Drones over New Jersey?

JMartJr said:
Can you clarify whether or to what extent this includes military/government aircraft? I'm assuming GA in the discussion refers to "general aviation," but I want to be sure I understand your point before possibly explaining it to somebody else out there on the Internets... and it had been my understanding, possibly erroneously, that military aircraft might be an exception to this sort of requirement.
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I'm fairly certain all military aircraft have ADS-B equipped (except maybe some older models?).

There are situations when it can be turned off; this also applies to GA.
However, for a GA pilot to turn it off reduces the safety of their flight.

Article:
General Aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) as "all civil aviation operations other than scheduled air services and non-scheduled air transport operations for remuneration or hire". The category also is sometimes called general aviation and aerial work (GA/AW).


Military aircraft would not be FAA-required to send ADS-B out in military-controlled airspace. The requirement also does not apply at very high altitudes (think spy plane). When formation flying in FAA-controlled airspace, typically only the formation leader would send ADS-B out.

If you want to find out which aircraft typically fly without ADS-B, and where, you're probably better off asking in a flight tracking community.

I only know that between 60% and 80% of GA aircraft have ADS-B equipment, and I would expect that to cover well over 90% of all trips made and miles flown.
 
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Zipline designs which manufactures and operates the world's largest drone delivery service according to them.
Just tweeted the other day about Zipline's first New Jersey testing facility. They mention they have been scaling since they opened 60 days ago
Pretty advanced looking drones, ~ a cross between a multirotor copter and a winged drone.
They seem to lower a container down by a wire to release a parcel.
I wonder if these are responsible for some sightings in NJ

www.x.com/KellerRinaudo/status/1877551663604498613
www.x.com/KellerRinaudo
https://www.flyzipline.com/
 
jackfrostvc said:
I wonder if these are responsible for some sightings in NJ
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Interesting, and possibly -- it looks enough like a plane that possibly some "plane" pics might be one of these, though most of the ones I recall seeing were more definitely just planes than this drone is. However...

Capture.JPG

White.
Oblong.
Four little projections from the bottom.

How long before somebody takes a picture of it and claims they saw a Tic Tac?
 
jackfrostvc said:
Zipline designs which manufactures and operates the world's largest drone delivery service according to them.
Just tweeted the other day about Zipline's first New Jersey testing facility. They mention they have been scaling since they opened 60 days ago
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I've been working my way through my YouTube watchlist and some extensive video back catalogues of some channels I like and completely by coincidence I watched these two videos earlier today on Zipline drones. A bit of synchronicity. It does seem like a cool and useful drone development to particularly help places where on demand delivery of time sensitive packages like blood bags or medicines to rural hospitals is faster by drone than by car. I wonder how the price of delivery by these drones would compare to car based delivery in places where the roads produce faster car based delivery times. Cars can also carry much more weight. But the thing about blood in particular is that it has a short shelf life and rural hospitals can't afford to keep large supplies on hand because in normal conditions a lot of it will expire unused.

Wendover Productions:

Source: https://youtu.be/bnoUBfLxZz0?si=eUunFuQrZkO9VHr9


Real Engineering:

Source: https://youtu.be/jEbRVNxL44c?si=SiRDx3XwlnlxksdM


MonkeeSage said:
Interesting video! If I saw one of those flying around I would definitely wonder what kind of drone it was. Though they do actually look and move like drones (1:45) as opposed to all the pics and videos I have seen of alleged drones.
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I agree that I don't think the testing of these is likely to explain much of the alleged sightings, almost all of which seems to be to be misidentifications of conventional manned aircraft and celestial objects. There have been a small handful of nighttime videos that look like potential *copter drones.
 

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flarkey said:
I've seen this video shared a few times recently on Twitter showing 3 large "drones" over New Jersey. Looks kinda like 3 x C-130s to me.


