December 9, 2024
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What are the mysterious drones reported in New York State and New Jersey?
Reports of unidentified flying objects are on the rise in the northeastern US, but so far officials have few answers for concerned residents.
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What’s shiny, flying, and flying through the night sky in northern New Jersey?
The answer, apparently, is “drones,” but no one seems to know much more than that—or, at least, is capable of revealing it.
In recent weeks, reports of strange unidentified aircraft (some reportedly as large as a car) have been flying over parts of the Garden State. Witnesses and video suggest some may have been jets and others fixed-wing aircraft. Some seem to have flown singly and erratically, while others seem to operate in orderly formation. All, however, do not show any hidden signs; They have been described as bright lights. And according to on December 5 on social networks A message from New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said the sightings are being seriously investigated, but “there is no known threat to the public at this time.”
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Many of the reports were initially collected in Morris County, New Jersey—where strange objects were apparently seen over major waterways, municipal reservoirs, and even sensitive military installations such as the US Army’s Picatinny Arsenal. Some recent outbreaks have been in other nearby counties, however, and have spread as far south as the outskirts of Philadelphia. The sightings come amid reports of alarming drone activity, among others Four UK military bases used by the US in and around the last few weeks Langley Air Force Base in Virginia In December 2023.
The surge in reports in New Jersey has prompted a flurry of responses from local, state and national authorities. It was signed and sent by about 20 elected officials in Morris County a letter to the appropriate federal agenciesand the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) temporarily banned drone flights Picatinny Arsenal and Bedminster, NJ, golf club Owned by President-elect Donald Trump. In a joint statement last week, the FBI, the New Jersey State Police and the State Office of Safety and Training. announced they were looking for information related to drone sightings. The tip asked witnesses to submit their reports through the FBI hotline (1-800-225-5324) or agency website for advice.
Meanwhile, many witnesses have reached out to local news organizations as well Enigma LabsA New York City-based startup that allows users of its smartphone app to send geolocated reports and recordings of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP). According to Christine Kim, head of marketing at Enigma Labs, the company processes thousands of observations every month and receives dozens of reports (including some with the video) regional users over the past three weeks, during which time 16 percent of U.S. shipments were related to drones in New Jersey.
“This is active research where what’s needed is more eyes in the sky,” says Kim. “For us, it’s like a ‘stress test’ for our users to film and report what they see, so we can crowdsource and research together… We don’t have a clear answer yet, but as we get more data, we try to find and figure out patterns in what we’re seeing. we can.”
So far, Kim noted, the content and quality of the reports have been so variable that certainty is elusive. “One person wrote that he saw a large, triangular craft with three lights at the corners, it wasn’t flying high or fast, it was too bright to be a conventional plane,” he says. “Another reported seeing several ships night after night, flying very fast, with different brightness ranges and looking quite small next to other helicopters and planes…. Some of the pictures I’ve seen floating around are like, ‘Yeah, in the clouds. what a plane looks like’. Therefore, some of these we are also condemning”.
In response to those seen writing on X (formerly Twitter) early Sunday morning EST, UAP skeptic and researcher Mick West posted a smartphone video He filmed what he believed to be a “drone” near his home in California and claimed it was, in fact, a regular plane flying overhead, flight tracking data confirmed. Many of the New Jersey sightings, his post suggested, are likely similar cases of mistaken identity, in large part because of how poor most phone optics are. how easy it is for as well as experienced observers to incorrectly measure the sizes, distances and movements of celestial objects.
However, to blame all of these recent outbreaks and the wealth of recordings on pure mass hysteria seems implausible, especially given the responses from multiple levels of law enforcement. Something strange is in the air over northern New Jersey, but what, exactly, remains to be seen.
