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Mysterious New Jersey drone sightings prompt call for 'state of emergency'

theguardian.com

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Re: Mysterious New Jersey drone sightings prompt call for 'state of emergency'

#511

Post by 15155 »

bragr wrote: post #178
Amezarak wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The pentagon, for example, just declared that they do not know what they are[1]. This sounds impressive, but people don't seem to realize that there is no USGOV tracking of drone-sized objects in US airspace. Of course they can't say who is doing it or where they're coming from, they also don't know what's going on when you launch a drone from your backyard and fly it around. The FAA has a database of reports of pe…

>people don't seem to realize that there is no USGOV tracking of drone-sized objects Anything 250g or heavier has to have Remote ID now. Now that doesn't exclude the possibility of illegal drones without it, but it isn't true that there is "no drone tracking". https://www.faa.gov/uas/getting_started/remote_id https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-14/chapter-I/subchapter-F...

Who exactly is enforcing this law in reality?

Re: Mysterious New Jersey drone sightings prompt call for 'state of emergency'

#512

Post by j_timberlake »

K0balt wrote: post #495

These are being extensively tested in the area. PteroDynamics XP-4 https://pterodynamics.com/ They look like airliners, drones, and helicopters depending on when you see them. They are large, noisy, and carry FAA compliant lights. They aren’t secret, per se, but the military is more interested in understanding the perception of their use than it is in sharing exactly what it is they are up to, as usual. This is a gig…

Wow, the FBI has already stated they can't figure these drones out, but you sure figured it out fast, you need to contact the FBI tipline ASAP.

Re: Mysterious New Jersey drone sightings prompt call for 'state of emergency'

#513

Post by haswell »

karamanolev wrote: post #475
roflyear wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No you can't - try it. Take a picture of the moon.

Probably not with a phone, but "affordable" full-frame MILC/DSLR cameras with 100-400mm or 600mm lenses exist and people have them. Much better chances.

Even decently fast glass won’t do a good job of capturing drones at night unless there’s a significant amount of ambient light.

And telephoto lenses with the range you mention with fast apertures are not exactly cheap. A 600mm F/4 goes for $12-15K and is still not fast enough for shooting moving subjects in the dark.

Re: Mysterious New Jersey drone sightings prompt call for 'state of emergency'

#514

Post by keepamovin »

j_timberlake wrote: post #501

Quick summary after following this for a few days: FBI says they're rotary and fixed-wing drones, White House says they aren't foreign adversaries, Pentagon says they aren't USA military, all 3 insist that there's no indication of a real threat despite the drones being bigger and higher tech than retail drones. Politicians are PO'd that something about this doesn't add up: How can anyone know these aren't a threat wi…

Why do the theories not fit? And where's the link to the FBI statement? I believe they said "include rotary and fixed-wing" not exclusively, but this is based on reports received. They haven't actually captured one.

included sightings of both fixed-wing and rotary drones, Robert Wheeler, the assistant director of the FBI’s Critical Incident Response Group, said during a Homeland Security subcommittee hearing on security threats posed by drones.

source: https://www.nj.com/news/2024/12/more-than-3k-mystery-drone-s...

Re: Mysterious New Jersey drone sightings prompt call for 'state of emergency'

#515

Post by keepamovin »

gradus_ad wrote: post #49
apcragg wrote: post #13

The photos I've seen posted look very obviously like commercial airliners and helicopters with their navigation lights on. You can even make out the American Airlines livery on the tail! https://www.app.com/story/news/local/new-jersey/2024/12/11/d...

I live in NJ. I've seen these drones. They are not commercial airliners or helicopters. They are loud, fly low and slow, and make abrupt turns unlike any planes I've seen. Their lights are also very different from other aircraft. I can see how it's tempting to chalk this up to hysteria, but they are absolutely large drones of some kind.

Please take my upvote for your first hand account over someone's speculation. What do they sound like?

Re: Mysterious New Jersey drone sightings prompt call for 'state of emergency'

#516

Post by gg2222 »

aliasxneo wrote: post #299
cynicalpeace wrote: post #160

A lot of people here are writing this off as hysteria. I don't know if this is anything nefarious or not, but I would note that being suspicious of these things is often a good thing, not a bad thing. Even Michael Shermer, the famed skeptic, wrote a book on how suspecting conspiracy is often a valid default stance. Abstract from his book: "One reason that people believe these conspiracies, Shermer argues, is that eno…

I do find it rather hard to make sense of the antagonism here. My only guess is people feel the need to distance themselves from the "sheep" and do so by ridiculing them from their ivory tower. In some cases it's the same thing, but there's a political bent added to it ("some people" from "that side"). Sad to see what HN is slowly devolving into.

Agreed. If it is mass hysteria why doesn't the government just say so instead of saying "they don't know".

Some people just can't accept not "knowing it all".

Re: Mysterious New Jersey drone sightings prompt call for 'state of emergency'

#517

Post by keepamovin »

coliveira wrote: post #322
DebtDeflation wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been following the story and this has been discussed on the local Reddit subs. They are almost certainly PteroDynamics XP-4 drones flying from and to the military bases in question for testing purposes. There literally was a public demo of them on the USNS Burlington in Philadelphia a year ago.

[flagged]

> should've already learned this, if they were not so stupid.

The stupid take is the one you propose, it's ridiculous. So USAF has secret decoys in WWII and before, that followed WWII fighters, and hovered over people's houses, among millions of other sightings worldwide? So advanced yet they don't send them to war?

The energy required for some UFO manoeuvres is far above what we know how to create: https://youtu.be/HlYwktOj75A?si=Q68f2ODxgO_IpGlv&t=770

Re: Mysterious New Jersey drone sightings prompt call for 'state of emergency'

#519

Post by janalsncm »

One question I have but which may be impossible to answer is whether there is some level of confirmation bias here. Frankly every drone sighting is mysterious to me. I don’t know whose it is.

So yes, they are drones but maybe this is only one standard deviation from normal? Many non-military people own drones.

Re: Mysterious New Jersey drone sightings prompt call for 'state of emergency'

#520

Post by walrus01 »

motorest wrote: post #466
gradus_ad wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in NJ. I've seen these drones. They are not commercial airliners or helicopters. They are loud, fly low and slow, and make abrupt turns unlike any planes I've seen. Their lights are also very different from other aircraft. I can see how it's tempting to chalk this up to hysteria, but they are absolutely large drones of some kind.

> I live in NJ. I've seen these drones. They are not commercial airliners or helicopters. They are loud, fly low and slow, and make abrupt turns unlike any planes I've seen. Their lights are also very different from other aircraft. You better crank out your camera and collect any proof at all,because what you are describing bears no resemblance to the sightings mentioned in the article. There is a reason why sighting…

I live in the Pacific NW and there are a vast number of people with really good quality trail cameras who put them tied to trees all over the place for deer and elk hunting purposes. If Bigfoot was real, we absolutely would have seen one by now.
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