Someone....Please take down those knuckleheads in New Jersey! Drones

[Dave_Trible]

I don't know of course but I expect we will find this is a click of drone freaks playing in the night skies over New Jersey.   I also expect there will be calls (more calls) to ban anything that flies and doesn't carry a person on board.   This will hurt all of us model fliers and something some of us have been crowing about since the first days of drones.   It might NOT take the downing of an airliner to ruin it for us all- these screwballs could do it also......


Dave

[Paul Taylor]

Well it only take one idiot to screw it up for the rest of us.

I fly drones for personal photography. According to the FAA it’s against the law to shoot down a drone.

[Jim Svitko]

On last night's network news, there was a report about these drones.  This report said some of these drones are quite large.  So, if anyone decided to shoot one down, and it crashes and causes damage or even kills someone, it will be a legal nightmare for the person who brought it down.

And, what about someone looking into jamming the signals that control these drones?  Same problem as shooting one down.  You never know where it will come down.

[doug coursey]

WE HAD THE SAME THING HAPPEN HERE IN JACKSONVILE...PROBABLY BE A LOT OF COPY CATS

[Tom Luciano]

These are not toys. They are quite large. There are 100's of reports per night regarding these things. Proximity to Trump National and Picatinny Arsenal seem to be consistently visited.

[Dave_Trible]

These surely come up on radar at some point.  I would think that and ways to follow them would lead to their sources eventually.   A few years ago I would take a free flight Old Timer RC assist out to where I flew CL at the time and put it up.   I'm sure I seldom ever let it get over 500' high since the field was small and getting the thing back down on the field at times could be a challenge.  One thing that almost always happened though is that the airplane would come up on the radar of a local airport a few miles away so they would vector a plane or helicopter over my way to check it out.   These drones must surely be doing the same over there.   If so they should be able to figure out roughly from where they are coming from.   When they find the first operator they should be able to coral the others.   I would think the authorities must already have clues.

Dave

[Brett Buck]

One thing that almost always happened though is that the airplane would come up on the radar of a local airport a few miles away so they would vector a plane or helicopter over my way to check it out.   These drones must surely be doing the same over there.   If so they should be able to figure out roughly from where they are coming from.   When they find the first operator they should be able to coral the others.   I would think the authorities must already have clues.

   I expect that they also have the radar cross-section like the broad side of  a barn and a substantial IR signature.

    Brett

[Frank Imbriaco]

Living in NJ, anything is possible.  Orson Welle's 1938 Halloween eve radio broadcast " War of the World's "   chronicled Martian landings in NJ. Worried citizens across the nation panicked. Of course, large drones overhead are very real and at some point, people are entitled to an explanation.

[Brett Buck]

Living in NJ, anything is possible.  Orson Welle's 1938 Halloween eve radio broadcast " War of the World's "   chronicled Martian landings in NJ. Worried citizens across the nation panicked. Of course, large drones overhead are very real and at some point, people are entitled to an explanation.

   Without discussing what "the authorities" might be doing about it, I am stunned that no one has taken matters into his own hands and shot one of them down.

    Brett

[spare_parts]

.gov knows exactly what's happening and likely operating them. Denial doesn't mean anything. These are not foolish hobbyists, but something more like real aircraft.

Once word gets out you have people who have never looked at the sky at night, finding things they've never seen before, but are probably there every day.

[Frank Imbriaco]

I don't think ordinary hobbyists  could afford drones this large and sophisticated. No worries, the AMA told us a dozen years ago or so that drone flyers would become part of the fold.
Hmmn.

[Brett Buck]

I don't think ordinary hobbyists  could afford drones this large and sophisticated. No worries, the AMA told us a dozen years ago or so that drone flyers would become part of the fold.

  Welcome to the "Future".

    Brett

 

[wwwarbird]

According to the FAA it’s against the law to shoot down a drone.

 Only if you get caught. 

[Dan McEntee]

   Without discussing what "the authorities" might be doing about it, I am stunned that no one has taken matters into his own hands and shot one of them down.

