Residents and law enforcement officials are reporting numerous large, unidentified drones flying at night over New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. Some of the fixed-wing devices are estimated to be roughly four-feet-wide, while others are believed to be as large as a car. And while officials including New Jersey governor Phil Murphy have stressed there is no evidence suggesting the drones pose a threat to public safety, at least one related incident may have delayed medevac transport of a seriously injured car wreck victim.
As The New York Times noted over the weekend, sightings date as far back as November, and have occurred over residential areas, highways, railroads, reservoirs, and power lines. In most instances, the loud, blinking drones appear to be “significantly larger” than standard drones piloted by hobbyists. At least two events prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to temporarily ban drones at Donald Trump’s Bedminster National Golf Club and Picatinny Arsenal, a 6,400-square-acre military research and manufacturing facility in Morris County, New Jersey. Meanwhile, Staten Island borough president Vito Fossella has requested the FAA and FBI investigate similar sightings reported by locals last week. According to him, witnesses spotted drones above Staten Island’s Howland Hook Marine Terminal container port facility and the West Shore.
“It is odd and quite bizarre that nobody can figure out who is flying these drones, where they are coming from, and their purpose,” Fossella wrote in a letter to both agencies on December 5th. He also described a vehicular crash in Branchburg, NJ, that reportedly required medevac assistance.
“… [T]he presence of these drones prevented a medevac helicopter from being able to transport a seriously injured patient to the hospital,” Fossella alleged. ““We hope that such an investigation may shed light on what these drones are doing, where they are coming from and how to mitigate the risks they may pose on public safety.”
The surge in sightings also has security experts concerned.
During another press conference, Evesham, NJ, chief of police Walt Miller confirmed between four and eight drones also flew in the area between roughly 8:00PM and 11:00PM on December 5th.
“These weren’t the normal drones that somebody would purchase and use,” Miller said, who also likened them to “as large as an SUV” and capable of flying in wind conditions smaller vehicles couldn’t otherwise handle. At times the drones hovered in place, although Miller stated law enforcement couldn’t identify if they did so over critical infrastructure sites.
New Jersey governor Phil Murphy confirmed in a December 5th social media post that he had spoken with Department of Homeland Security secretary Andrew Mayorkas along with state law enforcement agencies, and they are “actively monitoring the situation.”
“When you see something of this capacity, you wonder why it would be needed [and] what they are doing. It implies a heavy payload,” retired four-star general Barry McCaffrey told NBC News on December 8th. Regardless of the cargo, however, McCaffrey described the uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) a “significant threat to US national security.”
“What concerns us mostly is that, at this point, no one has seen any of these units taking off or landing,” Michael Mastronardy, sheriff for Ocean County, NJ, told NBC News on Sunday. “Right now we just want to identify what it is.”
Win the Holidays with PopSci’s Gift Guides
