The Drones - NJ (and elsewhere) Drone "Sightings"

[dioxide45]

Unless you don't follow the news in any way, I am sure you have heard about this. Has there ever been so much hysteria over planes flying in the sky? Now you have everyone who is used to looking down at their phone pointing it up in the sky to record stuff they have never looked at before. They have no idea what they are even looking at. Most of the reports are just manned aircraft that flies overhead all the time.

The media is being very dishonest about this by not calling out most of these for what they are... planes.

 

[jp10558]

I think this smacks of the stuff we saw in the 1940s on the west coast where "Japanese planes were out there" or in the UFO craze of 47-the 60s or so. If you do any reading on UFOs you'll quickly realize

1. People have no idea how cameras work
2. People have no idea how hard it is to work out distance / size of an object against the sky with no reference points (hint, trained "observers" can't do it most of the time)
3. Drones do add to the legal flying objects and there's plenty of manned or not aircraft up there all the time flying around. The vast vast majority is planned and scheduled or someone YOLOing a DJI sub 400 feet.
4. People don't get how bright lights can seem to move weirdly when "swung" by anything from cars driving down a mountain road to airplanes looking like they're closer or farther away than they really are.

The media does need to stop playing up "are these SUV drones?" and just say they're 99.9% commercial planes on scheduled flights and you just have trouble marking out distance and size in the sky when you're not using radar etc.

 

[Patri]

People are concerned about the units that hover and change direction after a short distance. And the fact that there are so many all of a sudden. Almost like it is a coordinated effort, even if it is all legal. Not planes in these cases.

 

[DeniseM]

The funniest thing was the politician who sent out a warning about the constellation Orion!

 

[dioxide45]

People are concerned about the units that hover and change direction after a short distance. And the fact that there are so many all of a sudden. Almost like it is a coordinated effort, even if it is all legal. Not planes in these cases.

If you follow this on X where most of these videos are being posted, most reported cases are just planes.

One video I saw of someone debunking them simply pointed out that one was just a Southwest airplane. So far, I haven't really seen anyone able to hold a camera steady enough to keep the "drone" in the frame the entire time to prove that the thing actually changed direction. In most cases it is the camera that is moving making it look like the lights in the sky moved. You can't tell that at all because there is nothing of reference to compare it to. Just a black sky.

I mean, look at this one. You can easily tell that thing is a plane. It has wings, it has lights like a plane. What kind of bonehead thinks this is some kind of nefarious drone? The New Jersey/New York area has perhaps the most air traffic of any region in the country. Any time you look up you are likely to see five to ten planes somewhere in the sky.

 

[Superchief]

My daughter saw meteorites fly across the sky a few nights ago and some fell behind our neighbors house. A little later, she heard wild animal sounds and saw coyotes and a fox across the street. When we woke the next morning, there was a large dead deer that was partially eaten in our neighbors yard. It must have been aliens! It was a very clear night with a full moon so it could have been a werewolf.

 

[billymach4]

Well I think it's a mix of hysteria, normal nighttime aircraft, along with a mix of real time pranksters just feeding the flames.

There may be some nefarious person(s) out there launching drones and the gov agencies are so disorganized and have other real priorities to chase.

I can tell you for sure there is no Iranian Mothership off the Mid Atlantic coast controlling these drones.

 

[dioxide45]

Well I think it's a mix of hysteria, normal nighttime aircraft, along with a mix of real time pranksters just feeding the flames.

There may be some nefarious person(s) out there launching drones and the gov agencies are so disorganized and have other real priorities to chase.

I can tell you for sure there is no Iranian Mothership off the Mid Atlantic coast controlling these drones.

The problem is the news cycle feeds the hysteria. Truth is, I doubt anyone is really out there launching SUV, or even car sized drones as a prank. Those require special FAA authorization and most often flown by professionals. Flying them as a prank is unlikely. There are perhaps some commercial/hobbbiest camera drones being flown. But those would never be mistaken for an SUV sized drone. What people mistake as SUV size are actually airplane size. The issue is that it is dark and they have no idea how high or far away it is.

I agree, no mothership is off the shore launching drones into US airspace. The lights at 0:52 of that video is just an airplane.