    Brett

   As a teenager in the early 70's, I witnessed and watched the only hijacking that occurred at Lambert Field take place. That in itself is a long and interesting story, but about 3/4 of the way through the incident, local TV news had finally gotten on the scene and were broadcasting live. Local bars usually have a TV playing and this was on display at most of them. I can imagine a bunch of liquored up patrons saying to each other, "Well, some one ought to do something about this!" Well one insurance salesman type at a bar near the airport decided to do just that! He jumped into his new Cadillac and headed off to stop the scoundrel !! Lambert Field was quite different back then. The old TWA maintenance hanger that was on the south side of the field right next to I-70 was where a lot of the goings on took place. The only boundary around the airport was one little chain link fence. The salesman/hero crashed his Caddy through the fence and as the jet was maneuvering to taxi to the runway, he rammed the Caddy right into the nose gear!!  That stopped the attempt momentarily but another jet was brought in soon after and the hijacker made his getaway, but was captured after he bailed out over Indiana somewhere. He went to the federal prison in Marion, Illinois, and later became part of another hijacking that is a legend in St. Louis History and another long story!!

    What the country needs now is a hero!! Some redneck to get all liquored up, jump into his J-3 and go ram a few of those things!! I read where supposedly a law enforcement helicopter got near one and was hovering over it, when the object turned it's lighting off, then the copter pulled away. I wonder about that. How close was he, allegedly? I have a pretty good idea just what rotor down wash would do to even a large quadcopter. A couple of other chased and "harrased" a Coast Guard boat!! If that was true, why didn't they fire on it??  I think one official issued a statement that some of these sightings were full size aircraft operating legally. I looked at the calendar and it says December 2024!! I can't believe that in this day and age, with technology that is available to us today, that they are completely in the dark. Simple infrared and night vision technology should let authorities see something about what's out there!!??  Even if they are electric, there will be a heat signature. Some kind of radar should be able to track them. But then again, look how far across the country the Chinese "weather balloon" got across the country before anything was said or done about it??  There is more to this than meets the eye, me thinks.

  Type at you later,
   Dan McEntee

[Reptoid]

Don't worry about the "drones" flying around; Worry about why the government is lying to you about them. We had the technology in the hands of the military to track, ID, and track back to origin, any of these objects 18 years ago when I retired. We could in fact track them on the ground as soon as the rotors were turning. Also ask yourself why any drones trying to be stealthy would have operating running lights. The statements from the white house are lies, laughable, and self contradicting ; "we have no idea what they are or where they came from" but "they don't pose any threat or danger"

[Dave Harmon]

  Welcome to the "Future".

    Brett

The way things have been going I would not be surprised that once the FAA finds out who is responsible for the latest droning escapade that R/C will be made illegal.
This will completely solve the C/L participation problem.

[GallopingGhostler]

How large are these drones? Haven't really kept up, but seems as though all common sense has left those who supposedly are supposed to maintain our infrastructures and prosecute criminals, not some poor sap who put a nativity set on his lawn and violated some city ordinance for "hate speech".

My take so far reminds me of the so-called "Chinese" weather balloons that flew over US military assets a few years ago. What was it, an FA-14 Tom Cat that finally was directed by the PTB and fired an expensive missile downing it, earning the pilot a balloon war kill emogi on the side of his fuselage?

Seems to be purposely driven fear porn, IMO.   

And I think David Harmon has a point. I'd just wish that government would get back to taking care of the real criminals and stop harrassing citizenry for the multitude of ridiculous ordinances that seem to take precedence over true crimes.

[Mike Griffin]

Well, just waiting for them to appear here in Soutern Louisiana where they will be shot down immediately, gutted and used to boil crawfish. 

[Mike Griffin]

Anyone remember the Chinese Spy balloon incidents and how we allowed them to fly across the entire US before we shot them down?  There is not a battery in the world that I know of that will hold a charge long enough to fly across the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean and reach New Jersey.  Our military knows what these things are and where they are coming from.  They will lie about this like they do about everything else with the current administration. 

Mike

[Paul Taylor]

Email from Windy.

Hi,this is TRUE and I think funny too.  All these drones sighted for last month in NEW JERSEY all over every news channel for a month. BIG MYSTERY EVEN OUR GOVERNMENT DOES NOT HAVE A CLUE.

Last night my daughter Stacie was walking the dog after dark and counted 15 over Rutherford. The town website has so many posts of people spotting them I was getting skeptical

Last night Karyn and I went to dinner after 7 and looked up,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,RIGHT OVER OUR HOUSE !!!!!!

I cannot wait to find out what the story is BUT,,,,,,,,,,,,,,they look scary in real life right above your house.

Living in Jersey is always a GREAT ADVENTURE,,,,,,,,,,,look out tonight they may be coming to your house too.

And the dog barks at them every time one in above him.

Ill try to get some video from my house soon. WINDY

[Jim Benzinger]

I believe everyone is wrong. These are obviously alien craft, just out for a joy ride. Cruisin' about.

