A Drone Is Just A Drone
The federal government has, for now, concluded that the semi-hysterical sightings of "drones" over sections of the northeast represent nothing other than normal drone and aircraft operation circa 2024-25. They are almost surely correct in that assessment, conspiracy theories and frightened perspectives notwithstanding.
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www.yahoo.com /news/drones-flying-over-country-lawful-002345271.html
White House addresses growing concerns over drones sightings
NBC 3-4 minutes 12/17/2024
Page 1
NBC
Tue, December 17, 2024 at 6:37 AM CST
White House spokesman John Kirby joins TODAY to talk about the mysterious drone sightings along the East Coast, saying "Right now our assessment leads us to conclude that these are lawful and legal aviation activities." He also discusses the tips coming in from the public, the uptick in drone activity in general, and the need for more oversight.
White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby said the White House’s assessment, in coordination with the FBI and state and local officials, is that the mysterious drones flying over the country are in fact "legal" and "lawful."
Kirby told Fox News anchor Bret Baier Monday on "Special Report" they’ve examined roughly 5,000 sightings and to date, their analysis is "lawful, legal, commercial hobbyist and even law enforcement aircraft activity," is responsible for the sightings.
"Some of it's manned, some of it's unmanned. We absolutely acknowledge that a lot of these are probably drones , but they're flying legally. And it is legal to fly drones in non-restricted airspace as long as you're registered with the [Federal Aviation Administration] FAA and there's thousands and thousands of these kinds of flights every single day," he added.
Map showing some of the places where mystery drones have been spotted in Northeastern USA in December 2024.
Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said in a press conference Monday there are more than 1 million drones registered with the FAA in the United States, and that more than 8,000 drones are lawfully flown every day.
An FBI official said over the weekend their Newark office created a tip line in early December to deal with the number of calls related to reported drone sightings in New Jersey.
Since Dec. 3, they have received 5,000 tips through that national tip line and of those 5,000, "less than 100 leads have been generated and deemed worthy of further investigative activity," according to the official.
Baier pressed Kirby about the White House’s assessment that the drones don’t have any foreign involvement.
"We've done the detection and the analysis. We've corroborated the sightings. And in every case that we have examined to date, we have seen nothing, nothing that indicates a public safety risk," said Kirby. "We've seen nothing working with the Department of Defense [DOD] as well, that indicates a foreign adversary, actor involved or any kind of pernicious national security threat."
He acknowledged there have been some cases of drones flying over military bases but the White House and DOD are looking into them.
"This is an ongoing investigation," said Kirby. "We're still working our way through this. Sightings continue to come in. We've taken them all seriously and we'll continue to look at this."
Original article source: Drones flying over the country are 'lawful,' nothing indicates a 'public safety risk,' says top WH official
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Although it is almost certainly true that what people are seeing is "normal", because we live in a conspiracy culture the mistaken beliefs of alien invasions etc will surely continue.
As the days went on there were more and more and more widespread reports of an "invasion" of drones. Some took the increasing number as a signal that bad things were escalating, but in reality, I believe , the increasing number of sightings actually represented copycatting by troublemaking drone owners who wanted in on the fun.
the increasing number of sightings actually represented copycatting by troublemaking drone owners
Or because this is getting way more coverage than needed, everyone is looking up now, with the proliferation of cell phone cameras, we are getting more reported sightings. Many of those photos and videos I recognized as aircraft not drones and with everyone taking videos and pictures, many of the same craft, are they actually reports of separate sightings or many separate sightings of the same object?
When in high school, we had an assembly about drug abuse in schools. The speaker asked how many students knew someone using drugs and half the hands went up, which the speaker then stated that it looked like half the students are using drugs, when in actuality it was half the students knew the same 2 or 3 that were using.
excellent point
Trust the explanation that government gives you, they would never lie or withhold the truth from you
I trust the government to some extent, but I trust my own common sense more. It is not illegal for people to fly their drones at night, as long as they have lights. Some people began noticing drones in the night sky, it became publicized and we were off to the races. Conspiracy thinking, sad to say, is very prevalent in America these days.
Could be but, have you considered that this possibility started within the US and driven from outside the US? Seeking to normalize the sightings so that they become everyday occurrences and less observed. Reminds me of the little boy who cried wolf, people blew it off, then the shit hit the fan. Could this be a rehearsal for future planned "interruptions" in our daily lives and the drones, judging by their perceived size, could easily haul a nefarious payload?
Anything is possible, but I think a drone is just a drone. There is no evidence that I can see that this outbreak has been anything more than an over reaction to some drones appearing at night. It is legal , and whether it is or 10 or 200 it is explainable as self absorbed people playing with their toys.
If this were the 20th century, these drone sightings would be significant.
With the widespread availability of drones and aficionados of same, it seems a bit silly to get worked up over this.
On Amazon, there are hundreds of drones one can buy.
Why the hell is the Biden administration and the media deliberately attempting to throw gas on the conspiracy theories? Hey, Bubba, there's a gazillion hobby drones out there and that's what yer gawkin' at. Bullshit. Hobby drones ain't that big or that well lit. What has been shown on the TV have been larger aircraft than hobby drones. Stop yer lyin' because we ain't buyin'.
