Drones over New Jersey?

flarkey said:
One interesting claim that could be checked is that it has been happening "every night with the exception of Thanksgiving".
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If some of the reports are of drones (I think it's likely many are misidentifications of commercial aircraft as per Katie Corrado,
see Katie Corrado Misidentifying Planes as Drones, over New Jersey thread), I'm tempted to offer an explanation about the Thanksgiving lacuna:

1. The drones are being flown by American people, mainly for their own fun, like most other instances of drones being flown in the USA. Maybe some are getting a bit more fun out of it by flying at a time when for some reason it's newsworthy.

2. The drone users are, on average, very similar to Americans who don't have drones. They are not flying the drones for any nefarious or treasonous purpose.

3. So most drone users lucky enough to be able to get together with family and have a nice meal on Thanksgiving did so.

4. Similarly, some of the more impressionable potential witnesses were safely at home enjoying a bit of turkey.
 
More people in New Jersey seeing weird planes and thinking they are 'drones'....


Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/UFOs/comments/1h7oeam/just_saw_the_triangle_drones_over_ocean_city_ner/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button


This just happened. Im in ocean city new jersey. Heard weird engine noise over my movie and I went outside to see what aircraft beings all the talk about the nj drones. I looked south and BOOM. Triangle craft! An f16 was in hot pursuit after them! It sounded like a drone and was absolutely a triangle . I see uaps nightly. Look through my posts. I have a drop box full of daily encounters. Been thinking about posting it.
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This view reminded me of the low flying C-130 video that Mick investigated a while back... (https://www.metabunk.org/threads/ex...fo-burwell-fen-uk-c-130-landing-lights.11959/)

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The video was posted on Reddit at this time, which is conveniently in GMT/UTC time...

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So checking over Ocean City NJ on ADSB Exchange at this date shows that there were indeed 2 C-130s flying overhead at a time just before the video was posted....

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Another one...


Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/UFOB/comments/1h5xikh/drones_in_nj/


Took this video nov 12 warren county nj at 624pm after i could hear odd sounding turbines outside my house. We live near an active flightpath so im used to seeing and hearing planes but these were odd.

I went outside and observed 8 craft circling around the area at a low altitude. While filming it appeared that two of them collided or had a near miss. These circled the area for at least a hour from what i could hear. I had to go inside and do nighttime routine with my baby otherwise i would have kept tabs.
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This was 12 November 2024 a8 1842 EST = 2342 UTC. There were a bunch of aircraft in a holding pattern just west of Warren County at this exact time. They do look like they're having a near miss, but in reality they all have about 1000ft vertical separation.

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My geolocation skills are drawing a blank with this one. Posted on Reddit and claimed to be photographed in Kiamensi Gardens, Delaware, but I've scoured the area and been unable to find that road bridge. It looks like a pair of flyovers so probably a dual carriageway (or divided freeway, whatever they are called in the US) crossing above what appears to be a 4 lane (2 in each directions) road, or part of a cloverleaf junction.

I can't find a match for the bridge and the signage. The blue and yellow sign just beyond the bridge should be a clue.

The pattern of lights looks very much like a line of planes on the approach to land at an airport, and with the exact location that should be easy to confirm or disprove.
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You can sometimes work in reverse, initially make the assumption that these are planes on approach to a nearby airport, the nearest might be Wilmington.

Then looks for roads that roughly align with the approach direction planes were using on that night assuming you have the date/time.
 
Trailblazer said:
My geolocation skills are drawing a blank with this one. Posted on Reddit and claimed to be photographed in Kiamensi Gardens, Delaware, but I've scoured the area and been unable to find that road bridge. It looks like a pair of flyovers so probably a dual carriageway (or divided freeway, whatever they are called in the US) crossing above what appears to be a 4 lane (2 in each directions) road, or part of a cloverleaf junction.

I can't find a match for the bridge and the signage. The blue and yellow sign just beyond the bridge should be a clue.

