There’s nothing the internet loves more than a UFO conspiracy, and it has a pretty good one on its hands. For the past week or so, residents in northern New Jersey have reported regular sightings of large drones flying over their homes, spurring a social media frenzy.
Is it an alien invasion, Russian spies, or a new Chinese spy balloon? Probably not. We don’t even know for sure if they are unmanned drones. The only certainty is they are brightly lit flying devices, centered around Morris County. As for the size, some residents estimate them to be about the size of a small car, but we don’t have any official dimensions.
The FBI’s Newark office is investigating the situation and says there is no known public safety risk at the moment. The FAA issued a temporary ban on all drone flights in the area after they were spotted flying over the President-elect Donald Trump’s golf club and the nearby Picatinny Arsenal Military Base, NJ.com reports.
On Friday, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said he met with the Department of Homeland Security, and reiterated there is no known safety threat. Morris County officials also issued a statement with instructions for the public to report sightings.
If these are, in fact, drones, we have an expert on staff who may be able to answer some of your questions. Jim Fisher has reviewed over 550 drones and cameras. Here’s his take on the situation, and his advice for citizen investigators looking to solve the mystery.
Emily Forlini: What strikes you as odd about this situation?
Jim Fisher: The location being near the Picatinny Arsenal Military Base certainly raises some questions about whether this is some sort of classified testing. With the recent prevalence of drones being used in combat zones, notably in Ukraine, it would make sense for the military to ramp up its technology there, especially when we don’t want to risk service members’ lives in combat. But if it’s a classified testing operation, you’d think someone with security clearance there would talk to someone else with security clearance and let them know it’s supposed to be happening.
Just to get this out of the way, do you think this is a conspiracy?
It would be more of a conspiracy if the drones weren’t running bright lights. That wouldn’t make sense if they were trying to keep this a secret. So all of this is just wild speculation.
Still, it’s kind of giving off Chinese spy balloon vibes.
Yeah, it is. If this is some sort of unknown military technology, there’s nothing saying the operator needs to be nearby. It could be controlled via GPS or remote satellite. Consumer drones are typically limited to a couple miles of practical control from the ground station and FAA regulations require you to keep them within 3 miles of visibility, which is even more restrictive.
What kind of rules are there about flying drones over residential areas?
Drone operations at night are allowed under FAA regulations, as long as a drone has running lights that are visible from a distance of at least 3 miles. These would likely technically qualify for that. However, the FAA has issued a temporary flight restriction around the Picatinny Arsenal and surrounding area, so drone pilots (licensed and recreational) are not allowed to fly there through Dec. 26. Since the FAA issued this restriction, I would suspect these reported night flights aren’t authorized. The airspace around the arsenal and surounding towns (Dover and Sparta are notable population centers) is normally uncontrolled and free for all types of drone operations performed below a 400-foot altitude.
What types of drones do you think they are?
This isn’t something you can buy at Best Buy, nor would I suspect it’s a single operator given reports there are multiple drones flying in tandem. I’ve seen some residents saying they’re the size of cars, which is well beyond the scope of what you can buy on a consumer, or even industrial, level, which is what makes me think it’s military. Perhaps a smaller version of the Predator, which is an unmanned military surveillance aircraft with a 49-foot wingspan.
What’s the biggest drone you can buy today?
Something industrial or for agriculture, which they use as crop sprayers. Either the DJI Matrice or the six-rotor Yuneec MS400
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There has been a proposed ban on DJI drones, right?
Yep. The House passed the Counter CCP Drones Act and it’s now sitting in the Senate. It would add DJI consumer drones to a list of telecommunications and video surveillance equipment the FCC says “pose an unacceptable risk to US national security.” That would prevent them from using wireless communication in the US, ban imports, and sales as well, effectively grounding DJI drones in the US. This is similar to the ban that the government levied against Huawei phones a few years ago based on accusations of spying. [In October, DJI also sued the US Department of Defense for designating it as a Chinese military company.]
DJI Mini 4 Pro (Credit: Jim Fisher)
What would you do to figure out what these drones are?
We don’t have any good pictures of them. Just cell phone photos, mostly blurry. So, I would take a long, telephoto lens out at night and see if I could get some pictures of them that are better than [those from a] cell phone.
If you have a $12,000 lens like the Sony FE 400mm F2.8 GM OSS and an infrared converted camera, you could have a good chance of getting a picture of one of these at night. But for most of us who use cell phone cameras, you’re just going to get pictures of bright blobs in the sky.
Alternatively you if you had a bright spotlight, like the type hunters use to spot wildlife at night, you may be able to illuminate the drone enough to get a good photo. There’s some healthy speculation here, it would depend on the power of the light and the distance to the aircraft.
Could you use a drone to go up and take a picture of the drones?
With the FAA having restrictions, you would not be able to do that legally. And even without knowing what altitude they’re flying at, there probably aren’t any consumer drones that could do it. And the lights on the bigger drones would probably overpower them and obscure the image.
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About Emily Dreibelbis Forlini
Senior Reporter
