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Up in the sky, is that a drone, a plane, or a helicopter?
Experts who study unmanned aircraft systems — better known as drones — say it can be tough to tell from miles away. But there are clues.
A light in the sky at night can easily be misinterpreted, according to John Slaughter, director of the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Research and Operations Center at the University of Maryland.
“You can’t just walk outside and say, ‘Oh, that’s not a drone,’ or ‘That is one.’ All you can really factually say is ‘I saw a light in the sky,’” Slaughter said.
Dozens of mysterious nighttime flights first spotted in New Jersey last month and now being seen across the U.S. have raised concerns among residents and officials. Part of the worry stems from the flying objects initially being spotted near the Picatinny Arsenal, a U.S. military research and manufacturing facility, and over President-elect Donald Trump’s golf course in Bedminster.
Are those flashing lights a plane?
Planes and helicopters all have flashing lights and typically at least one red anti-collision light, often two. They also sport navigation lights, which are steady, red, and green colored lights like the ones found on boats. Many will also have flashing white strobe lights at their wingtips. And they have bright landing lights.
Drones flying at night are only required to have one bright, anti-collision light that’s visible 3 miles (5 kilometers) away. But drone owners can add other lights, so some have more than one. Drones are smaller, so when they have multiple lights they are close together, but at night it’s often not possible to figure out precisely how far away they are.
“A light is just a bright point,” Slaughter said. “And it might be 100 yards (90 meters) away, it could be literally 40 miles (65 kilometers) away and it looks the same.”
What noise does a drone make?
Drones tend to be quieter and make a more high-pitched buzzing noise than what’s generated by the jet engines or propellers that drive planes and helicopters. But bigger drones can be louder, and the sound may be difficult to discern from a distance.
Drones heavier than about a half-pound (0.2 kilograms) may have an identifying number displayed on the outside.
“You certainly wouldn’t see it at night, and you’d have to be up close to see it, you know, in the daytime,” said Paul R. Snyder, director of the Unmanned Aircraft System program in the University of North Dakota’s Aerospace Sciences School.
Does a drone move like that?
Planes and even helicopters tend to move smoothly in the air, but multi-copter drones can stop on a dime, pivot 90 degrees, and reverse course, Slaughter said.
“That kind of motion can give you a clue that you’re looking at a drone, not an aircraft,” he said.
And the vast majority of drones will be operating below 400 feet (122 meters), following federal regulations.
Gov. Phil Murphy was asked Monday what message he had for people in New Jersey who have been staring up at the night sky anxiously looking for flying lights, worried about a strange wave of reported drone sightings in recent weeks.
“First of all, I’d say calm down,” Murphy said during a news conference at the Statehouse in Trenton. “There’s no evidence of anything nefarious here. We never say never, but ... take a breath.”
Murphy also said drone sighting reports in the Garden State have been “down meaningfully” in recent days — to just 12 on Saturday night and one on Sunday night. That’s down from 49 last Sunday.
The governor was once again peppered with questions Monday as the state — and country — continue to be captivated by the mysterious issue. The FBI last week said it had received more than 3,000 reports of alleged drone sightings in the Garden State since it began investigating earlier this month, though federal officials now believe many of those are airplanes or helicopters mistaken for drones. There have also been similar reports in neighboring states.
Murphy suggested this weekend was a turning point as the federal government on Friday and Saturday sent three “very sophisticated systems” overseen by “really sophisticated individuals” to New Jersey to help the State Police detect and track the objects and determine whether they are drones. The governor, who had been asking the federal government for more help, said the systems have a range of 15 miles and are moving around the state.
“Is it possible there’s still some activity out there that’s quote-unquote suspicious? It is,” Murphy added. “But they are not seeing much of any of that right now.”
“Is it possible that before these systems arrived back in November, when we were fighting this thing only with our own assets, was it possible that there was activity then? Yes, it is possible. It’s hard to say otherwise.”
Murphy went out into the field Sunday night to see for himself, stopping at State Police headquarters in West Trenton and Naval Weapons Station Earle in Monmouth County. He joined the FBI at the latter.
“These are as sophisticated as they get,” Murphy said of the systems. “And I’m thankful for the fact that they’re finally in New Jersey.”
Murphy said he understands everyone’s concerns. For days, officials — including the governor — said they didn’t believe residents were in danger, though they didn’t know exactly what the objects were or where they came from. That caused a combination of fear, guessing, and frustration among residents and local officials — as well as several conspiracy theories.
Then, the White House, FBI, and U.S. Department of Homeland Security said last week many of the sightings are people mistaking ordinary aircraft for drones. That led to stunned reactions by many officials in New Jersey.
During a television interview Sunday, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas clarified there is “no question” that some of the objects are drones and the federal government “deployed additional resources, personnel, and technology to assist the New Jersey State Police” to address the sightings.
Mayorkas also noted there are thousands of drones flown every day in the U.S., including recreational and commercial drones, and that the Federal Aviation Administration changed rules in 2023 so drones could fly at night. That could explain some of the sightings, he said.
Murphy said the matter has dominated his life of late.
“I can’t walk out that door and have somebody not stop me and say, ‘Tell me what’s going on with the drones,’” the governor said. “And I get that completely. It’s unnerving and it’s really when life is not a math problem with X plus Y equals Z where there’s a hard and fast answer.”