The pattern of lights looks very much like a line of planes on the approach to land at an airport, and with the exact location that should be easy to confirm or disprove.
View attachment 74069
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@Trailblazer - this article seems to have similar pictures taken at the same time (vehicles match) but the location is claimed to be close to Dallas Fort Worth....

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/science...Os-american-airlines-spirit-planes-Texas.html

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Source: https://www.tiktok.com/@laurenallison45/video/7442929548020272414
 
flarkey said:
@Trailblazer - this article seems to have similar pictures taken at the same time (vehicles match) but the location is claimed to be close to Dallas Fort Worth....

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/science...Os-american-airlines-spirit-planes-Texas.html

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Source: https://www.tiktok.com/@laurenallison45/video/7442929548020272414
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Same vehicles visible in the two screenshots, and Kimball Avenue is in the Dallas area... so, bingo!

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Trailblazer said:
And the line of lights appears to perfectly align with runway 31L at DFW airport. Taking off rather than landing?
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The planes look too high, and too distant. I'd suggest it was these ones (or at least planes on a similar flight path). They are flying straight towards the highway where the tiktok was recorded.:

https://www.flightradar24.com/multiview/2024-11-29/23:43/20x/382a9964,382a9a64,382aa89d,382a748f
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In Google Earth, viewed from 32.9526297 -97.1355318

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flarkey said:
The planes look too high, and too distant. I'd suggest it was these ones (or at least planes on a similar flight path). They are flying straight towards the highway where the tiktok was recorded.:

https://www.flightradar24.com/multiview/2024-11-29/23:43/20x/382a9964,382a9a64,382aa89d,382a748f
View attachment 74080

In Google Earth, viewed from 32.9526297 -97.1355318

View attachment 74081

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Yes I'd agree with that. Looking at playback there don't seem to be any planes taking off from that runway on the night in question, but your alignment looks good.

And of course, the fact that these "drones" would have to be very close to a major airport, and yet go entirely undetected, makes it seem rather unlikely they were anything other than planes.
 
Yesterday I watched a video clip on YouTube from Fox News' coverage of this "story." Fox is not unique in the credulity given to this topic, but I found what was going on in the comments section to be worrisome. The reporting has tied it into being near President-elect Trump's property at Bedminster golf course, and the commenters are in some cases getting a bit... threatening.

"Protect Trump at all costs"
"If it's a perceived threat then remove the threat with any means available"
"I think it's about time American citizens take the law into our own hands"
"Apparently it's happening all over. Nobody seems to want to do anything about it anywhere."
"They could be carrying nuclear weapons"
"...Fox News, you must know of the Morristown, New Jersey Police Department's advisory was released Sunday and in part reads, "If a drone crashes or lands, do not approach or handle it." That advisory sounds like let's not cause panic "code" for the possibility that the drones may be radioactive and/or dispersing biological/chemical weapons on an unsuspecting public, even if they are not of non-human origin..."
"New law open season on drones"
"We the people will protect him"
"How much is a drone hunting license?"
Etc. An admittedly a cherry-picked list, most of the comments are more benign, though many are worried and distrustful.

Given that at least some of these drones are aircraft full of passengers, they narrative of "They are dangerous, law enforcement is not doing naything, let's take matters into our own hands and shoot them down to protect Trump (or for any other reason)" is concerning.