 

[Brett]

Unless you don't follow the news in any way, I am sure you have heard about this. Has there ever been so much hysteria over planes flying in the sky? Now you have everyone who is used to looking down at their phone pointing it up in the sky to record stuff they have never looked at before. They have no idea what they are even looking at. Most of the reports are just manned aircraft that flies overhead all the time.

The media is being very dishonest about this by not calling out most of these for what they are... planes.

I've seen national network "media" that indicated many of the sightings are planes and helicopters. Maybe it's like that other mass hysteria over New Jersey in 1938

For sure it's late night comedy !




Jimmy Fallon said no one knows where the drones spotted on the East Coast come from or why they exist: “It’s basically air crypto.”

“When last we met, these ominous sky visitors were being reported all over New Jersey. but since then, the drones have done what everyone in Jersey does: go somewhere else.” — STEPHEN COLBERT

“Yeah, everyone’s annoyed about the drones. Right now, the Chinese spy balloons are like, ‘Stay in your lane, girl.’” — JIMMY FALLON

“Because as of today, the drone armada has also been spotted in New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Ohio, which can mean only one thing: The drones are visiting colleges.” — STEPHEN COLBERT

“With so many unrelated drone sightings, Americans have reasonable questions: Where are they coming from? What are they doing up there? And will they interfere with the chemtrails that are turning our livestock bi-curious?” — STEPHEN COLBERT

“When asked about the drones, Marjorie Taylor Greene said the government is in control of them. I want to believe her, but she said the same thing about the weather, the Super Bowl and the return of the McRib.” — JIMMY FALLON


“Now I’ll admit: I didn’t pay much attention to this story at first because it’s New Jersey, and weird [expletive] is always happening over there. I mean, if they were still making new ‘Sopranos’ episode, Tony would definitely be flying drones.” — SETH MEYERS

 

[Patri]

I don’t follow X.

 

[tombanjo]

I thought people were getting excited by P.G. Wodehouse

 

[jp10558]

Well I think it's a mix of hysteria, normal nighttime aircraft, along with a mix of real time pranksters just feeding the flames.

Honestly I think the "real time pranksters" aren't launching drones, they're making misleading videos and claims on social media.

 

[b2bailey]

I read TUG to learn what other normal people (like myself) are thinking about current events.
On this topic, I'm a bit disappointed no one seems to feel the way I do about this drone 'invasion' .
I'm in California, so not directly affected. I'm not fearful -- only curious.
I believe there has been an unexplained increase in the number of drones flying in the night sky.

Now, if it started post 12/25, it would simply be that people had a drone on Christmas list.

 

[Dane2]

“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy”

 

[Janann]

Some people believe that the government is testing new drone technology. It is pretty amazing. I had no idea that there were drones that have folding wings.

 

[jp10558]

I believe the government is testing drones all the time, but I don't think there'd be a "step change" over NJ really. I think it's more likely that it's just more people started paying attention after someone noticed planes etc at night and accidentally or intentionally started a social media thing.

 

[TolmiePeak]

People are insane. More worried about some drones flying around than they are about getting killed by a drunk driver on the freeway?

 

[dioxide45]

Unfortunately many of the photos and videos being posted are now "digitally altered". Meaning fake. Sometimes AI generated. Most of these reports are losing credibility.

 

[nomoretslt]

law enforcement in Wildwood, NJ and also the coast guard have observed these sightings. Kind of reminds me of that errant weather balloon that traversed across the entire country…we were told it was nothing to worry about, just a weather balloon that went off course. People observed a large object attached to the balloon….some said the size of a bus. It was finally shot down off the coast of Myrtle Beach…..and it actually was a Chinese spy balloon. I’m not far from Myrtle…it was a bit frightening. So i really don’t believe that this latest stuff is ‘nothing’.

 

[RX8]

Someone who is a Facebook friend is stating that the Government is intentionally covering up something. He is also trying to convince others that this could be the work of an enemy country and that there is a link between the “drones” and 9/11 and Pearl Harbor. This isn’t sarcasm as he is 100% serious. I am rethinking this friending on Facebook. My opinion is that some people think way too highly on what the Government is actually capable of doing.

