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Mysterious New Jersey drone sightings prompt call for 'state of emergency'

• deadeye 2y ago
  Perhaps most importantly, why would drones with a nefarious purpose have navigation lights? They could run completely blacked out and it would make no difference to the operator.
• lisper 2y ago
  Martians!
• ents 2y ago
  Why are they not being shot down at the very least?
  • dartos 2y ago
    Gravity
  • soared 2y ago
    I don’t think anyone has the tools to go to an area after a spotting and capture/destroy them quick enough.
    • hoppyhoppy2 2y ago
      Not to mention that it's illegal to shoot down aircraft
      • OhNoNotAgain_99 2y ago
        [dead]
  • runjake 2y ago
    Shooting large, apparently car-sized, stuff down over populated areas isn't a good idea. As an aside, I presume at this point, the military and FBI are stationing their SIGINT aircraft over the area and probably have a good idea what's going on but aren't saying publicly. These things are emitting electromagnetic energy in more ways that one, eg. radios and electric motor RF signatures. RIP the SkyCircles accounts on Twitter.
  • KK7NIL 2y ago
    The FAA looks down on people shooting at flying objects they can barely recognize, as this guy learned the hard way: https://www.yahoo.com/news/retiree-shot-walmart-delivery-drone-165145541.html?guccounter=1 https://www.yahoo.com/news/retiree-shot-walmart-delivery-dro...
    • mindslight 2y ago
      > DroneUp Delivery was working on mock deliveries for Walmart and had set up a delivery point outside of Mr Winn’s ... home > The defendant stated he had past experience with drones and believed they were surveilling him The question I'm left with after reading that article - was this test delivery point for a single trial run, or did this company choose one random location and then repeatedly send tests there over and over? If it's the latter, that seems like it should also warrant criminal charges.
      • binary132 2y ago
        Companies should not be sending UAVs to anyone’s property without permission, period. This stuff needs to get sorted out in law and these bozos need to back off.
  • bell-cot 2y ago
    "Shot down" with what? Surface-to-air missiles? Duck hunters with shotguns? Attack helicopters with miniguns? Whatever you spray into the sky (to knock a drone out of it) will also fall back to earth, plausibly generating civilian casualties on the ground. (And if you use lasers - high power laser beams have plenty of safety issues, too.)
    • potato3732842 2y ago
      If Ukraine is any indication you shoot them down with other drones.
      • gowld 2y ago
        No one in Ukraine is in the habit of shooting down commercial airliners and helicopters, though.
        • wood_spirit 2y ago
          No they used Buk missiles instead.
          • bananapub 2y ago
            where they = the Russian military or Russian-military aligned terrorist groups.
      • bell-cot 2y ago
        Ukraine's capabilities in that domain are plausibly far more advanced that America's. Also - costs, casualties, & collateral damage may be far more acceptable in an active war zone, and against drones which are busy killing people & destroying valuables whenever they are not shot down.
        • TheOtherHobbes 2y ago
          Ukraine's capabilities mostly consist of ramming a cheap drone into an expensive one. This is one of those times when the US has a Maginot Military - massively overpowered against traditional threats, inexperienced when dealing with something like this. This is not a trivial problem. A cheap drone with a relatively small explosive payload flown into an air intake can take down a military aircraft and cause serious problems for an airliner or private jet. An airfield is the ideal place to do that, because aircraft are most vulnerable during takeoff and landing. A few people and a hundred drones launched from a few km away can significantly delay incoming and outgoing flights. Equip the drones with weapons - or larger explosives - and it's potentially Pearl Harbour.
  • OutOfHere 2y ago
    It's always wrong (in every possible way) to be the first one to engage hostilities. To be morally in the clear, you should always wait for the other side to engage first. If we didn't follow this doctrine, we would've already had a nuclear holocaust. Warmongers and civilization don't mix. We don't know anything about their capabilities as individual drones or as a cluster of drones. For all you know, when you shoot one, the other ten take that as declaration of war.
    • ponector 2y ago
      According to this logic we should wait untill Iran creates a nuke and only then destroy their nuclear facilities, right?
      • OutOfHere 2y ago
        We should follow the drones to see where they land, and continue the investigation from there. There is no evidence that the drones carry WMDs, or that they're dangerous like Iran. If we had reason to believe that the drones are associated with WMDs, then it would be okay to neutralize them, but we don't. Because of false assertions about WMDs, we've already had one unnecessary war in Iraq. How many more do you want?
      • binary132 2y ago
        Why should we attack Iran if they develop a nuclear weapon? That seems pretty unprovoked.
  • bagels 2y ago
    Some of these photos are of passenger planes. I think most agree that shooting down passenger planes is bad.
    • Aeolun 2y ago
      Also rather hard to accidentally do if you have equipment capable of shooting down aircraft.
  • Cthulhu_ 2y ago
    Why? Just follow them and see where they land / head to (they can't fly forever) and ask some questions to the owners.
    • alchemist1e9 2y ago
      supposedly they originate and return to somewhere out in ocean. presumably boats or submarines.
      • op00to 2y ago
        Unsubstantiated rumors. I say they come from mole people underground. The same reliable source as your information i’m sure.
        • alchemist1e9 2y ago
          Not confirmed but not unsubstantiated. A coast guard ship filed reports of them both arriving from out at sea and returning to sea. Also several local sheriffs have observed the same. The War Zone is always a reliable source for national security related reporting - https://www.twz.com/news-features/coast-guard-ship-stalked-by-unidentified-aircraft-iran-drone-mothership-claim-shot-down-by-dod https://www.twz.com/news-features/coast-guard-ship-stalked-b... I feel this story from them would have been a better post for HN audiences.
  • s5300 2y ago
    [dead]
  • op00to 2y ago
    Nothing these drones are doing are illegal.
• soared 2y ago
  Bit concerning that no government agencies have figured out what’s going on, but hardly seems like there is a reason for a limited state of emergency given there is no known threat at all. My guess is a US company is gathering data and hasn’t admitted to do so without some type of licensing/etc
  • potato3732842 2y ago
    >My guess is a US company is gathering data and hasn’t admitted to do so without some type of licensing/etc My guess is "Flowers By Irene" or more likely someone contracted to do stuff on their behalf for optics/politics reasons. Real companies that do drone stuff are pretty by the book because they know the fed crosshairs are on them.
    • neuroelectron 2y ago
      That's my impression as well. They could be tracking individuals or materials of interest coming from the ports which is why they're over NJ specifically.
  • dylan604 2y ago
    That's the beauty of things like this. Most local municipalities are just not equipped for this type of situation. The feds are, but the locals have to become aware, realize they can't do anything, and then request help. A mayor calls the governor, the governor calls the feds. That's the hierarchy, and that's pretty much what happened.
  • thephyber 2y ago
    There was an article 1-2 days ago saying that one was in the area of a LifeFlight helicopter, preventing the safe operation of that medical transport. There has been a threat articulated. It may not be a true report and the response may not be proportional/appropriate to the threat, but to say there is zero threat is wrong. Also, reportedly these are the size of SUVs. I don’t believe you need that much of an investment for “gathering data”.
    • 2y ago
• LinuxBender 2y ago
  Seems like an opportunity for a training exercise. Have the FAA put a TFR in place and let the national guard interdict, ECW and such. Take control, land it in the x-ray scanner, check for explosives then take it apart and get telemetry data. The US taught Ukraine how to do this with great success. If no joy on ECW, disassemble them in the sky. If the drones were legit they would be broadcasting their ID as would the controllers and they would be within visible range unless they have the approved part 107 on file or part 107 waiver and approval for long range drone usage. If these are not really drones and it is just mass hysteria the national guard would rule that out rather fast. As a bonus there is no added cost to the tax payer aside from the small fuel expense to route around the TFR which pilots are accustom to. This is just swapping out one training exercise with another.