(I don't recall if the link to the news story is something I saw on MB, on a more credulous UFO forum, or whether the YT algorithm fed it to me... in any case, here is the link:
Source: https://youtu.be/LZcWXnFavVg
)
 
This page on ADSB Exchange is interesting, it shows a heatmap of regular flights all over the world. The map over NY & NJ clearly shows the common routes into the airports.

https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?realHeat=true
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This news page has an interactive map of which counties in NJ have seen drones:

https://eu.northjersey.com/story/ne...ractive-map-sightings-8-counties/76799369007/
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Combining the two shows some correlation, but it doesn't explain why people are seeing these things all of a sudden, or why they are unable to recognise lights in the sky planes that they should be familar with.
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JMartJr said:
Given that at least some of these drones are aircraft full of passengers, they narrative of "They are dangerous, law enforcement is not doing naything, let's take matters into our own hands and shoot them down to protect Trump (or for any other reason)" is concerning.
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Compare (Dallas, Nov 15):
Article:
The Boeing 737-800 aircraft was "struck by gunfire near the cockpit" around 8:30 p.m. while taxiing before the flight to Indianapolis International Airport. The plane returned to the gate and the passengers exited, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement.
 
flarkey said:
This page on ADSB Exchange is interesting, it shows a heatmap of regular flights all over the world. The map over NY & NJ clearly shows the common routes into the airports.

https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?realHeat=true
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This news page has an interactive map of which counties in NJ have seen drones:

https://eu.northjersey.com/story/ne...ractive-map-sightings-8-counties/76799369007/
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Combining the two shows some correlation, but it doesn't explain why people are seeing these things all of a sudden, or why they are unable to recognise lights in the sky planes that they should be familar with.
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It just seems to be following the classic "flap" pattern. One or two people notice something "odd", it becomes newsworthy due to careless or sensationalist reporting, and all of a sudden people who never normally take notice of a normal phenomenon suddenly notice it for the first time, so it becomes more newsworthy, so more people look out for it, and so on...

Like the windscreen pitting phenomenon in Seattle in the 1950s.

External Quote:

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Seattle windshield pitting epidemic is a phenomenon which affected Bellingham, Seattle, and other communities of Washington state in April 1954; it is considered an example of a mass delusion. It was characterized by widespread observation of previously unnoticed windshield holes, pits and dings, leading residents to believe that a common causative agent was at work. It was originally thought to be the work of vandals, but the rate of pitting was so great that residents began to attribute it to everything from sand flea eggs to nuclear bomb testing.
 
It's certainly a flap

There's some elements that are making this one a bit more pervasive

Social media as always but Twitter's lower standards of moderation post Musk.
The underlying long term UFO flap caused by the Elizondo/TTSA/NY Times.
The recent prior framing of concern over drones near military assets as UAP/aliens/NHI.
Drone fear as a result of drone usage in the Ukraine/Russia war.
Proximity to Trump property.
 
A trait of this FLAP, and I suppose most other UAP type spottings, is the disparity between what is captured on a phone camera lens versus what is seen and described, as Mick pointed out in his tweet on the CT sheriff incident. My impression from all these videos from area moms and pops on FB is that, in person, they are flying a lot closer than is perceived in videos, which is why local people are perplexed by them coming withing close distance of their houses. I can't source this one to FB yet but it seems like a typical video like you would find on this local FB group.

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/UFOs/comments/1h8iamg/video_from_facebook_group_rotors_above_the_lights/


Yes, the aircraft has FAA markings but it does seem to hover, and to the people there it seems closer. Plus the man in this case can see with his own eyes what look to be rotors that come out grainy in the video, so similar to the military drones discussed with foldable wings for VTOL.

A second aspect is that all these drones, if we presume some of them not to be manned airplanes, seem to have standard FAA lights and are perhaps part of a coordinated military activity or otherwise incursions from adversaries, but that is just speculation. Perhaps they are all planes and all we have is testimony beyond grainy vids.
 
flarkey said:
So apparently the drones can manipulate time, according to this Fox News clip


Source: https://youtu.be/LZcWXnFavVg?si=19TDtTYPL0yNe012


One interesting claim that could be checked is that it has been happening "every night with the exception of Thanksgiving". I wonder if the air traffic was noticeably and demonstrably different then...?