Source: https://x.com/EzeemmaCraic/status/1878605846298738872?t=_pSR8mCz4Ey1UXqBCvSLDQ&s=19

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On 9 Jan at around 7pm local this flight of 3 C-130s flew low level around NJ.

View attachment 75744
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Yes I did a Google Earth recreation of this yesterday in fact. Location is Central Avenue in Ocean City NJ.

The KML tracks seem a bit wonky compared to how closely the aircraft followed each other, but it's undoubtedly a match.

1736852562378.png



Camera was in the red circle.

1736852977479.png
 
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This was a fun one.

External Quote:

Sandy Vilan

pdosenSotrfa06u6327lihfl716u5tt605lt28mum3lhh9gaut1302uc3t2c ·

This morning at 6:30 am over NYC. 3 stationary blinking lights in sky and not planes or building tower lights. Way up high over the city.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/525773765/videos/580833181417019/


With a bit of detective work I was able to identify the filming location in New Jersey and ID the lights as three news helicopters over Jersey City.

1736876105718.png


1736876044227.png



Presumably the helicopters were there to cover this traffic accident in the area this morning, and/or subsequent jams. There was a fourth chopper which was off to the right as seen from this angle.

1736876173811.png
 
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TEEJ said:
The claims of car sized drone are still being reported. Report from Suffolk County, NY. At the end of the news clip they announce that exclusive new video is going to be released.
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Trump is going to announce it. That probably means that some fantasy is going to be spun, and "wrong information" offers no advantage over "no information".
 
TEEJ said:
The claims of car sized drone are still being reported. Report from Suffolk County, NY. At the end of the news clip they announce that exclusive new video is going to be released.


Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=absNTR1eauw
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Struggling to find any concrete fact in there other than the deployment of the DeDrone system.

There's a little more about that in the coverage by the Suffolk Times at https://suffolktimes.timesreview.co...at-eight-weeks-of-mysterious-drone-sightings/, but even they don't say the sightings "at the airport" were confirmed reports over the airport grounds rather than the common incident of someone looking in the direction of the airport and seeing distant lights in the sky. There's one anecdote in the story of a drone observer who (on some unspecified date) spent four or five hours watching lights in the sky not moving much -- though I wish he'd had tried to get closer to them, or even record some angles to get parallax.
 
TEEJ said:
The claims of car sized drone are still being reported. Report from Suffolk County, NY. At the end of the news clip they announce that exclusive new video is going to be released.
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Suffolk County (NY) officials gave a press conference on Jan 3 in which they claimed there were drones flying over the runway of Gabreski airport on Long Island. Police were not able to identify anything, and no video is given. Basically seems like the politicians assumed there were indeed drones there merely because "it was reported" that there were. At the 5:45 timestamp in the below video a politician (I don't know his name) says "There were some as large as cars, from what we've heard". To me it sounds like just parroting nebulous gossip, and that there were in fact zero confirmed drones over the airport. The police chief said they were in the process of installing a new drone detection system (Remote ID detectors?).


Source: https://www.facebook.com/FoxNews/videos/478478211587899


Would be nice to see some videos if they've got some now.
 
 
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Starflint said:
The explosion of the "flare" in this video was so unusual that many people thought it was a new type of UFO from New Jersey.
Source：Hammonton nj, 7:15 pm we saw what looked like flares fall into the street across the lake then looked up to the sky to see this!!! Sound is off due to privacy issues. But the explosion was loud!!!
View attachment 75877
Another relevant piece of information is this:Source：Videos are pouring in right now. But, I'd like to remind everyone that we do live near military bases and they do practice. I can't see if this is a drone. But, I want to repeat the military does do testing. Video was taken near Joint Base. Our National Guard is expected to be training this weekend.