  • talldayo 2y ago
    Some action is already being taken; supposedly the GREMLIN program is being rolled out in areas where sightings are most common: https://taskandpurpose.com/news/military-ufo-gremlin/ https://taskandpurpose.com/news/military-ufo-gremlin/ > If no joy on ECW, disassemble them in the sky. I disagree, for the same reason the US doesn't send an SM-6 up to greet every plane without an IFF turned on. It's an expensive exercise in endangering human lives, not a valiant defense of homeland security. Understanding the battlespace is a crucial part of modern warfare and soldiers aren't going to blind-fire on a weird drone unless it presents an immediate, credible threat. Take the AIM-120s off your F-16 and put a FLIR pod on it, track the drones to wherever they land. Record the platform, dazzle it if it's got cameras or EO sensors, and send a few decoys out if you want to bait it into revealing last-resort defenses against a JDAM-like weapon. Then, you destroy it. Hell, if it's an unmanned naval platform you could also just send a couple Marines out in a Chinook to lift it to the Pentagon. America's weapons are nice, but we can do a lot more than just blow stuff up.
    • dylan604 2y ago
      F-16 seems like overkill for a drone. Send up the Apaches. Let's not forget it took how many sidewinders to take down the Chinese balloon? More than 1 makes someone look foolish.
• mkmk 2y ago
  A practical question, beyond the questions of whose drones these are: what are they looking for?
  • dylan604 2y ago
    They're just looking for the Situation or Snooki out on the Shore. Someone forgot to tell them what decade it is.
    • yard2010 2y ago
      The Situation always reminds me of Date Mike. "I'm date mike! How do you like your eggs in the morning?" is something he would definitely say.
  • TheBlight 2y ago
    Presumably something with a heat signature since they're operating at night.
  • colechristensen 2y ago
    The most plausible explanation is that people who know nothing are in hysterics over legally operated and licensed aircraft. ATC has radar, military bases have radar. If there were threats, they would see them and do something about them. Folks are reporting to their state senators? and some whacky congressmen have said some absurd things, but no one who is actually responsible cares and folks are trying to spin it like they're clueless. This is the equivalent of calling the FBI because you're a pepperpot and you saw someone you didn't recognize walking down the street. Drones near sensitive power infrastrucure... like those transmission sites will all the equipment are all over the place. And police stations? Give me a break. There's probably some unlicensed or amateur operators doing slightly inappropriate things, but silly people are trying to frame it like some kind of attack. Also some of them are certainly just ordinary airplanes.
    • nradov 2y ago
      ATC and military bases only have primary radar covering a tiny fraction of US territory. Most of what people think of as radar relies on active transponders to work. Or it's ADS-B output and not radar at all.
• aaron695 2y ago
  How strange we get great footage out of Ukraine but no one in New Jersey can get a photo that's not shakey rubbish that looks like an airplane, or helicopter or Xmas lights or Sasquatch walking down the street with a glow in the dark cock ring. Mustn't have the latest cellphone? I hear smart phones have cameras. They sound as good with technology as HN commentators.
• apcragg 2y ago
  The photos I've seen posted look very obviously like commercial airliners and helicopters with their navigation lights on. You can even make out the American Airlines livery on the tail! https://www.app.com/story/news/local/new-jersey/2024/12/11/drones-over-new-jersey-likely-military-or-defense-contractor-expert-pramod-abichandani/76898388007/ https://www.app.com/story/news/local/new-jersey/2024/12/11/d...
  • _djo_ 2y ago
    Same. This is a ridiculous mass hysteria driven by media sensationalism and ignorant members of the public.
    • dylan604 2y ago
      Just out of curiosity, I took a look at the map for Spring Lake, NJ. There's an airport ~7 miles inland. There's a national guard center just to the south. Just to the north, there's Sylvan Lake that looks like the profile of a jetliner. What's this got to do with anything? Nothing, but it's no less of an explanation than what these people have proposed.
    • fourteenfour 2y ago
      Lol, also rep. Jeff Van Drew claiming without evidence that the drones are coming from an Iranian mothership off the coast.
      • gowld 2y ago
        In his defense, he is a Cold War relic.
        • sitkack 2y ago
          He was 20 in 1973, that doesn't qualify as a CW relic. Not even a curio.
          • ipsum2 2y ago
• dantillberg 2y ago
  There was a similar phenomenon a few years back in Colorado: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019%E2%80%9320_Colorado_drone_sightings https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019%E2%80%9320_Colorado_drone....
  • amatecha 2y ago
    TIL (from that page): "Flying drones at night without a waiver from the FAA is a violation of federal law" -- perhaps relevant to the top level article
    • Aloisius 2y ago
      You haven't needed a waiver since 2021. Now you can get near real-time approval to fly at night under Part 107.
      • op00to 2y ago
        You don’t need any prior approval under 107 to fly at night. You don’t need a part 107 license to fly at night if you’re flying for “fun”. You simply need lights.
      • amatecha 2y ago
        Oh, then I suppose that page is out of date and should be updated. Thanks for the up-to-date info!
• pygar 2y ago
  So is Iran just going to be the default bogeyman until they drum up enough negative sentiment for a war? Iran doesn't really have any military projection. It can't even move equipment and people into countries it's close to (Syria, Iraq), let alone the US. Why would they take the risk of doing this? It's obviously bullshit.
  • potato3732842 2y ago
    >Iran doesn't really have any military projection. I'll take "things people said about Afghanistan in 1999" for 400! Just to be clear, I fully agree with your sentiment. Probably not Iran or any other foreign power.
    • lesuorac 2y ago
      Isn't it true about Afghanistan in 1999 and probably now too? A lack of military projection doesn't mean that your country can go in and rout out all insurgency. It just means that Afghanistan isn't going to be able to wage war on US soil from Afghanistan.
  • deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  • mkoubaa 2y ago
    This. Blame Iran by default is getting really tiresome at this point
  • toofy 2y ago
    > So is Iran just going to be the default bogeyman…? likely, until theyre crying everything is antifa again. they seem to cycle around through their paranoia targets.
  • LAC-Tech 2y ago
    I think the American public is a lot more cynical than when they were duped into war with Iraq 20 years ago. Certain people will try and drag you into an Iranian war, but I don't think it will work now. The playbook has been used too many times.
• NotYourLawyer 2y ago
  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Boston_Mooninite_panic https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Boston_Mooninite_panic
  • ChrisArchitect 2y ago
    a recent thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42225609 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42225609
  • op00to 2y ago
    Exactly my thought! It feels very much the same.
  • ZYbCRq22HbJ2y7 2y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey_Devil#Reported_sightings https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey_Devil#Reported_sighting...
• OutOfHere 2y ago
  [flagged]
  • boc 2y ago
    Our response to a Chinese drone invasion on CONUS would be some fun spicy RVs from a Trident II.
• gowld 2y ago
  What kind of equipment (available to civilians) can capture accurate and useful data about of UFO size, distance, and trajectory/heading?
  • genewitch 2y ago
    you'd probably need active radar if it isn't transmitting anything, unless you had a extremely high gain and directional passive radar system (i do, but i've never tried to track anything small, but i can see commercial jets just fine). The Hydra (it's changed names so many times) can do passive radar, which you can probably make active with a tx switch and a transmitter. Passive radar works thus: you aim a directional antenna in one direction, toward some transmitting signal (FM radio, television, whatever), and aim your passive detection antenna in the other direction. The signal from behind will hit whatever you're aiming at and possibly reflect some of the signal back to you, and the hydra radio software can detect "echos" of that sort and put them on a chart with relative sizes and speeds and "distance" as well. https://www.rtl-sdr.com/tag/hydrasdr/ https://www.rtl-sdr.com/tag/hydrasdr/
• downWidOutaFite 2y ago
  Israel has been mounting guns and speakers on long-distance quadcopters and shooting at Gazans. Only a short time until that tech becomes widespread. Israel seems to be a proving ground for mass population terrorizing tech like this. I'm having a hard time seeing how society is not going to devolve into capitalist tech fascism as we lose all our privacy and tech becomes more powerful than our governments, aka the will of the people.