[GallopingGhostler]

I believe everyone is wrong. These are obviously alien craft, just out for a joy ride. Cruisin' about.

We have aliens too in Roswell, New Mexico, but some may not be legal. 

[Dave Harmon]

I believe everyone is wrong. These are obviously alien craft, just out for a joy ride. Cruisin' about.

Naaaa....the gubment flying all them illegals back to wherever they came from.

[Jim Svitko]

Ever since the reports of these drones were on the news shows, I have wondered what might be going on.  At first, I thought the drone nuts were messing around again.  But, maybe the government is behind this.

With the holiday season here, and an inauguration coming up, is it possible that our intelligence services got wind of a possible attack, and these recent sighting are an exercise to determine defensive capability?

I am just speculating here but the government sounds like Sgt. Schultz (I know nothing).  Of course, the officials know more than they can reveal.

[Tom Luciano]

50 drones coming in, off shore line in ocean county nj. Reported and documented by ocean county police. They had a drone up and said the drones were traveling at 60mph. Theirs only does around 40mph.

[Al Ferraro]

These are not toys. They are quite large. There are 100's of reports per night regarding these things. Proximity to Trump National and Picatinny Arsenal seem to be consistently visited.

 On some nights, my backyard looks like an RC flying field with them hovering and flying back and forth. 
Al

[944_Jim]

Shoot one down. We'll find out when "they" come knocking on your door.

[Perry Rose]

At what altitude are they flying? Are they within range of 12 gauge No.2 shot or magnum 00 or 000 buck shot? I have some.

[Brett Buck]

At what altitude are they flying? Are they within range of 12 gauge No.2 shot or magnum 00 or 000 buck shot? I have some.

Whether they are or not, I wouldn't recommend using a rifle, not that it wouldn't work, but that can also reach the airplane you accidentally interpreted as a drone, and will definitely have lethal energy when it comes back down.

     Jokes aside, I think everyone should think twice before firing guns in the air trying to hit drones, it's almost certainly illegal and is at least a little bit dangerous.

     Brett

[spare_parts]

Jokes aside, I think everyone should think twice before firing guns in the air trying to hit drones, it's almost certainly illegal and is at least a little bit dangerous.

It's 100% illegal. People have already been convicted.

[Gary Dowler]

   Without discussing what "the authorities" might be doing about it, I am stunned that no one has taken matters into his own hands and shot one of them down.

    Brett

My thought exactly.  Perhaps its a aspect of the mentality of the general population in a given region, in this case the liberal east coast.  I suspect that had this situation begun around Bozeman MT, Provo UT or Deer Park WA, that someone would likely have done this very thing a lot earlier on than this.

Gary

[spare_parts]

My thought exactly.  Perhaps its a aspect of the mentality of the general population in a given region, in this case the liberal east coast.  I suspect that had this situation begun around Bozeman MT, Provo UT or Deer Park WA, that someone would likely have done this very thing a lot earlier on than this.

Gary

You'd have a long time to think about it after shooting down a govt aircraft.

[Gary Dowler]

You'd have a long time to think about it after shooting down a govt aircraft.

Never said it was either legal or even the right thing to do.  But we can pretty much conclude a few things here.  First, they are almost certainly not private hobby fliers, as this would appear to involve a lot of organization and planning.  We can eliminate corporate ownership as any corporate entity would have long since spoken up about it and apologized. Third, I think we can eliminate likely government activity based on the complete lack of apparent concern for public safety, the amount of media coverage, the interviews with congressional representatives who have no idea what the source of these things is, etc.  If it were US gov flying these, given the public concern at this point I would think it likely that someone from Bumbles Bribe-den himself on down, someone would say something to assure the public that everything is fine and they are ours.

Just my thoughts

Gary

[Dave_Trible]

A news story:  two men arrested for flying a drone near Boston Logan airport.    The cops used a device to trace the drone back to a location.  When they showed up the two suspects made a run for it but were caught.   One had a drone in his backpack.   Ages 42 and 38 years...


Dave

[M Spencer]

Please take down ALL hose knuckleheads into  Drones

[Motorman]

It got bidens pardons out of the news cycle.

[Brett Buck]

It got bidens pardons out of the news cycle.

  What an odd coincidence!

     Brett

[Perry Rose]

Joe Biden said, a few years ago, go out on the back porch and fire off a couple blasts. Maybe he was lucid, maybe not. The gov'ts primary task is to keep us safe. I will step in and keep me safe when they don't.