I don't know if both places have experienced military exercises in the same area？
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There is a thread about this video here https://www.metabunk.org/threads/exploding-ufo-orb-in-new-jersey.13855
 
Starflint said:
这段视频中"耀斑"的爆炸是如此不寻常，以至于许多人认为这是一种来自新泽西州的新型 UFO。
来源：新泽西州哈蒙顿，晚上 7 点 15 分，我们看到看起来像照明弹的东西落在湖对面的街道上，然后抬头仰望天空看到这个!!由于隐私问题，声音已关闭。但爆炸声很大!!
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MonkeeSage said:
There is a thread about this video here https://www.metabunk.org/threads/exploding-ufo-orb-in-new-jersey.13855
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Thanks a lot, premium members always know exactly where some of the past articles are located, it saves me a lot of time searching for answers!
 
Tom Gilbert in the "New Jersey Mystery Drones - let's solve it" group on Facebook posted this on Jan 19:


Source: https://www.facebook.com/groups/552059654373970/posts/592081617038440/

External Quote:

2024: 1,673 Reports (178 NJ/NY) (10.6% of total reports in NJ/NY)
1/1/24-3/31/24: 326 Reports (28 NJ/NY) (8.6%)
4/1/24-6/31/24: 567 Reports (67 NJ/NY) (11.8%)
7/1/24-9/30/24: 406 Reports (39 NJ/NY) (9.6%)
10/1/24-12/31/24: 374 Reports (44 NJ/NY) (11.8%)

2023: 1,685 Reports (235 NJ/NY) (14% of total reports in NJ/NY)
1/1/23-3/31/23: 311 Reports (39 NJ/NY) (12.5%)
4/1/23-6/31/23: 598 Reports (86 NJ/NY) (14.4%)
7/1/23-9/30/23: 439 Reports (70 NJ/NY) (16%)
10/1/24-12/31/23: 337 Reports (40 NJ/NY) (11.9%)
(I believe '10/1/24-12/31/23' is a typo, the last count line should say '10/1/23-12/31/23')

He takes the FAA's spreadsheets on drones reported by airport ATC and aggregates them and buckets the 24 months of 2023-2024 counts into 3 month buckets. So Oct-Dec 2024 is one bucket. Given the explosion in alleged drone sightings by police, politicians, and members of the public, near airports, including even (allegedly) over airports, potentially involving hundreds or more drones per day, one would think that ATC drone sightings would have substantially increased by potentially orders of magnitude. But there is no major increase either nationally or in NJ/NY. Actually a decrease in NJ. (edit: typo, 3 month buckets not 2)
 
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Kyle Ferriter said:
Given the explosion in alleged drone sightings by police, politicians, and members of the public, near airports, including even (allegedly) over airports, potentially involving hundreds or more drones per day, one would think that ATC drone sightings would have substantially increased by potentially orders of magnitude. But there is no major increase either nationally or in NJ/NY. Actually a decrease in NJ.
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Of course one need not make a report to ATC in order to post a video of a low-flying plane, helicopter or even drone onto YouTube, or send it to the media outlet of one's choice.

But that is likely part of your point -- where is the bump in OFFICIALLY reported drones while the unofficial reports were going bonkers? That's a great catch.
 
Recently News Nation interviewed a NJ mayor, Michael Melham, about the "drones".


Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVySidXOjRY


With a notable from the interview being at 2:56

External Quote:

Recently I've been watching and spent some time with a videographer out of Long Island. I mean, he has these glowing orbs of light on camera that as you watch them right before your eyes they seem to transform into a mechanical drone. So I've actually watched it myself where the orbs are glowing of light, different blinking lights all over the place. And as it gets closer to you actually see it transformed into a drone. Whether it's a drone from the beginning and it's being obstructed by bright light, I can't tell you, but it is cause for concern. We have looked at flight tracker data. We don't see any airplanes in the skies. These things are absolutely some kind of phenomenon that's happening just over our homes.
https://x.com/michaelmelham

And now it seems he has shared on Twitter a couple of these "drone" videos.