There are, at least, six businesses in the area developing elective aircraft. Joby Aviation has been planning to initiate an air taxi service in New York using a developed VTOL electric aircraft. Joby is working to install an electric charging station at the heliport in Kearney, NJ. And Joby has recently obtained FAA permission to begin training pilots to operate its aircraft. (It's a big drone, Bubba. Except it's actually a manned aircraft.) Here's what a Joby air taxi looks like:
In addition to Joby Aviation there is Beta Technologies, Ampaire, Heart Aerospace, ZeroAvia, Collins Aerospace, Archer Aviation, Vertical Aerospace, Eve Air Mobility, and General Motors located in New Jersey and New York. And this is only a partial list. These businesses are engaged in developing manned and unmanned electric and hybrid-electric aircraft to serve a variety of roles.
There are a number of NOTAMS for the general area that list drone activity in designated areas. There are a number of flight schools in the area that use small (slow) aircraft. Drones are limited to an altitude of 400 ft AGL while small aircraft can fly higher.
The Inflation Reduction Act included funds for development of electric aircraft. The FAA issued at least $290 million in grants for net-zero R&D. Doesn't the government know who got the grants and what the money is being spent on?
There is plenty of data available. And that's all that is needed to address public concerns. Surely the various Federal agencies can obtain and process the available information. The military is supposed to have that capability. Yet we only get these dance and dodge answers that serve to feed conspiracies and distrust. The Biden administration appears to want to create a crisis out of thin air, for reasons they are keeping to themselves. And now that the situation has become a national sensation, everybody and their brother with a drone will want to get in on the act.
The drone you picture, from the picture could be large or small, there is no visual reference that can aid the viewer in discerning the size. And that is the problem. Lights in the sky could be relatively close or relatively distant and the person on the ground has no perspective with which to determine the size of the source of the lights.
I see no "proof" these are particularly large drones.
A hobby drone is going to have a passenger cabin? The original image is larger so it's easier to tell its a larger aircraft.
Drones are not required to have navigation lights. So red, green, white lights indicate the aircraft is most likely a small airplane, helicopter, or a much larger airplane sized drone. Helicopters are design to fly in the same manner as a drone but the separation between navigation lights would be noticeable. Recreational drones are too small to provide the separation needed for navigation lights to be useful. Recreational drones are small enough that it would be difficult to see a reflection of lights off the aircraft. It would be difficult to differentiate the white light on a drone from the white landing light of a small aircraft or helicopter; if red & green navigation lights are visible it's a small plane or helicopter and not a drone. Amber lights on the bottom of the aircraft typically indicate a military aircraft of some kind.
Can you fly drones at night in 2024? (ULTIMATE guide …
Hobbyists can fly drones at night without part 107 certification or any permits needed. However, even as a non-commercial flier, you must have lights on your drone to show its position and keep it in line of sight.
Those aren't navigation lights; they're position lights. And the position lights are typically all the same color. Usually the position lights are all white because they are easier to see.
Navigation lights consist of red on the port side, green on the starboard side, and white on the aft end. (Navigation lights are used on aircraft and boats/ships.) In traffic, the aircraft or boats use the navigation lights to pass on the port side.
Recreational drones are too small to allow the red/green/white navigation lights to indicate orientation of the aircraft from a viewpoint. Typically drones are symmetrical around a center point so there isn't a port/starboard/bow/stern orientation. Navigation lights on an RC aircraft (an unmanned aircraft model) could provide useful information depending on the size of the aircraft. (Some RC aircraft can have a wingspan of 5 to 10 ft or more.)
Recreational drone.
There are tire tracks in the photo so we can use them to deduce the drone isnt very big.
You seem to have made up your mind that all these drones are larger , and I really dont know why.
And you seem to have made up your mind that they are all small recreational drones.
From one of the horses' mouth.................
Big deal. You think a cop cant misperceive an object in the night sky?
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The ex governor of Maryland Larry Hogan mistook these for drones. He posted this photo as proof drones were over his location. They are stars in the constellation Orion.
Late-Night Host Pokes Fun As Astronomers Debunk Hogan's Drone Claims
Look at the bright side, in a little over a month we can start to blame trump for the drones.
Spin it JR spin it.
Poke fun at this.............
Just your average Joe/Josephine playing with his/her toy...........
This is a recreational drone. And they come bigger than this.
Many of what has been seen over New Jersey could easily be this type of drone.
My God son does documentary filming with his drone set up (as well as tourism) and his cost is over $10K. Right there in the budget for the novice............./s. And it is more like the size I provided you.......
Could have been? Have you seen them in the sky? If not, perhaps expanding your horizons is in order.
Good for your godson. I'm not sure what it has to do with what people are seeing in New Jersey though. Ok so his drone cost 10,000 dollars. Do you not think there are people who will spend that much on their toys?
The drones people are seeing may be big, may be small, may be a combination of the two. What I'm saying is that people who see colored lights in the sky do not know what size object they are looking at, unless they can see the outline of the object itself and not just the lights. The assumption that all these drones are large military or government or Iranian or alien drones that couldnt possibly be coming from "hobbyists" doesnt make much sense to me.
Not surprised. But hey, it's a free country.
Morning..yeessh...for goodness sake..just shoot them down..
You mob are well armed just think of them as moving target practice in the sky instead of using one another..
It will be a win win all round... problem solved..
Hmm now what's for breakfast??
It's a thought but I don't think it's a good idea as bullets and debris gotta come down somewhere.
Wouldn't be much worse than fireworks...with just a few assorted nuts and bolts added..
Nah..just let rip... the mob are tough..😁
Mob mentality ya gotta love it