[Tom Luciano]

I know everyone gets this but, I remember this and really didn't think it was that long ago. I believe he was also a volunteer firefighter.

https://www.nytimes.com/1975/07/06/archives/bullet-fired-from-a-mile-away-kills-jerseyan-fixing-his-roof.html

[spare_parts]

At this point you have countless useful idiots flying their drones trying to find more drones, to post on their social media account and get the scoop on the story.

It's mass hysteria at this point. Anything from aliens to a search for dirty nukes.

[EricV]

I like this one

https://www.droptec.ch/en/dropster-3-0/

It has fairly short range and is only for smaller drones, which I see as a plus, since it means you will actually be able to visually verify you are shooting down a drone and not some poor doctor in his Cessna on the way to do someone's heart surgery, essentially creating 2 victims in one shot.

Joking aside, I am truly afraid some "bubba" is going to get riled up from all the hype and do something just like that by mistake. It's probably best to let the authorities handle this folks. As much fun as it is to joke about, I think it would be best not to egg on our friends and other people to try and do anything dangerous either.

EricV

[Dave_Trible]

Introducing weapons into just about any situation will almost always be the wrong thing to do and can cause grief for everyone.   I wasn't suggesting that here.   My thought was that it isn't impossible to follow and track down where these things originate and expose them.   As many as there seems to be somebody knows something.   If a few can be caught then it should be possible to track down more and stop this where it can be.  In many cases these probably aren't really breaking current laws (if they are registered)  and aren't being flown in restricted areas.  Those who aren't registered should be fined as a means to demonstrate it is serious if the rules aren't followed and hopefully deter others from doing stupid stuff.   My concern for serious modelers is that there are those including corporate interests who are always looking for reasons to ban flying models period.   They want total control and access to the entire airspace for drone delivery services to operate.   This was a big part of the FAA Reauthorization act legal arguments before and guess what-that bill is coming due to be reauthorized soon.  These fools are giving their talking points energy.......That and this has now rattled local cities and towns to the point where they are making their own new rules which might shut down every model flying site in their jurisdiction......


Dave

[Steve Thompson]

The scariest conspiracy theory I have heard is they are sniffing for a dirty bomb or errant nuke.  I sure hope not.

And please don't shoot one down with a firearm.  Goes right to multiple Federal crimes.  It must be done humanely with a net, a shoe, or an oil covered Ringmaster. 

[wwwarbird]

 Rosie O'donnell gave her explanation today that it's definitely aliens, "They're here!" she says. I can't imagine anyone more qualified. 

[john e. holliday]

i Say it is some ne paying a group to do this so that person can cause commotion so they get something else done before someone finds out about it.   But I thought our military had a way to cause havic with the radio signals.   Where is our CIA and secret service know it alls?   I think when who ever is doing this will runout of batteries and money.  But even if they do catch them they will more than likely just slap their hands and tell them not to do it again.   I know I'm not going to worry about and lose sleep over it.   Back to the shop for me.

[wwwarbird]

  What an odd coincidence!

     Brett

 Yeah, weird huh? 

[Dave Harmon]

But I thought our military had a way to cause havic with the radio signals.   
Back to the shop for me.

They do...and...you can buy a jammer to do exactly that. Its legal to buy a jammer but not legal to USE it.
This is how movie theaters and other venues prevent disturbing phone calls and live uploads to YouTube of performances etc.
Likely these 'drones' are not guided by an operator but are following a preloaded GPS route to surveille specific areas.
Its not likely due to the night operation but possible that a human monitor could be observing high speed bursts of radio, laser or microwave signals from the camera to a satellite which then can retransmit to another satellite then to a ground station.
Radio signals are easy to detect...microwave and laser signals are much more difficult due to the easy ability to 'focus' the beam much like a spotlight.
Of course these signals are very, very low powered which makes them even more difficult to detect.
And encrypted.
Now I'm going back to the shop!! 

[Al Ferraro]

At what altitude are they flying? Are they within range of 12 gauge No.2 shot or magnum 00 or 000 buck shot? I have some.

500' TO 1000' OR 6 Iron to Driver for me.
Al

[Motorman]

Knowing Jersey politics they will parlay this into millions of federal money that will get misappropriated to fight the coming mass deportations.  Van Drew has claimed the drones are from an Iranian mother ship and Murphy has already asked for the money. Don't let a good crisis go to waste.

MM

[Frank Imbriaco]

Wonder if the AMA will comment.