Source: https://x.com/michaelmelham/status/1882289650737524974


The first one is peculiar, in the sense that it comes from the future. The timestamp from the camera seems to show it's from the 28th, so if anyone lives near New Jersey you might be able to spot it. In all seriousness, he has responded to the fact that the date is wrong with this message from his source.
1737723251638.png


He has not provided a date for when it actually happened. Maybe someone wants to geolocate it since the view is pretty distinct, but without a date/time there might not be much use to it (outside of maybe showing an airport is nearby).

Looking at the footage itself, nothing about it seems impossible for an approaching plane. They say it didn't show up on flightradar, but we can't really verify that.


Source: https://x.com/michaelmelham/status/1882291491869282612


This time the date is plausible (though if it's the same source, may be off by the same amount of days), but we can't see anything on the ground to determine the location.

The second tweet is peculiar in that it has a pink/purple hue and it seems to be rotated for whatever reason. According to the mayor, it has that pink color because it's infrared (I don't know whether or not there's night vision filters that look pink/purple, but that's the reason he gives).

1737723643289.png


Someone on reddit has kindly rotated it back and put a black and white filter so it's easier to see what's going on.



It again just looks like a plane with landing lights on, and we again can't verify the flight radar claim.

Maybe this can be it's own thread, but due to the lack of info on both sightings making it impossible to find out what either of them could be, I decided to just make it a post.
 
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Calter said:
Recently News Nation interviewed a NJ mayor, Michael Melham, about the "drones".

[snip]

Maybe this can be it's own thread, but due to the lack of info on both sightings making it impossible to find out what either of them could be, I decided to just make it a post.
Click to expand...

I have just been looking at some of these videos, by coincidence.

I tracked down the filming location of the "Jan 28th" video from the future to a spot in Glen Cove, NY.

1737725944933.png


It shows a plane pointing towards the camera before turning left and flying off to the northeast (left to right). Example flight track in Google Earth of a typical approach to LaGuardia

1737726322031.png


1737726405022.png


His other videos seem to be taken from the same area, and from a quick look at his Instagram feed, all the timestamps are out. Eg he has a video timestamped Jan 15th (timestamp at top left) posted on Jan 11th:

1737726075994.png



In a few of his videos he does quote a time and date, and a quick Sitrec recreation shows that they are also planes on approach to LaGuardia, which tend to align with his viewpoint before banking (turning from "orbs" into "drones", in his parlance).

Example here:

1737726161879.png
 
NoParty said:
I want you to trademark that phrase, so you can collect each time they use it...
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That phrase, or variations of it, cropped up here before my first time using it. Maybe Mick could TM it for the site? :D

But in THIS (and many other) cases, it makes me wonder how much the hard work many folks here do can possibly pay off... if somebody can't look at a video of a distant light that gets closer until you can clearly see that it is a plane, and not realize it is a plane, I'm not sure finding the exact flight using technology beyond their ken will help bring them around. I suppose it is worth doing for the fun of solving a puzzle, and if maybe it will help even one or two people understand that's worth doing -- and maybe its best effect is to inoculate folks against the NEXT claim that "one thing this plane (satellite, bird, butterfly, rocket launch, reflection, etc.) definitely is not is a plane (etc.), trust me."
 
TEEJ said:
Are we on the verge of another drone flap? Increase in sightings.


Source: https://x.com/UAPJames/status/1883974926929125838


https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-new...s-reported-northeast-faa-ban-lifts-rcna189380
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Boy, this is getting real tiresome to watch play out:
I hear over & over how "the government isn't providing answers," when they should be saying: "The government just isn't providing fun, exciting answers that say this is something huge."

First, the evidence that these sitings are actually, accurately drones, is pitiful.
Second, even if they were, so what? Millions of us operate drones daily with no issues...
and none of these thousands of supposed drones has done anything harmful, have they?
 