  • boc 2y ago
    Wait until you hear that the US mounted hellfire missiles on a drone in 2001 and shot at trucks/people in Afghanistan. Or it is only "terrorizing" to a population when you use bullets instead of enormous bullets that also kill everything in a 30m radius?
    • wahnfrieden 2y ago
      Both are obviously terrorism
  • victorbjorklund 2y ago
    [flagged]
    • wahnfrieden 2y ago
      Where are you getting your info the drones are only used against Hamas? Just a survey of recent reporting shows you're mistaken: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c7893vpy2gqo https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c7893vpy2gqo > A retired surgeon who volunteered at a hospital in Gaza has told MPs that Israeli drones would target children who were lying injured after bombings. https://www.npr.org/2024/11/19/nx-s1-5195171/witnesses-say-israel-is-using-sniper-drones-in-gaza-and-theyre-shooting-civilians https://www.npr.org/2024/11/19/nx-s1-5195171/witnesses-say-i... > Witnesses say Israel is using sniper drones in Gaza and they're shooting civilians Not a surprise given that the civilian casualty ratio is around 80% (4-5 children/women/non-combatants killed for each 1 combatant)
  • 2y ago
• OhNoNotAgain_99 2y ago
  [dead]
• guhcampos 2y ago
  [flagged]
  • redeux 2y ago
    If you look at who is claiming espionage, I don’t think it’s intended to be a plausible explanation - just an excuse to further agitate.
    • dgfitz 2y ago
      [flagged]
      • LeafItAlone 2y ago
        The Guardian is publication reporting the information. If you click the link at the top, open the website, and read the article, you will see who is quoted as making the claims.
        • dgfitz 2y ago
          [flagged]
        • trimethylpurine 2y ago
          The quotes seem to indicate that they don't care about drones. The context surrounding the quotes is all The Guardian's. He emphasized there was “no known threat to the public at this time”. Etc... Then quotes of one word end quote two words not quoted, then a few more quoted words. Or a sentence that's clearly drawn without context. Typical modern reporting. The people being quoted don't have the time to care if they were lied about. So, yes, if you click the link, you'll see who is quoted making the claims, but there is no reason to think that they actually made those claims. Only that those people don't care enough to stop their workday and refute every piece of media trash with their name in it that probably didn't even make it to their desk.
          • deleted 2y ago
• MisterTea 2y ago
  Those floating balloon things we saw previously, the ones which were shot down, I had a thought they could be used as floating drone platforms. Like the carrier in Starcraft. The whole thing can silently float for days, the drones can awake and deploy, surveil, return, then float away silently. It could then scuttle itself in the ocean where a waiting ship can salvage it.
  • bluescrn 2y ago
    It'd be a lot more subtle to just have a spy on the ground operating a drone from nearby, looking like just another careless hobbyist flying where they shouldn't be. Small drones don't have much range, and balloons could have ended up hundreds of miles off target.
  • lagrange77 2y ago
    Oh, like the gas stations in TaleSpin.
• 65 2y ago
  What if it's just someone testing a New Year's drone show?
• walrus01 2y ago
  The idea that mystery nefarious drone operators would be sending up things with blinking red and green navigation lights on them is patently absurd. As others have pointed out in this thread, there's a lot of more mundane explanations.
  • ungreased0675 2y ago
    What if the lights are how they are controlled and pass data, rather than an RF link?
    • pavel_lishin 2y ago
      That's as plausible as them beaming spy data directly into the operator's brains via midichlorians.
    • walrus01 2y ago
      Exceedingly unlikely in my opinion, I've seen pictures/videos of these mystery drones and they look exactly like commercial aircraft white, red and green navigation lights. Or the red and green lights you would see on the end of the arms on a COTS DJI/Autel/competitor type UAV.
    • pyth0 2y ago
      What if the moon were made of cheese?
      • ungreased0675 2y ago
        https://lifi.co/lifi-applications/aerospace/ https://lifi.co/lifi-applications/aerospace/ The technology is real, and the application is plausible, why the down votes?
  • alchemist1e9 2y ago
    it seems the videos posted with blinking red and green navigation lights are actually not representative of the drone sightings authorities are investigating but instead represent a side effect of the mania with people posting videos of private aircrafts as everyone is looking up and trying to record the “drones” but doesn’t realize the aircraft have been there all along and first they are paying attention. The real drones go dark and evade helicopters.
• partiallypro 2y ago
  This is the biggest mass hysteria I can remember. People are sharing video of things that are very obviously airplanes and helicopters. I'm sure there are some drones but that isn't 95%+ of what people are seeing. This is honestly terrifying, because it's baffling people can't determine what is generally regular aircraft (some of these videos are SO obviously planes coming in for a landing, with jet engine noises and all) and the other is that eventually some nut is going to open fire on a commercial airliner just coming in for a landing because they think it's China or aliens or something. That won't take down the plane but could hit someone inside. People need to chill. I think drones are a new threat for various reasons (look at Ukrainian war footage, it's absolutely terrifying) but while I'm sure there were -some- drones, probably a mix between government and hobbyist...uh, the overreaction to it is seriously worrying. The US is turning into a land of paranoia. Side note, it's very difficult to determine the size and altitude of something even in the daytime, so at night it's even harder. These "car sized" drones could literally just be the size of a larger DJI drone. The media and government officials feeding into this is bad.
  • mr_toad 2y ago
    > This is the biggest mass hysteria I can remember. The biggest panic about unidentified flying objects in New Jersey since October 30 1938.
    • partiallypro 2y ago
      This is going to shock you, but I wasn't alive in 1938, which is why I would have no memory of it. I would venture to guess you weren't either.
      • deleted 2y ago
        [deleted]
  • stevenhuang 2y ago
    Why are you so certain it must be mass hysteria and not UAP? What are your piors? Are you a resident of NJ? Are you familiar with the UAP phenomenon? I venture you are neither of these.
• throwthis1287 2y ago
  The Guardian in 2017 (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/aug/03/secret-service-will-deploy-drones-to-watch-trump-during-golfing-vacation https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/aug/03/secret-servi...): Secret Service will deploy drones to watch Trump during golfing vacation The Guardian in 2024 (this submission): Concerns have focused on drones spotted near the Bedminster golf course of president-elect Donald Trump, as well as sensitive infrastructure including electric transmission sights, rail stations and police departments. After the Butler assassination attempt, there have been numerous criticisms that the FBI did not use surveillance drones on the site. I would not be surprised if 50% of drone sightings are government surveillance drones and the rest are just hobbyist photographers etc.
• Eumenes 2y ago
  The US military can track and engage ICBMs moving at 15k MPH but can't identity drones above residential neighborhoods in the continental US? They really do believe we're stupid.
  • dboreham 2y ago
    Based on this post they're right.
  • emchammer 2y ago
    Those are different types of radars and they are pointed in different directions.
  • talldayo 2y ago
    Quadcopters occupy the same flight regime as most clutter does: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clutter_(radar) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clutter_(radar) Truth is, a Patriot system would probably also miss something like this unless it had special SHORAD or CIWS defenses alongside it. A lot of these drones are going to be invisible to conventional radar if they want to be.
• RecycledEle 2y ago
  Just wait. Some startup will confess, just like many of the balloons were hobbyists, students, and clubs.
• deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
• kernelkhertz 2y ago
  [flagged]
• kernelkhertz 2y ago
  [flagged]
  • IAmGraydon 2y ago
    That you’re delusional?