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It is getting crazy out there! People will still be filming these "drones" in proximity and over Trump's residences even after he is sworn in. Of course some of the Temporary Flight Restriction areas and heights will be increased after he is sworn in, but aircraft will also be allowed to fly through them with permission. The people filming will simply be recording perfectly routine aviation and believing that there must be some huge no fly zone at Bedminster?

The Temporary Flight Restriction at Bedminster for Trump is currenty at 1 nautical mile radius and 1,000 feet.

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https://tfr.faa.gov/save_pages/detail_4_1797.html
 
PacketSniffer5000 said:
A trait of this FLAP, and I suppose most other UAP type spottings, is the disparity between what is captured on a phone camera lens versus what is seen and described, as Mick pointed out in his tweet on the CT sheriff incident. My impression from all these videos from area moms and pops on FB is that, in person, they are flying a lot closer than is perceived in videos, which is why local people are perplexed by them coming withing close distance of their houses. I can't source this one to FB yet but it seems like a typical video like you would find on this local FB group.

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/UFOs/comments/1h8iamg/video_from_facebook_group_rotors_above_the_lights/


Yes, the aircraft has FAA markings but it does seem to hover, and to the people there it seems closer. Plus the man in this case can see with his own eyes what look to be rotors that come out grainy in the video, so similar to the military drones discussed with foldable wings for VTOL.

A second aspect is that all these drones, if we presume some of them not to be manned airplanes, seem to have standard FAA lights and are perhaps part of a coordinated military activity or otherwise incursions from adversaries, but that is just speculation. Perhaps they are all planes and all we have is testimony beyond grainy vids.
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This video clearly shows a commercial airliner.
 
PacketSniffer5000 said:
Yes, the aircraft has FAA markings but it does seem to hover, and to the people there it seems closer.
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With all the goodwill in the world, the clip provided very clearly shows an airliner-type aircraft in normal flight, followed by lights that are consistent in colour and strobe frequency with lights on more distant aircraft.
There is absolutely nothing unusual in that video whatsoever.

The responses on Reddit are harder to understand than the video clip is. Some people "Want to believe" I guess, but this clip is evidence that we have planes that follow widely-held lighting conventions, nothing else.
 
jarlrmai said:
This video clearly shows a commercial airliner.
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You're right. To prove otherwise, a video needs to show something that at least does not move like a plane, plus rough location and time. Original poster mentioned Woodbridge, which aircraft were circling coming in from W before tracking NE to Newark. I should have checked before linking the vid.

Screenshot 2024-12-07 at 23.17.02.png
 
roger1440 said:
Next step would be to find others like that in New Jersey. Then see if the locations correlate with the drone locations. What is that thing? I can't search the Internet because I don't know what to search for.
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The round thingy is called "Aerial Marker Balls".
 
Jack Mallory said:
I've really nothing more to add than what this tweet is expressing, but this might be a fun story to follow.






Source: https://x.com/rawsalerts/status/1858723577605873668
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Attached is some additional video from TikTok claiming the 'planes' are triangular drones.

There may have been a drone but what we are seeing now is a social contagion or collective delusion which is spreading via social media and the news. It is interesting to watch.
 

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I will be in northwestern New Jersey tomorrow afternoon and evening, e.g. Morris County area, Morristown, Rockaway, Bridgewater and surrounding. If anyone has any specific locations they want high quality photos of or geographic information about, etc, let me know. Or if you have any tips on where I should go to see any actual drones.
 
ManInBlack said:
There may have been a drone but what we are seeing now is a social contagion or collective delusion which is spreading via social media and the news. It is interesting to watch.
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Indeed. As disheartening as it may be (at least to me), it is, unquestionably "interesting."

You know the old saying: If it looks like a plane, and sounds like a plane...it's gotta be a drone! o_O

I'm reminded of 2001's Summer of the Shark hysteria that took hold of the news media and public consciousness alike.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_of_the_Shark
 
It is a bit interesting that the flap is about drones, not UFOs. I'd think with all the UFO buzz right now, they'd have gone in that direction. Possibly suggests that there were some drones that were recognized as such that started it -- wouldn't be shocking, we know drones exist. (As something of a compromise, we've seen a few references to "alien drones...")
 
jarlrmai said:
This video clearly shows a commercial airliner.
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The first one on that video...