NoParty said:
... none of these thousands of supposed drones has done anything harmful, have they?
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Conspiracy theorists are telling each other that they are spraying viruses or chemicals, or are spying on the country or the citizens, etc... so while in actuality they have not done anything harmful, to the extent they exist at all, but people are being frightened into BELIEVING that they are, or are about to.
 
JMartJr said:
Conspiracy theorists are telling each other that they are spraying viruses or chemicals, or are spying on the country or the citizens, etc... so while in actuality they have not done anything harmful, to the extent they exist at all, but people are being frightened into BELIEVING that they are, or are about to.
Click to expand...
Now I feel like a dope for telling my pals in '06, that Idiocracy was not a documentary...
 
NoParty said:
Boy, this is getting real tiresome to watch play out:
I hear over & over how "the government isn't providing answers," when they should be saying: "The government just isn't providing fun, exciting answers that say this is something huge."

First, the evidence that these sitings are actually, accurately drones, is pitiful.
Second, even if they were, so what? Millions of us operate drones daily with no issues...
and none of these thousands of supposed drones has done anything harmful, have they?
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The main cause for "drones" this late in the game seems to be people looking at jetliners and not setting FlightRadar24 or similar apps to cover enough space or rewinding and not realizing the display is defaulting to UTC instead of Eastern Standard Time, so they're four hours off. Or not realizing that military aircraft can fly with transponders deactivated.
 
"Drone sightings in NJ, NY, CT and PA have surged in recent weeks"

Have they? Is it just the "sightings"? If the sightings have increased, that doesn't mean the drones themselves (or the planes mistaken for drones) have increased in number. If you're going to tell the public to be on the lookout for anomalous sky blips, you're likely to get what you wanted, more eyes on the sky.
 
NoParty said:
First, the evidence that these sitings are actually, accurately drones, is pitiful.
Second, even if they were, so what? Millions of us operate drones daily with no issues...
and none of these thousands of supposed drones has done anything harmful, have they?
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Dangers to aviation in December
  • Russians (crash in Aktau)
  • ducks (crash in Muan)
  • lightning (Toki Air, Dec 15)
No dangers
  • drones
  • UAP
 
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Mendel said:
No dangers
  • drones
  • UAP
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Not quite true that drones haven't caused a danger recently (although admittedly this was over California, in January and under the very unusual circumstances and congested airspace during firefighting)

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fbi-investigating-los-angeles-firefighting-aircraft-damaged-drone/FI
External Quote:

January 12, 2025 / 11:10 AM EST / CBS News
FBI investigating Los Angeles firefighting aircraft damaged by drone
An investigation is underway to find the operator of a private drone that collided with a firefighting aircraft battling the blazes in Los Angeles on Thursday, the FBI said.

The unauthorized drone damaged the aircraft, known as a "super scooper," as it was working to suppress the massive Palisades Fire that has so far engulfed more than 23,000 acres of land in western L.A. County.

Laura Eimiller, a spokesperson for the FBI's Los Angeles field office, said in a statement to CBS News on Sunday that the drone violated temporary flight restrictions enacted by the Federal Aviation Administration in the wake of the blazes
1738053819200.png


1738053836526.png
 
flarkey said:
Not quite true that drones haven't caused a danger recently (although admittedly this was over California, in January and under the very unusual circumstances and congested airspace during firefighting)
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There were no injuries, and the aircraft is already back in service.
It's not at all the same severity as the accidents I have listed for December, when the drone flap was. There was nothing mysterious about the drone that hit the Super Scooper. It was a drone flying in restricted airspace illegally, filming the fire, afaik in broad daylight.

Compare (source: avherald.com):
 
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Mendel said:
Coyotes are a greater danger to aviation than UAP. Let that sink in.
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Have been this past year, at least. But with the surging growth in the number of hobbyist drones in the hands of untrained pilots, it is probably worth taking steps early to prevent future issues. Whereas, as far as I can determine, the coyote threat has probably reached a steady-state situation...
 
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