    • stevenhuang 2y ago
      Long time member here and not a kook. From what I understand of the situation, I will stake the claim that the Galactic federation stuff is closest to the truth of what's happening here. It's wild to suggest, I know. It will not be possible for most members of the community who don't follow the UAP phenomenon to understand why. But all of of the information is out there, and if this event catalizes curiosity in you, then you will do your own research and come to the conclusion that, reality might very well be this weird. I've always found these stories as mere fascinating sci-fi what ifs, but as more of these events unfold I've got to admit there might be something to it.
      • kernelkhertz 2y ago
        I think most logical people watching these events have to admit there might be something more to it. Indeed.
      • kernelkhertz 2y ago
        yes indeed. https://x.com/Kabamur_Taygeta/status/1829624643701129691 https://x.com/Kabamur_Taygeta/status/1829624643701129691
      • IAmGraydon 2y ago
        Got it. How do you explain why these drones have green and red aviation lights and headlights? The aliens are abiding by FAA regulations now?
        • stevenhuang 2y ago
• GenerocUsername 2y ago
  I wish we as people could have meaningful conversations on the internet. To clarify some common logical issues I see spread across dozens of responses in this thread: Drones != Quadcopters Drones COULD use a housing to mimics common aircraft or helicopters. The military and FBI do not commonly monitor ALL airspace at all times beyond air-traffic radar. The government is not a hive-mind and individuals only know what they know despite the fact the are asked to make statements.
  • pkkkzip 2y ago
    [flagged]
    • talldayo 2y ago
      > I'm sure that with Trump unsealing much of the anticipated documents around Epstein, Diddy, Kennedy, UFO/UAP I think the only cognitive dissonance is expecting Trump to unseal anything he didn't already unseal in his first term.
      • GenerocUsername 2y ago
        [flagged]
        • bqmjjx0kac 2y ago
          I'm not sure the man is capable of reflection. I think all we can say is that he's reliably unpredictable. Perhaps he will do something different this term.
    • whoitwas 2y ago
      Let me get this straight ... you think Donald Trump is going to unseal Epstein documents????????????????????????????? Why? He was his buddy and probable executioner. https://epsteinsblackbook.com/names/donald-trump https://epsteinsblackbook.com/names/donald-trump
• dukeofdoom 2y ago
  I fly drones, sometimes even to me a drone can look suspiciously unnatural. Especially at night the way the drone moves abruptly with all the led lights, its difficult to judge its distance. But ... what if Aliens and Ghosts are the same thing? DaDaDa!
• xyst 2y ago
  Reminds me of the Chinese balloon incident of 2023 [1] Unsubstantiated theory, but maybe a foreign adversary scanning ground for targets? Critical east coast transmission lines and substations in NJ possibly a target? [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Chinese_balloon_incident https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Chinese_balloon_inciden...
  • jncfhnb 2y ago
    You can see these things with satellites
    • op00to 2y ago
      Or airplanes. Like the ones flying overhead all the time in N.J.
      • hedora 2y ago
        Or here: https://felt.com/explore/us-electric-power-transmission-lines-new-jersey https://felt.com/explore/us-electric-power-transmission-line... (Account signup required.)
        • IAmGraydon 2y ago
          Wow. What possible reason would anyone have to make that information so easy to access?
          • jncfhnb 2y ago
            Companies that want to build assets that connect to the transmission system
• cynicalpeace 2y ago
  A lot of people here are writing this off as hysteria. I don't know if this is anything nefarious or not, but I would note that being suspicious of these things is often a good thing, not a bad thing. Even Michael Shermer, the famed skeptic, wrote a book on how suspecting conspiracy is often a valid default stance. Abstract from his book: "One reason that people believe these conspiracies, Shermer argues, is that enough of them are real that we should be constructively conspiratorial: elections have been rigged (LBJ's 1948 Senate race); medical professionals have intentionally harmed patients in their care (Tuskegee); your government does lie to you (Watergate, Iran-Contra, and Afghanistan)" There are obviously people that always suspect conspiracy, and that's not good. But it's equally not good to always suspect a benign explanation, which is the majority of this thread. Just adding a different perspective to this community.
  • aliasxneo 2y ago
    I do find it rather hard to make sense of the antagonism here. My only guess is people feel the need to distance themselves from the "sheep" and do so by ridiculing them from their ivory tower. In some cases it's the same thing, but there's a political bent added to it ("some people" from "that side"). Sad to see what HN is slowly devolving into.
    • binary132 2y ago
      It’s probably an organized group of shills / bots trying to discredit and downplay the concerns so it doesn’t get out of hand. ;)
    • gg2222 2y ago
      Agreed. If it is mass hysteria why doesn't the government just say so instead of saying "they don't know". Some people just can't accept not "knowing it all".
      • IAmGraydon 2y ago
        They more or less did say that. They said that people are reporting these things but they haven’t detected anything. If you read between the lines, I think they’re insinuating this is mass hysteria but need to continue investigating to be sure.
• demarq 2y ago
  This is the "Iraq has WMD" for this generation. It's just laying the ground work for some insidious nonsense.
  • mkoubaa 2y ago
    I'm already seeing the propaganda wheels rolling on X blaming Iran.
• geor9e 2y ago
  A more accurate headline would be …prompts one New Jersey legislator on social media to call…
• Joel_Mckay 2y ago
  The BlackFly is an Ultralight Aircraft originally designed by OPENER in Canada, and is a single-seat personal aerial vehicle (PAV). It appears a few clowns are illegally flying something similar in the US air space, and over populated areas (FAA will hit hard on this point.) That odd looking air-frame design is very similar, and a simple phone call may put the drama to rest. =3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pivotal_BlackFly https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pivotal_BlackFly
• paxys 2y ago
  > On Wednesday, the Pentagon responded and addressed the baseless claims from one Republican New Jersey congressman that the drones were from an “Iranian mothership” lying off the coast of the state. A lot of people in power seem to be panicking because so many international conflicts are dying down in recent months. After a Ukraine-Russia ceasefire how is the military industrial complex going to sustain itself? We need a new boogeyman, asap.
  • R3-52 2y ago
    Maybe the drones belong to the govt. and are being used in the ongoing war. Best to just pretend they don't belong to them because politics are at the most sensitive phase now..
• lxgr 2y ago
  Of course there's the chance that something is actually going on. But if there isn't, telling people that there's been some strange lights in the sky is a pretty good way to get people to look up at night and receive even more reports about just that.
  • le-mark 2y ago
    Adding tho this; It’s clearly some business that hasn’t been forthcoming about their activities up to now. The drone delivery company Wing.com got a lot of pushback from the public about how noisy their drones are, and spent a lot money making them quieter. Same will happen here.
• pyinstallwoes 2y ago
  This is all quite very strange. I’ve been down multiple decision trees. Especially since this has been going on for weeks in NJ and then months in the greater vicinity.
• smallmouth 2y ago
  Seems rather eerie reading some of the eyewitness reports. I'm reminded of the mystery airship flap of the late 1800's into the early 1900's. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mystery_airship https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mystery_airship https://cdn.centerforinquiry.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/29/1990/01/22165233/p71.pdf https://cdn.centerforinquiry.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/29...
• toofy 2y ago
  why are we ignoring occam’s razor here? clearly this is santa testing new sleigh models.
• quantadev 2y ago
  Guided missiles have been illegal for consumer use for decades, and nobody cared. It makes sense that those are a military weapon. I also think drones are a military grade weapon. I've been saying for the past 24 years drones should be illegal. After 9/11 2001, I started saying that. I've also said they will not be made illegal util there's a massive terror attack proving their lethality to the lethargic naive public, who seems to think they're a toy, or that we need Amazon to fly one package at a time, which is nonsense.
  • kurtoid 2y ago
    A _lot_ of hobbyists (me included) disagree with you on this one. I think the current Remote ID law (controversial, yes) is a reasonable balance.