My tentative identification is a boeing 757.

Frame from video:
boeing 757.png


757 from the following video
757.png






The lights shining on the fuselage are landing lights.
1698770523617.jpg


boeing 757.png
 
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A 777 may be a better fit. It's a bigger plane with a similar profile. What changed my mind: the 777 has a white LED strobe anti-collision light on the tail while the 757 doesn't.

Mystery drone. White LED strobes. One on the port wingtip and one on the tail. The white LED strobe on the starboard wing is not visible from this angle.
vlcsnap-00002.png



Mystery drone with red strobe on bottom of fuselage.
vlcsnap-00001.png


777 with white strobe on wingtips and tail. The white LED strobe on the starboard wing is not visible from this angle.


White LED strobe on port wingtip
777 LED.png



We should collect together a library of airliners, including the lights they typically show.
 
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Witnesses are clearly misperceiving large, distant things as smaller and closer than they really are. Very easy to do in a featureless night sky, and a classic feature in UFO eyewitness accounts over the decades.

Visual perception heavily relies on expectations. Some witnesses are expecting to see car sized drones at a few hundred feet, so that's what they see.

The argument will be, "I know what I saw."

And it is what they saw. What we see is produced by the brain moment by moment. These witnesses "saw" a car sized thing at a few hundred feet because that's the perception their brain produced, moment by moment.

This how near/how far misperception had been well understood for a good number of years when Allen Hendry wrote The UFO Handbook in 1979... but the information never seems to penetrate to any level in public consciousness. Even among the educated.

This is not the first Mystery Drone Flap. Have people forgotten the Great Colorado Drone Flap of 2019-2020?

I'm going to link to this thread again.

https://www.metabunk.org/threads/drone-photo-over-colorado-actually-a-boeing-737.11055/#post-235834

This photo published in a Denver newspaper is, beyond reasonable doubt, a 737. We can be pretty sure that it was a specific plane - flight number WN143 flying at 13,000 feet.
TDP-L-Drone-RJS-0012 (1).jpg

(Caption) RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post
The grouping of lights in the center of the photograph shows a drone flying several hundred feet in the night sky on Jan. 2, 2020 near Limon.
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TDP-L-Drone- Kropped large.PNG




Another thread about the Great Colorado Drone Flap
https://www.metabunk.org/threads/drone-photo-over-colorado-actually-a-boeing-737.11055/#post-235834
 
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One of the most frequently posted videos from this recent "new jersey drones" flap is the one that sort of looks like it makes an impossibly tight right turn in the air. The craft looks like a plane but the claim that it cant be (and might be an advanced drone, or who knows what) comes from the apparent rapid turn that no plane with alive humans on it could do. But it's a simple illusion caused by perspective changes as the person holding the camera turns to follow the plane as it goes by. It makes no rapid turn.

I demonstrated this effect with a very rough quick demo with my dji drone in my living room. But today I think I got a pretty good demo with an actual plane:



This is an Embraer E175LR flying in essentially a straight line. The lack of other reference points in the sky helps the illusion that it is turning.

Stuff like this makes me think it'd be useful to have a catalog of common video illusions like this, or even just normal photos and videos which serve as useful examples. There have been a bunch of cases on Twitter of people claiming videos of planes are anomalous because the lighting on a particular plane (at least as represented in a particular video, with whatever limitations the camera has) is not exactly the same as other examples of plane lights. And it's hard to find extensive examples of the lighting that exists on all kinds of aircraft, and across all airlines with their additional lighting decisions like additional side or tail lights. Of course cataloguing all this is a lot of work and won't convince people who strongly want to believe otherwise.
 
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