“People rightfully get uncomfortable, a little bit anxious. I just wish elected officials were calm influences in the absence of more knowledge.”
Asked if this is all the result of mass hysteria and inflated sighting numbers, Murphy said: “I hesitate to use mass hysteria because I think the anxiety is legitimate.”
“It implies that people are completely hearing footsteps and there’s nothing there. But I do think there is a huge mismatch right now between the noise and the reality.”
Murphy said Monday there is “zero evidence” that “somebody’s hiding the pea here, that the federal government or our military or somebody knows what’s going on here, and they’re not admitting to it.”
Plus, he said, more people are looking at the sky right now, and that likely has helped sightings to skyrocket.
“Eighteen to 19 million eyeballs (are) looking up at the sky every night,” Murphy said.
“I’m doing it myself. We take the dog out. The other night, I’m looking up, and I’m trying to figure out: Is it a star? Is it an aircraft? What is that?”
The Democratic governor stressed: “We’re gonna stay at this.”
“We’ll continue to pound away to make sure we have the assets and once we have them from the feds we keep them long enough that the conclusions we’re drawing are the right ones,” Murphy said.
Those comments stood in contrast to ones made Monday by President-elect Donald Trump, who was asked about drones during his own news conference at his Mar-A-Lago estate in Florida around the same time as Murphy’s.
Trump, a Republican who takes office next month, said he believes “the government knows what is happening” but “for some reason, they don’t want to comment.”
He also noted the objects have been sighted “very close to Bedminster” — a reference to the private golf club he owns and sometimes lives at in Somerset County.
“I think maybe I won’t spend the weekend in Bedminster,” Trump said. “I’ve decided to cancel my trip.”
Back in New Jersey, Murphy said the country needs better laws to give state and local governments authority on drones.
“In the longer term, as they said in ‘Jaws,’ we need a bigger boat,” the governor said. “We need a different approach here, both at the federal level and at the state level.”
“This is a wake-up call. Thankfully a benign wake-up call, you know, nobody’s gotten hurt.”
Mysterious drone sightings in the nighttime skies have sparked alarm among residents, and have them and their lawmakers demanding answers. The sightings began a month ago in New Jersey and have crescendoed to 180 per night.
Observations of the flying objects have also spread to four other states on the East Coast including New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Virginia as well as Ohio. They have not only been seen over neighborhoods but also spotted over restricted sites and critical infrastructure. Witnesses say that some of the aircraft have been quite large, in some cases reportedly as big as an SUV.
Federal authorities have been trying to steady nerves. On Monday, Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder noted that “thousands of drones flown around the US on a daily basis.” Thus, seeing them in the sky is “not that unusual,” and neither “is it an indication of malicious activity or any public safety threat.” That includes those flown near military installations.
DHS and the FBI released a joint statement last week which said they “have no evidence at this time that the reported drone sightings pose a national security or public safety threat or have a foreign nexus.” That has not been enough for some local and national politicians who want more transparency.
The mysterious drones flying over New Jersey “Something’s going on”
Lawmakers from the Garden State, where the spat of sightings began, have been some of the most vocal. US Senator Cory Booker told the press that he’s been “a little frustrated” at the lack of transparency saying, “It’s allowing potential a lot of misinformation spread or at least fear.”
New Jersey US Rep Jeff Van Drew said that he has evidence that the drones were sent by an Iranian “mothership” that was still sitting off the East Coast. However, the Defense Department quickly shot that idea down saying they were aware of the drones but had no evidence that “these activities are coming from a foreign entity or adversary.”
Sabrina Singh, the DoD’s spokesperson, also attempted to squash a conspiracy theory that the drones are part of some secret government program confirming that the drones do not belong to the US military.
Still, Matthew Murello, the mayor of Washington Township, New Jersey isn’t convinced. On Monday, told ‘Good Morning America’ that he believes “something’s going on.” He took issue with the official statements stating that there is “no perceived threat.”
“We’ve heard that before from our federal government,” Murello said. “Nobody knows what these things are doing. Best case scenario, they’re just getting video of us,” he added. “Again, I don’t know why out here. We’re nothing but farm country,” he said. “If you want videos of cows, I’ll be happy to send you some.”
While he’s “not trying to stir anything up” he’s worried about the worst case scenario. “We all know -- if you just turn on the television -- that drones can be used aggressively. They can carry payloads. They can be used for all kinds of really aggressive-type things,” Murello said.
The “drones” flying over New Jersey are probably much ado about nothing
Authorities investigating the flying objects stressed that many were manned aircraft that had been mistaken for drones. Of the 5,000 tips received less than 100 produced leads that were “deemed worthy of further investigative activity” an FBI official said.
Sightings reported to the tip line matched flight approach patterns for nearby airports. Additionally, pilots have not been reporting seeing drones in the sky reports CNN.
Former FBI supervisory special agent Tom Adams told the outlet that some of the more recent sightings could be copycats flying their own drones to play off the growing news coverage. He said in his experience investigating such sightings at the critical infrastructure that they tend to be “planets, crewed aircraft, and even low Earth orbit satellites,” which are “misidentified as drones at night.”