    • quantadev 2y ago
      Once a high profile attack or assassination happens with remote operated vehicles (drones or high-speed model jets), everyone's minds will change in a heartbeat. For now yeah most people think of drones as toys. It's just a failure of imagination and a failure to predict the obvious future events that are certain to unfold.
      • hedora 2y ago
        The US has been murdering civilians overseas with drones for over a decade. Also, domestically, we have all sorts of school shootings, etc, that don’t make the news. I’m sure if someone in power wanted to ban commercial drones, they could run a propaganda blitz and get the outcome you describe, but we’re pretty much a post-truth society at this point.
      • logicchains 2y ago
        >Once a high profile attack or assassination happens with remote operated vehicles (drones or high-speed model jets), everyone's minds will change in a heartbeat Pretty much any high-profile assassination with drones would probably have the support of at least half the population (or even more, in the case of the recent healthcare CEO assassination).
• irobeth 2y ago
  i'm reminded of a story from around 2012? about an aerial surveillance program where they recorded a bird's-eye view of the city [1?] they used the footage to solve some cartel murder by playing the footage in reverse to track the origin of the killers 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Lowrider https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Lowrider
  • 01100011 2y ago
    Funny, I just posted this story a couple of days ago. I think it was from 2014. There was a lot of noise about this sort of tech and then it just went quiet. I really doubt this tech is going unused. I suspect something like this was used to track down the CEO killer recently(with a parallel constructed cover story).
• mvcalder 2y ago
  At the risk of being labeled a kook or an idiot, I photographed drones flying over my suburb of Boston neighborhood a few weeks ago. This was about 6am, definitely drones not regular aircraft. I assumed it was something flying out of Hanscom or the city mapping streets. And yes I took photos not video, sorry. https://photos.app.goo.gl/Lwfn134LqdEp6xbG9 https://photos.app.goo.gl/Lwfn134LqdEp6xbG9
  • garbagewoman 2y ago
    why would someone call you a kook for a video of a thing
    • mvcalder 2y ago
      I read several comments referring to: idiots, morons, delusional, and hysteria.
      • neom 2y ago
        I didn't think you were a kook, I did wonder why you decided to film it in the first place, more the 6am thing, or more it was unusual thing?
        • mvcalder 2y ago
          It was an odd sight at that hour of the day. I wanted pictures as something to talk about with friends. I really wish I had been astute enough to take video.
          • neom 2y ago
            yah did better than I'd have, friend. I'm sure I'd have just been all like "oh lookie here, a drone flying around at 6am, unusual and cool!" and then gotten on with my day, ha!
  • jeffrallen 2y ago
    Looks like a bird with flashlights on it's wings. You're a kook. :)
• shadowtree 2y ago
  [flagged]
  • ZYbCRq22HbJ2y7 2y ago
    And then what?
    • VagabundoP 2y ago
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Chinese_balloon_incident https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Chinese_balloon_incident
      • ZYbCRq22HbJ2y7 2y ago
        A single balloon that maybe was a surveillance balloon traversed the US, did nothing, and then was shot down over water? Then the US was so panicked it shot a few million dollars of missiles at balloons elsewhere that definitely did not originate from China?
• jaco6 2y ago
  The concerns about it being a foreign power seem misplaced. Shouldn’t the main concern with drones be domestic terrorism? A civilian could easily buy a small fleet of drones, equip them with small IEDs or sarin gas, and fly them into otherwise secured areas with large crowds. Are there any procedures in place to prevent this?
  • kardos 2y ago
    > A civilian could easily buy a small fleet of drones, equip them with small IEDs or sarin gas, and fly them into otherwise secured areas with large crowds. Easy? Is sarin gas freely available at big-box retailers?
    • rolph 2y ago
      the synthetic precursors are.
      • 15155 2y ago
        Which? All of the weaponized forms involve some pretty nasty flourinated precursor chemicals which themselves are quite toxic -- and controlled.
        • rolph 2y ago
          all of them. if you understand chemistry; nasty, quite toxic, and controlled are not barriers. e.g. isopropyl alcohol.
    • 01100011 2y ago
      Don't underestimate hackers. The internet is supercharging hobbyist hackers in many domains, including electronics, chemistry and bioengineering. I doubt the precursors to nerve gases(the worst ones, anyway) are readily available, but they are probably a handful of undergrad-level reactions away from easily available chemicals.
      • 2y ago
• deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
• lxgr 2y ago
  While I do believe that whatever is happening will largely be explained by selective attention and confirmation bias, here is at least one instance of a drone sighting on the final approach path to JFK over a landing airplane: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQiSkTVeN78 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQiSkTVeN78
  • IAmGraydon 2y ago
    At 2,500 ft that is definitely no civilian drone.
    • lxgr 2y ago
      Why not? Technically it's possible, and while consumer drones often have altitude (above ground) limits, I wouldn't be surprised if these can be modded out. So I think that's the most likely explanation – surely the US military would not have their drones fly around in an active final approach path of a major civilian airport...? And if it was a foreign military, I really hope that the US wouldn't be as casual about it.
• throwaway984393 2y ago
  [dead]
• thehappypm 2y ago
  My father took this picture of a drone in Morris County, NJ. Anyone want to help identify what it is? https://i.imgur.com/Sfet0Ps.jpeg https://i.imgur.com/Sfet0Ps.jpeg
  • YZF 2y ago
    I'm far from an expert but looks more or less like a garden variety quad-copter. Maybe a somewhat larger one. You guys are really seeing them all over the place? That's the start of a good sci-fi movie. Let's see if we find something out. Is it possible people are just a lot more sensitive to seeing drones that are around anyways?
    • Balgair 2y ago
      I mean, drones are pretty cheap, yeah? Why not just join the fun? Buy a drone, follow one of these other ones around, see what happens. Worst case: Some army dude knocks on the door and says to stop it, maybe you gotta pony up to a lawyer. Best case: Your new alien friends have great new schnapps on the intergalactic party-barge.
  • tauntz 2y ago
    Looks like a standard quadcopter. Might be a bigger one from DJI perhaps? Matrice 350 or similar
  • Ancapistani 2y ago
    Based on the apparent size and arrangement of the central section, that looks like a DJI Inspire 1 or 2.
• throwawaycities 2y ago
  Almost no chance these are not US military. The drones have been appearing very consistently, if there were the slightest concern of foreign military drones, then military jets would have been scrambled to intercept - there have been no such reports.
  • binary132 2y ago
    Military jets scrambled to intercept a bunch of random UAVs? Do you know how expensive those things are to operate?
    • throwawaycities 2y ago
      Yes, that is the protocol when aircraft enter restricted airspace like next to military bases - which has been reported. Besides training, intercepting aircraft is primarily what jets do. In terms of cost, it’s a lot less expensive to scramble jets than the alternative, that’s why that is the protocol for a number of situations including things as mundane as aircraft losing communications. Here there has been significant reporting, so it would be a national security risk and national embarrassment for the Country if the military was unable to demonstrate air superiority when our territorial sovereignty is violated by drones. Unless you’re familiar with different FAA and NORAD protocols than I am, which it doesn’t seem like you are, the most likely explanation is they are military craft and exercises.
      • kjkjadksj 2y ago
        Picture this. You fly a kite in a park near a military base. Your kite blows over the fence. It is now an unidentified flying object over a military base. Now do you as base commander order jets to be scrambled to respond what could literally be a scrap of trash or some teenager with a dji drone? It is a different situation entirely compared to an actual airplane.