 

[jp10558]

law enforcement in Wildwood, NJ and also the coast guard have observed these sightings. Kind of reminds me of that errant weather balloon that traversed across the entire country…we were told it was nothing to worry about, just a weather balloon that went off course. People observed a large object attached to the balloon….some said the size of a bus. It was finally shot down off the coast of Myrtle Beach…..and it actually was a Chinese spy balloon. I’m not far from Myrtle…it was a bit frightening. So i really don’t believe that this latest stuff is ‘nothing’.

Historically, Law Enforcement has about as good a track record as average man on the street. I mean, look at the hiring and tell me the average cop is somehow trained or experienced in drones or planes or anything much more than speeding tickets and doughnuts. No one is saying there's nothing there, we're saying it was there well before all these sightings and it's almost all airplanes mixed with some people having fun with their DJI and a bunch of mass hysteria.

On the spy balloon - my very limited understanding is that it probably looked like a weather balloon - big balloon going in the sky - IDK how you differentiate quickly. The government doesn't have some magic "know everything in the sky" machine, and they have to decide what to look closer at. Once they decide to look closer it takes time to do that, and then time to decide what, if anything, is a smart thing to do.

My WAG on this is if it wasn't for the political optics they never would have shot the thing down. It wasn't an attack balloon, it was more of a danger to Americans if it fell out of the sky than if it kept going. The Chinese, like the US, have spy satellites that are going to "see" stuff from above - I'd be a little concerned if there was much to see with a balloon that wouldn't have most info about it from the satellite already. If I was making such a balloon, I'd also have it transmitting stuff back in near real time, so I wonder how much intelligence could even have been prevented by shooting it down.

Now imagine they had gung ho shot it down "immediately" - and any of a number of things went wrong. It fell on someone or someone's property. It actually turned out to be a weather balloon. The political optics of that would also be pretty bad.

 

[Superchief]

Wright Patterson air force base in Dayton had to shut down operations due to drones in the area. There were more today, but they didn't impact operations. I start having concerns when unknown drones are confirmed flying over military bases,

 

[Patri]

The balloon, it was as much that we did nothing. Do you think if we should send such a balloon over China, they would just wave as it went by? Time will tell about the drones.

 

[dioxide45]

Wright Patterson air force base in Dayton had to shut down operations due to drones in the area. There were more today, but they didn't impact operations. I start having concerns when unknown drones are confirmed flying over military bases,

I suspect much of this is now people pulling their old drones out of the drawer to go and fly them. Most modern DJI drones have geo zone capabilities that prevent unauthorized flights in restricted airspace. I've run into this in Phoenix with my drone. That however doesn't stop those without DJI drones or those with toy drones from flying them wherever they want.

 

[dioxide45]

Historically, Law Enforcement has about as good a track record as average man on the street. I mean, look at the hiring and tell me the average cop is somehow trained or experienced in drones or planes or anything much more than speeding tickets and doughnuts. No one is saying there's nothing there, we're saying it was there well before all these sightings and it's almost all airplanes mixed with some people having fun with their DJI and a bunch of mass hysteria.

On the spy balloon - my very limited understanding is that it probably looked like a weather balloon - big balloon going in the sky - IDK how you differentiate quickly. The government doesn't have some magic "know everything in the sky" machine, and they have to decide what to look closer at. Once they decide to look closer it takes time to do that, and then time to decide what, if anything, is a smart thing to do.

My WAG on this is if it wasn't for the political optics they never would have shot the thing down. It wasn't an attack balloon, it was more of a danger to Americans if it fell out of the sky than if it kept going. The Chinese, like the US, have spy satellites that are going to "see" stuff from above - I'd be a little concerned if there was much to see with a balloon that wouldn't have most info about it from the satellite already. If I was making such a balloon, I'd also have it transmitting stuff back in near real time, so I wonder how much intelligence could even have been prevented by shooting it down.

Now imagine they had gung ho shot it down "immediately" - and any of a number of things went wrong. It fell on someone or someone's property. It actually turned out to be a weather balloon. The political optics of that would also be pretty bad.

There were a number of "objects" that they did shoot down after that spy balloon. Several institutions and amateur hobbyists wondered what happened to their weather balloons. Luckily those were all unmanned. The problem with the current lights in the sky is that many probably have people in them. Not like they can just start firing missiles at them.