover up? No... Everyone knew what it was, where it was at any given time, what jet they were sending after it... Even what missle they used to shoot it down...if this was an actual issue, I think we'd know alot more....nj has radar everywhere, if there is something car sized up there that wasn't a plane, they would be tracking it
I have yet to see a single video that isn't obviously a plane or helicopter... Except for this... This is not an airplane
Sven Migot
Well-Known Member
I stepped outside last night to see all these drones. It was dead quiet & sky was clear. Within 2 minutes I saw 3 sets of blinking lights flying low. After watching each one for 30 seconds they all turned out to be huge airliners flying much higher than I thought. After they passed over the roar of the engines was a big clue.
Red Mosquito
Formerly RLB the Scrapple Boy
I was out walking the dog for 30min after dark and was also watching. Disappointed to only see stars and planes.
Also, something to consider....and @Patrick please chime in as a licensed pilot as I am not one.....
If these drones are "car sized" objects flying around...There have been reports all over NJ...in what would be class, B, C and even D airspace.....Does anyone actually believe that air traffic control is just ignoring this stuff? They would be on radar, ATC would attempt to contact them, if they don't respond there is a whole litany of things that can potentially happen. For GREAT reason after many mid air collisions and deaths....So to believe there are large car sized objects randomly flying around out there....well you have to believe that ATC is ignoring them....and you can check that....just look on the flight radar app....there there is something unidentified flying around in a space where airliners might be....the airliners would be diverted. So far there are no reports from pilots seeing anything, no reports that ATC is diverting planes because unknown flying objects are in this airspace....All airliners have a TCAS systems that detects other "flying objects" in their airspace and alerts pilots...no reports from pilots that this is being activated....
does anyone remember what would happen in the trump days when a cessna would wander a little to close to trump national? Fighter jets were scrambled asap
www.nbcphiladelphia.com
Point being....the skies are being watched.....there have been incidents in which ATC mistakes have happened and people died....Air traffic controllers have both committed suicide and been murdered for mistakes.....I have no doubt they are a group of people who take their jobs very seriously.
And these lights.......you know those big white lights on an airliner are 600w bulbs that can be see for 100 miles!......thats not something you are going to see on some battery powered drone.
If these drones are "car sized" objects flying around...There have been reports all over NJ...in what would be class, B, C and even D airspace.....Does anyone actually believe that air traffic control is just ignoring this stuff? They would be on radar, ATC would attempt to contact them, if they don't respond there is a whole litany of things that can potentially happen. For GREAT reason after many mid air collisions and deaths....So to believe there are large car sized objects randomly flying around out there....well you have to believe that ATC is ignoring them....and you can check that....just look on the flight radar app....there there is something unidentified flying around in a space where airliners might be....the airliners would be diverted. So far there are no reports from pilots seeing anything, no reports that ATC is diverting planes because unknown flying objects are in this airspace....All airliners have a TCAS systems that detects other "flying objects" in their airspace and alerts pilots...no reports from pilots that this is being activated....
does anyone remember what would happen in the trump days when a cessna would wander a little to close to trump national? Fighter jets were scrambled asap
Fighter Jets Scramble Over Central Jersey After Airspace Violations
We just found out from NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, that two separate private planes were intercepted for flying in restricted airspace.
www.nbcphiladelphia.com
Point being....the skies are being watched.....there have been incidents in which ATC mistakes have happened and people died....Air traffic controllers have both committed suicide and been murdered for mistakes.....I have no doubt they are a group of people who take their jobs very seriously.
And these lights.......you know those big white lights on an airliner are 600w bulbs that can be see for 100 miles!......thats not something you are going to see on some battery powered drone.
TCAS is based on transponders and ADS-B (self reporting of GPS position to ATC, and direct plane-to-plane surveillance)
ATC can add non-transponder traffic (ie some balloons, ultra-lights, etc) to the uplink using primary radar. (think ping in submarine terms)
Commercial pilots refer to this as the fish finder. Don't think i'm using that lingo, although an occasional yahoo when I spot traffic is acceptable.
Yeah, nothing is flying around unidentified in the airspace that is nearly continuous from Philly to Kennedy. Think Delaware Bay to Eastern LI.
Even most generic older transponders have a unique identifier (mode S) along with an altitude encoder (mode C.) ADS-B is now required in controlled airspace.
The area off-shore is monitored by the military - anything that flies in that space that isn't known is getting a visit.
It is called an ADIZ.
I watched that intercept around solberg airport from my backyard. fun watching a military jet try to fly under 100mph.
ATC can add non-transponder traffic (ie some balloons, ultra-lights, etc) to the uplink using primary radar. (think ping in submarine terms)
Commercial pilots refer to this as the fish finder. Don't think i'm using that lingo, although an occasional yahoo when I spot traffic is acceptable.
Yeah, nothing is flying around unidentified in the airspace that is nearly continuous from Philly to Kennedy. Think Delaware Bay to Eastern LI.
Even most generic older transponders have a unique identifier (mode S) along with an altitude encoder (mode C.) ADS-B is now required in controlled airspace.
The area off-shore is monitored by the military - anything that flies in that space that isn't known is getting a visit.
It is called an ADIZ.
I watched that intercept around solberg airport from my backyard. fun watching a military jet try to fly under 100mph.
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