        • throwawaycities 2y ago
          No need to picture a cute hypothetical set of facts that are dissimilar to that actual set of facts. These are serious military protocols not a academic exercise in a vacuum. Unauthorized flying of even dji drones near and over military bases is illegal and people get arrested for it. In fact a Chinese citizen was just arrested yesterday for flying a drone over a Space Force base. Based on reports and video evidence the drones being observed are not common dji drones (certainly not a kite blown over the fence), reports are these are 6-10ft and don’t have any radio frequency. Otherwise they are being reported as specifically going to/coming from military bases. And though I don’t think it is credible, at least one Congressman is publicly stating these are Iranian military drones being launched from Iranian submarines. Just seems to me “scrambling jets” seems like something out of a movie to people unfamiliar, but it’s an daily occurrence.
• VonGuard 2y ago
  I'm wondering if these sightings are occurring in Grovers Mill, NJ.
• LAC-Tech 2y ago
  I hope Americans are wise enough now to not believe things like this are from Iran. Remember there are powerful foreign interests in the US who desperately want you to fight Iran on their behalf - don't listen to them, your lives are worth more than that.
• binary_slinger 2y ago
  I think I'm going to keep my camera with a 600mm lens on me at all times.
  • throwaway290 2y ago
    600 mm sharp zoom is expensive glass, kudos sir
• andrelaszlo 2y ago
  "a post-Chinese spy-balloon world" Noticed it because of the typo ("spy-ballon") but realized it's also a pretty funny phrase. Are we living in a spy-balloon world which is no longer Chinese? Or maybe in a balloon-world, post the Chinese spy?
  • ripped_britches 2y ago
    Best comment in the whole discussion
  • guerrilla 2y ago
    I think you're the only person engaging in this with the right level of seriousness.
• kcaj 2y ago
  Mark my words, this will turn out to be a form of mass hysteria.
• x-_-x 2y ago
  I guarantee it's some local police agency that got them donated by the military.
  • j_timberlake 2y ago
    Pretty terrible guarantee to make since the Pentagon already said it wasn't their drones.
    • tzs 2y ago
      If they were given to local police by the Pentagon then the Pentagon would be correct to say they aren’t theirs. Someone needs to ask the Pentagon if they used to be theirs.
    • mrguyorama 2y ago
      It's hilarious to watch UFO conspiracy theorists say "I believe what the Pentagon has said" and not explode in a puff of hypocrisy.
      • j_timberlake 2y ago
        Yeah that's definitely something they said and not a strawman you hallucinated in your head.
• ksec 2y ago
  I am not normally for regulation but I think Drones needs to be regulated.
  • nradov 2y ago
    Drones already are regulated. Some drone operators don't follow the regulations.
• Ziggy_Zaggy 2y ago
  Perhaps we should consider the tech GTRI developed to study the situation? Link - https://www.twz.com/air/militarys-recently-deployed-ufo-hunting-aerial-surveillance-system-detailed-in-report https://www.twz.com/air/militarys-recently-deployed-ufo-hunt...
• whalesalad 2y ago
  100% this is a defense contractor testing new gear.
• WhereIsTheTruth 2y ago
  DoD testing Starlink (wich is their product, from their front company SpaceX) with their shiny new drones
  • WhereIsTheTruth 2y ago
    [flagged]
  • WhereIsTheTruth 2y ago
    Downvoter, you are historical illiterate: https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB509/ https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB509/ Competition is the greatest tool for innovation And i am omniscient
• garbagewoman 2y ago
  Govt agencies claim to have no knowledge of an issue which they very much can and would have a very good knowledge of? It's them.
  • IAmGraydon 2y ago
    Precisely.
• yobid20 2y ago
  These are defense contractor drones being tested. Not foreign, and not military (well, not YET, lol).
• K0balt 2y ago
  These are being extensively tested in the area. PteroDynamics XP-4 https://pterodynamics.com/ https://pterodynamics.com/ They look like airliners, drones, and helicopters depending on when you see them. They are large, noisy, and carry FAA compliant lights. They aren’t secret, per se, but the military is more interested in understanding the perception of their use than it is in sharing exactly what it is they are up to, as usual. This is a gigantic nothing burger.
  • j_timberlake 2y ago
    Wow, the FBI has already stated they can't figure these drones out, but you sure figured it out fast, you need to contact the FBI tipline ASAP.
• j_timberlake 2y ago
  Quick summary after following this for a few days: FBI says they're rotary and fixed-wing drones, White House says they aren't foreign adversaries, Pentagon says they aren't USA military, all 3 insist that there's no indication of a real threat despite the drones being bigger and higher tech than retail drones. Politicians are PO'd that something about this doesn't add up: How can anyone know these aren't a threat without knowing whose they are? Why isn't anyone bringing them down? Where do they land? Is this similar to the Chinese spy balloon? I've seen a huge number of theories by now, and not one of them actually fits.
  • keepamovin 2y ago
    Why do the theories not fit? And where's the link to the FBI statement? I believe they said "include rotary and fixed-wing" not exclusively, but this is based on reports received. They haven't actually captured one. included sightings of both fixed-wing and rotary drones, Robert Wheeler, the assistant director of the FBI’s Critical Incident Response Group, said during a Homeland Security subcommittee hearing on security threats posed by drones. source: https://www.nj.com/news/2024/12/more-than-3k-mystery-drone-sightings-reported-to-fbi.html https://www.nj.com/news/2024/12/more-than-3k-mystery-drone-s...
    • j_timberlake 2y ago
      No point quoting articles, just watch him say it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTotPeiMjlc&t=6767s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTotPeiMjlc&t=6767s Up to you how you want to interpret his exact words.
      • keepamovin 2y ago
        Yeah there's a point quoting, people here don't always watch videos, but thanks for the link. Article gets the quote slightly wrong, but semantically it's right: some are described as being slightly larger than um um than a commercial uh available drone um fixed Wing as well as rotary Technically you could say the rotary/fixed-wing is only invoked to describe the class of drones compared to which these reports are larger, not that the reports "include" ("some are described") fixed wing and rotary. I'm OK with either the weaker (less UFO) or stronger (more UFO) interpretations. How about you?
• red_admiral 2y ago
  Literally an UFO mystery, but with every chance of being real this time.
• janalsncm 2y ago
  One question I have but which may be impossible to answer is whether there is some level of confirmation bias here. Frankly every drone sighting is mysterious to me. I don’t know whose it is. So yes, they are drones but maybe this is only one standard deviation from normal? Many non-military people own drones.
• red_admiral 2y ago
  If he weren't Russian, we could hire "spear guy" to take some drones down. This one: https://imgur.com/gallery/runestone-showing-drone-incident-1Kk0Q https://imgur.com/gallery/runestone-showing-drone-incident-1... (context: https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/y4ih8z/viking_throws_spear_at_drone/ https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/y4ih8z/viking_throw...)
• blu3h4t 2y ago
  [flagged]
• lerp-io 2y ago
  maybe its just plasma https://www.scirp.org/pdf/jmp_2024022816363998.pdf https://www.scirp.org/pdf/jmp_2024022816363998.pdf
• dudeinjapan 2y ago
  The drones keep transmitting the code 01000111 01010100 01001100. What can it mean??
• j0057 2y ago
  Why would anyone put lights on a drone if it was meant to be kept secret?
  • ct0 2y ago
    Common, "false flag" or deception tactic in military simulation. Leaving the lights on would be a good deception/psyop tactic. If these are adversaries, they are sure learning the rate of response by military forces.
• squarefoot 2y ago
  The ones shown in video all emit light. I'm sure if I had something nefarious in mind that wasn't spreading fear among passers by, I'd turn the damn drone lights off. They behave like their owners want them to be seen. It's quite possible their only task is to fly around and make sure people see them, as a form of less violent terrorism that rather counts on news channels and social media to spread fear.
  • IAmGraydon 2y ago
    I’m thinking the same thing. An engineered form of mass hysteria. The goal is to make us feel that the threats are all around us, leading to hypervigilance and societal fracture.
