Tag: Mystery

An influx of unexplained drone sightings in parts of the United States began to make headlines in November, and although authorities have said there is no evidence that the drones are a threat to national security or public safety, experts explain the mystery behind the uptick in sightings. 

Fox News’ Peter Doocy questioned President Donald Trump about the drones on Monday, asking, “Anything with these drones — is it anything to be worried about?”

“I would like to find out what it is and tell the people. In fact, I’d like to do that,” Trump responded. He then redirected to White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. “Could we find out what that was, Susie? Why don’t we find out immediately?”

“I can’t imagine it’s an enemy, or there would have been, you know, people would have gotten blown up, all of them. Maybe they were testing things. I don’t know why. They wouldn’t have said what it was,” Trump said. “They had a lot of them flying over Bedminster, which is interesting,” referring to his club in New Jersey.

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Photos taken in the Bay Shore section of Toms River Township, New Jersey, of what appear to be large drones hovering in the area at high altitudes on Sunday, December 8, 2024. The drones seemed to be well above the 400-feet level that FAA regulations allow. (Doug Hood/Asbury Park Press)

The drone sightings in November and December originally raised public concerns and even attracted the attention of the FBI. 

“The FBI Newark, NJ State Police, and NJ Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness are asking for the public to report any information related to the recent sightings of possible drones flying in several areas along the Raritan River,” a Dec. 3 FBI statement noted.

The Federal Aviation Administration even issued temporary flight restrictions after the large number of sightings, prohibiting drone flights over parts of New Jersey.

“It clearly had taken a dark turn where people had gotten really anxious about what might be in the sky above their houses or above their heads,” Dr. Will Austin, a national drone expert and the president of Warren County Community College, told Fox News Digital. 

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President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office on January 20, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

However, an FBI official later said that of the roughly 5,000 tips they received related to reported drone sightings, “less than 100 leads have been generated and deemed worthy of further investigative activity.” 

In mid-December, a DHS official said they’re “confident that many of the reported drone sightings are, in fact, manned aircraft being misidentified as drones,” ABC News reported.

An analysis by the White House, in coordination with the FBI and state and local officials, concluded that “lawful, legal, commercial hobbyist and even law enforcement aircraft activity” was responsible for the sightings, former White House national security communications adviser John Kirby previously told Fox News.

“A lot of people have kind of learned in the last few months . . . that there are a lot of things in the airspace that can be mistaken for drones,” Tom Adams, a retired FBI special agent and the director of public safety for DroneShield, a global provider of counter-drone defense solutions, told Fox News Digital. 

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Photos taken in the Bay Shore section of Toms River Township, New Jersey, of what appear to be large drones hovering in the area at high altitudes on Sunday, December 8, 2024. The drones seemed to be well above the 400-feet level that FAA regulations allow. (Doug Hood/Asbury Park Press)

When the word of drone sightings quickly spread throughout social media and across major news outlets, Adams said he witnessed some “confirmation bias” taking place in relation to the large number of sightings. 

“Some of my friends and relatives that are really into the UAP phenomena . . . the unknown aerial phenomena . . . they really wanted it to be drones or aliens, because it fit their narrative,” he said. 

Adams believes one of the main reasons why so many mistaken sightings were made could be as simple as a lack of knowledge. 

“I think that some people were just looking up to see what’s in the airspace for the first time,” he said. “Drones are still new to a lot of people, and so the rules and regulations for drone use in the United States are also unfamiliar to a lot of people, because they haven’t had a need to learn that or experience that.”

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Adams explained that, especially at night, it’s easy to mistake another aircraft in the sky for a drone.

“Many drones have white, red and green lights . . . aircrafts at night have white, red and green lights…other things in the sky, whether it’s a celestial body or a low-Earth orbit satellite, they also have white lights,” he said. “During the daytime, when you look up at an aircraft in the sky . . . you can also see other features that help you to understand the depth or the distance is away from you . . . you don’t have that depth perception at night.”

Austin attributed the misidentifying of drones in the dark sky to the “parallax effect,” explaining, “It is extraordinarily tricky at night . . . to identify aircraft, especially when you’re untrained. The reason people have a hard time is there’s really nothing against the night sky to give you perspective.”

Both Adams and Austin said they believe that further public education about drones is needed and may help in reducing the number of erroneous sightings. 

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Photos taken in the Bay Shore section of Toms River Township, New Jersey, of what appear to be large drones hovering in the area at high altitudes on Sunday, December 8, 2024. The drones seemed to be well above the 400-feet level that FAA regulations allow. (Doug Hood/Asbury Park Press)

As the government, according to President Trump, continues to investigate the first inundation of drone sightings, Austin believes that the public is about to see another major influx of sightings due to a change in the firmware of a major drone manufacturer.  

“There has been a significant development,” Austin said, adding that DJI, a Chinese-based manufacturer for many of the drones registered in the United States, changed its firmware this month to remove its built-in geofencing feature, which blocked flight in restricted areas. 

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“If you were flying a DJI drone . . . and you came to an airport . . . the manufacturer had put a kind of an invisible barrier around the border at the airports. Your drone would stop flying. That all ended on Jan. 13. Now it’s up to the individual user or each pilot to be in control,” Austin explained.

“I’m predicting you’re going to see a lot of drone incursions . . . that’s my biggest fear now.”

One expert predicted more drones will be reported in the air. (Jens Büttner/picture alliance via Getty Images)

DJI told Fox News Digital that it “remains committed to promoting safe and responsible flying practices. The recent GEO update aligns with the principle advanced by aviation regulators around the globe – including the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) – that operators are responsible for complying with rules.”

Drone operators will now see official FAA airspace data on where they can and can’t fly, DJI added, and will receive in-app warnings if they are flying near FAA-designated controlled airspace.

The company also said that it voluntarily implemented geofencing in 2013, and noted that the FAA now has Remote ID requirements that serve as the equivalent of a “license plate” for drones.

The FAA told Fox News Digital that its role is to ensure that drones operate safely within the broader National Airspace System, and that it does not require geofencing from drone manufacturers. 

The agency noted that it is generally legal to fly a drone in most locations, as long as it’s flown under 400 feet, but there are rules — including obtaining property airspace authorization, safety tests, keeping the drone in sight, avoiding all other aircraft, not causing a hazard to any people or property and avoiding restricted airspace.

Fox News’ Ashley Carnahan contributed to this report.