• hnpolicestate 2y ago
  So this is out there but the late John Keel who investigated UFO's and the paranormal during the 20th century believed that these phenomena aren't even physically there. It's some kind of trick that an unknown entity plays on people. Like Bigfoot, lochness monster etc. It's possible the drones don't physically exist. Yet we can see and hear them. The government might know this. Hence lack of response
• tzs 2y ago
  Some people report erratic motion of the objects which you wouldn't expect from a normal plane or helicopter. If the lights on the things are blinking, I have a possible explanation for the erratic motion. I've found that if I'm in a dark place with a green LED that is blinking and there is not enough light to see anything but the LED then the LED appears to jump around erratically. I'll see it come on and go off and I'm sure that I am continuing to stare at the now off LED but when it comes on it is somewhere else. If I'm about 40 cm from the LED it can appear to have jumped up to maybe 15-20 cm. It can be quite disconcerting if there is a series of apparent jumps in the same direction, because each time I have to move my eyes/head in the same direction to recenter the LED, and after 4 or 5 jumps it feels like I should be turned significantly but I can tell that I'm actually still looking mostly straight ahead. If I arrange for their to be some faint light in the closet so that I can see even hints of the other things in there when the LED is off then I can actually keep staring at the LED's position. I believe this phenomenon is due to saccades [1]. Our eyes normally jump around randomly when we are looking at things. We can override that and force ourselves to stare at a point. My guess is that we need some reference in the field of view to focus our attention on to be able to do an override. I'd guess that this same effect could happen with a blinking object in a dark sky. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saccade https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saccade
• rozab 2y ago
  People would do well to keep in mind the episode of drone hysteria which happened at Gatwick airport in 2018. Hundreds of sightings were reported over a period of several days, shutting down the airport completely. It was a massive media event, camera crews from every outlet were at the airport, but none ever photographed a drone. None of the radar systems at the airport, nor the military anti-drone systems sent later on, ever picked up anything. In this article, a professional drone photographer describes mistaking a helicopter for a drone: > But when he opened up the image on his computer, ready to send to his editors, he realised he’d made a mistake. The image did not show a drone. It was a helicopter hovering 10 miles away; between the darkness and the distance, his eyes had played a trick on him. “If I’m making a mistake – and I fly drones two or three times a week – then God help us, because others will have no idea,” he said. He called police to retract his reported sighting. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/dec/01/the-mystery-of-the-gatwick-drone https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/dec/01/the-mystery-...
  • left-struck 2y ago
    >Professional Drone photographer Please tell me that’s someone who takes photos using drones not photos of drones - for a living
    • Out_of_Characte 2y ago
      Some people have the most bizarre hobbies. From photographing bigfoot to ufo's or planespotters. I dont intend to understand all of them but photographing drones might be one of the more moral ones in this century. Just imagine drones filming your living room, or military installations like feared in the article. Having someone record such incidents is appreciated.
      • left-struck 2y ago
        Oh yeah I totally get having a niche hobby. I’ve personally considered starting a collection of photos of modified 90s Japanese cars. I take photos all the time of my cat with a “pro” camera but that doesn’t make me a professional cat photographer. Now if I were making money from it on the other hand… I would be amazed if there’s enough of a demand for drone photos to support someone
• chasd00 2y ago
  someone from the drone racing scene should do an intercept with a high speed drone and get footage up close. It would make for a good YouTube video.
  • Ancapistani 2y ago
    Our whole hobby is kinda right on the edge of "legal". The last thing most of us want is a viral video with our name attached.
• dgfitz 2y ago
  Late to the thread so this will probably get buried. My spouse and I have seen these things flying for __years__ around the northern Baltimore area. They even had patterns. Recently, we have been hearing what sound like Apache helicopters at around the same time at night. This video in this article: https://apnews.com/article/fbi-drones-new-jersey-a978470fa3bb07ed3e98c5b7c18f0abb https://apnews.com/article/fbi-drones-new-jersey-a978470fa3b... Is 100% __identical__ to what we have been seeing for literal years, at least 5.
  • Mistletoe 2y ago
    I guess I would say why are people concerned about this? I’d be much more concerned about ones without navigation lights.
    • dgfitz 2y ago
      I didn’t mean to imply I’m concerned, quite the opposite. Like mentioned, this has been happing for half a decade in my world.
    • dialup_sounds 2y ago
      It's a social contagion of panic. Blurry video clips trend on social media > local news talks about it > people report to state and local government > national news talks about it > people report to national agencies > national agencies shrug > people say it must be aliens, Iranians, or the CIA. A few thousand people might have seen a drone, but a few million people saw a politician going on national television claiming there's an Iranian mothership off the coast.
    • IAmGraydon 2y ago
      That's what I'm saying. Drones are so common that you can buy them at Walmart, and I would be willing to bet that people reporting large drones are just not able to properly judge scale in the sky. What's next, people panicking because they are seeing cars driving around the streets?
  • nradov 2y ago
    AH-64 Apache helicopters sound similar to most every other turbine engine helicopter. I doubt that you could distinguish between them, especially not at any distance.
• jimcollinswort1 2y ago
  Why are we just looking up at the sky and wondering what they are? Send up a few AI assisted hunter drones to go find them and see. Then track, photograph, disable as needed.
  • chasd00 2y ago
    i said the same up-thread, just get some drone racers to intercept and film them. At the very least you'll get closer footage than cell phones on the ground.
• anarchy79 2y ago
  I am very certain I know what this is, and sorry, it's not aliens. I've seen this before and people were freaking TF out back then, too. That one is still labeled unexplained. It's not hard to figure it out. I'm actually loathe to spoil it in case they're doing this as a prank (and they definitely are) because it's such a genius fucking way to throw a whole nation into full UFO panic for a few hundred bucks, and very easy to do completely undetected. (No, not drones) I bet I'm not the only one who figured it out, especially on here.
  • fonix 2y ago
    k
  • IAmGraydon 2y ago
    I'm guessing you mean the reports are fake, or at least the ones seeding the panic, generated by bots, social media ads, or something. Once you hit a critical mass, hysteria kicks in, and the chain reaction becomes self-sustaining. A psy-ops weapons test, basically. I think this is very possible, and yes it could be a prank in this case, but it should not go unpunished if so.
• jotjotzzz 2y ago
  Based on all the sightings and someone flying a drone next to these things, the size of these "drones" is much bigger, like the size of a car! Additionally, drones can hover for less than an hour. These "drones" stay floated for many hours on end! These should be called UFOs, not drones. The light on them and their shape make them look like regular drones, but I think these crafts are much more than the regular drones that the media has called them.
  • IAmGraydon 2y ago
    > Additionally, drones can hover for less than an hour. These "drones" stay floated for many hours on end! I think this is misinformation stemming from today’s meeting with NJ mayors. There was a statement that they are seen for 7 hours at a time. At no point did they say the same drone stayed in the air for 7 hours. I believe they were stating that the sightings start after sundown and go on for around 7 hours. Of course the internet took this and ran with it as the internet does.
• micromacrofoot 2y ago
  why would anything nefarious be running avoidance lights? this is some sort of mass hysteria with very little critical thinking involved
  • IAmGraydon 2y ago
    Yes it's mass hysteria, but most cases of mass hysteria are seeded by a real event. So I'm guessing some agency or police force ran some drones, they were spotted, it hit social media, and became a mind virus.
• tummler 2y ago
  There are people in the government who know exactly what these are, and why they are not threatening. I assume the vague non-response is because if they reveal this information, the very next question is “how do you know this”? And the answer to that question involves revelations that could very possibly lead to upheaval and civil unrest. In short, they’re at a total loss on how to respond to this phenomenon, because the answer opens a big ol’ can of worms, or Pandora’s Box, or pick your metaphor. FWIW, the “drones” (they’re not drones though some present as such) are the opposite of a threat. They’re here to help, if they’d be allowed to. Can’t wait to hear the justification for why they haven’t been allowed to. grabs popcorn
  • IAmGraydon 2y ago
    What really amazes me is that society feels that we're in such a perilous state that they've deluded themselves into believing we're all going to be saved by little green men. If you think about it, it's the same reason humans invented god, but for the antitheistic.
• btbuildem 2y ago
  Honestly, this looks like a some kind of a training exercise, probably a contractor working with the DOD or another acronym agency. From the videos, they're definitely quadcopter drones, definitely larger than most hobby drones (and def above the size you need to file a flight plan with the FAA). What's puzzling to me is that they run with all lights on, at night -- as if being seen was a goal. I imagine part of a training exercise could be to learn how local authorities respond to such aircraft activity. If you see what the Ukrainians have been able to accomplish using this type of tech (with a lot of cottage-industry DIY-type contributions) in an active theatre of war, it should give you pause.
• andai 2y ago
  >senator called for a ban on all drones until the mystery is solved Wouldn't this only maybe prevent the mystery from being solved? By preventing further sightings?
• hunglee2 2y ago
  We routinely underestimate the factionalism that exists in the collective US 'deep state'. The CIA vs Pentagon vs FBI vs whatever else natsec department that was once set up for a singular purpose before expanding scope into everything else. There isn't a central controller seeing everything - just a President (whoever that is) sitting on top of a herd of out-of-control broncos desperately trying not to fall off. These drones are almost certainly US origin, but the departments don't talk to each other, so when one says they don't know anything about it, I'm inclined to believe that it is actually the case
• atentaten 2y ago
  Have any laws been broken by flying these drones?
• seaourfreed 2y ago
  I wonder if this is happening: "Hey US military drone manufacturers! You are allowed to test your drones at night. Don't say anything publicly. Start RIGHT after the Nov 2025 election. STOP right when Trump gets in office. Extra points if you put big lights on them." Let's keep the citizens starting at the night sky and scratching their head. It happened right after election. If they few in the day time, it would be easy to find out they are military test drones. The citizens wouldn't be as distracted.
  • IAmGraydon 2y ago
    I don't even know what you're suggesting. That the drones are to distract us from the fact that Trump got elected?
• ck2 2y ago
  https://google.com/search?udm=2&q=xp-4+drone https://google.com/search?udm=2&q=xp-4+drone
• throw7 2y ago
  What pisses me off is when the pentagon says "we don't know, but don't worry everything having to do with the security of the U.S. is perfectly fine!" Don't lie to me.
• lukeplato 2y ago
  reading this thread was a good reminder that being intelligent but closed off to alternative hypotheses is the same thing as being ignorant
• graybeardhacker 2y ago
  Here's a theory, they are owned by United Health or hired by the healthcare industry to flood the news cycle and distract everyone.
• _DeadFred_ 2y ago
  Someone make a FOIA request to the FAA for AANC and 'FAA Drone Zone' authorizations for flights in areas experiencing drone sightings. Be very specific with like 'AANC and 'FAA Drone Zone' authorizations for the ABC affected area and in force during XYZ specific timeframe (and break out each night, preferably in separate FOIA requests). My guess is that would shed some light on things. 'ABC' above would need to be the specific official FAA name for the AANC or FAA Drone Zone.
  • IAmGraydon 2y ago
    Does anyone really believe that FOIA responses actually contain real information on classified operations?
    • _DeadFred_ 2y ago
      Yeah. The feds follow paperwork. I was once able to get a request filled about a meeting that I knew would cover a topic they denied knowing anything about. Guess what was in the meeting file? Them talking about said topic. Edit: if this is a normal drone company with a process, they are going to be filing these requests. You don't mess with the FAA. The drones have their lights on, I'm guessing they are also filing their paperwork.
• htk 2y ago
  Suppose I have a strong blue laser and point it at said unrecognized drones. Would I be in trouble? How long should we wait an answer from the government before we can "fight back"?
  • Aloisius 2y ago
    You want to shine a laser with the intent to "fight back" at things flying in the sky at night that you don't recognize? Well. That would be a federal crime with up to a $250,000 fine and/or a federal prison sentence of up to five years.
• IAmGraydon 2y ago
  I seem to have found the original source of the claimed sightings that has lead to this massive case of hysteria. It's a Twitter/X account called @rawsalerts. Here's the post: https://x.com/rawsalerts/status/1858717730746126444 https://x.com/rawsalerts/status/1858717730746126444 There is zero evidence to support any of the claims made in this post, and it seems to have spread virally from here. It appears that rawsalerts posts disinformation and then it is disseminated through a massive network of fake news sites and fake social media accounts. Just do a google search for "rawsalerts" to see what I mean. It looks like much of its content is constantly reposted by NewsBreak, which has been noted as a disinformation/fake news site set up by China. https://www.reuters.com/technology/top-news-app-us-has-chinese-origins-writes-fiction-with-help-ai-2024-06-05/ https://www.reuters.com/technology/top-news-app-us-has-chine... Starting to get the idea? I believe this was a case of mass hysteria that was literally engineered by one of our enemies.
• someonehere 2y ago
  For those thinking they’re off the shelf drones or some other type of consumer drone, they’ve been reported to be the size of an SUV. Also I learned from the a recent JRE with Marc Andressen that the US really doesn’t make consumer drones domestically because of regulations but China is allowed to import them here. But still not to say someone isn’t making them at home on their own.
• solaire_oa 2y ago
  For perhaps the first time in history, the world knew before being told: if you'd seen the sky, you had the scoop. The usual arbiters of newsworthiness, stripped of their accustomed role in filtering reality, had to be content with merely labeling it. It took them ninety minutes to agree on Fireflies. A half hour after that, the first Fourier transforms appeared in the noosphere; to no one's great surprise, the Fireflies had not wasted their dying breaths on static. There was pattern embedded in that terminal chorus, some cryptic intelligence that resisted all earthly analysis. The experts, rigorously empirical, refused to speculate: they only admitted that the Fireflies had said something. They didn't know what. Everyone else did. How else would you explain 65,536 probes evenly dispersed along a lat-long grid that barely left any square meter of planetary surface unexposed? Obviously the Flies had taken our picture. The whole world had been caught with its pants down in panoramic composite freeze-frame. We'd been surveyed—whether as a prelude to formal introductions or outright invasion was anyone's guess.
• mediumsmart 2y ago
  You are confused but this will be your normal state
• ridgitdigit 2y ago
  Maybe head out there with a frequency scanner?
• coolhand2120 2y ago
  This sounds like uneducated people seeing two things: consumer drones and just normal aircraft. They sell drones both online and at your local electronics store. Also, how would someone know it's "car sized" or any other size without a radar? Just looking isn't good enough. Consumer drones have collision lights that look all fancy. They are also in the FAA jurisdiction so there's nothing the locals can do to stop it because it's not something they deal with, even if flying at night is illegal for non commercially licenced UAV operators. If it's a secret drone then it doesn't have collision lights. If it doesn't have lights you can't see it at night. Even after watching the videos I think you can figure this out a priori without the videos - drones exist and people have them, lots of them.
• lofaszvanitt 2y ago
  Is this some kind of new theatre in the US like the debt ceiling debates? :DDDDD
• lerp-io 2y ago
  if anyone really wants to find out they would have sent an interceptor drone to take pics w/
• scrps 2y ago
  It's planes from most of the footage I saw, at best maybe there was A legit unknown drone flown over some sensitive site (which happens) and someone hyped it into hysteria probably fueling trolls with drones to add to it. Also iirc there is a funding bill for anti-drone programs gummed up in congress so I am sure anyone looking to get it passed isn't in a rush to quell this just yet. The government will finally get all these local yokel politicians to put a cork in it and stop fanning hysteria when some idiot puts a bullet hole in a cessna thinking it is an Iranian drone from a mothership off the east coast.