Scores of night-time drone sightings have been reported across the eastern coast of the US in recent weeks, sparking panic and conspiracy theories ranging from a secret government programme to a nefarious plot by a foreign power.
President-elect Donald Trump has, without evidence, claimed the outgoing administration is hiding something about the sightings, while officials in New Jersey, the focus of much of the frenzy, are frantically looking for answers.
Here is what we know, and don’t know, about the drone sightings:
Where are they?
Dozens of witnesses reported seeing drones in New Jersey in November and this month, including in residential areas but also near a military research and manufacturing facility, over railway stations and above one of Trump’s golf courses.
Since the reports proliferated online, more and more unidentified flying objects (UFOs) have been spotted across the county. Drone sightings have even been reported at a US military base in Germany.
How many of these are genuine?
An FBI official has said that the agency had received 5,000 tips through a hotline set up specifically to deal with drone sightings, and that less than 100 of those were “deemed worthy of further investigative activity”. A Department of Homeland Security official said there is no evidence of a threat to public safety.
What are the flying objects likely to be?
Certainly, many of the sightings are drones. There are nearly 800,000 drones registered in the US with the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) and roughly half of those are operated “recreationally”, ie for fun. Larger drones are often used commercially, to survey land for agriculture or infrastructure development, or for filming aerial shots.
Other UFOs are likely aircraft – planes and helicopters – mistaken for drones. Some videos posted online include the audible hum of jet engines as well as the signature red and green lights of passenger jets, which many drones do not have.
At busy airports, air traffic controllers line up aircraft one after the other, giving the illusion of several aircraft floating in the air, or moving slowly in coordination. The FBI official said that recent “drone” sightings near major airports have matched the approach patterns of arriving commercial jets.
Aren’t these unidentified drones larger than normal?
Reports have mentioned “car-sized” drones, much larger than the ones used by hobbyists. However, the size of objects in the sky can be especially hard to estimate – brightly lit planes can appear closer due to night-time optical illusions.
So why is there a frenzy?
As with all UFO sightings, it is extremely hard to disprove a secret-plot theory, especially if there are thousands of reported sightings.
Furthermore, reducing public anxiety is a delicate task for the White House. Government officials will not want to appear to disregard public concern as that could frustrate genuinely concerned citizens or lead to conspiratorial claims of a cover-up.
A senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity at a White House briefing over the weekend, tried to balance the lack of credible evidence of a secret plot with an attempt to assure the public it was not ignoring their fears.
“Obviously, we are taking this incredibly seriously,” they said. “At this point, we have not identified any basis for believing that … there’s any criminal activity involved, that there’s any national security threat, that there’s any particular public safety threat, or that there’s a malicious foreign actor involved in these drones.”
An FBI official at the briefing was less cautious in their wording: “I think there has been a slight overreaction.”
Are drones dangerous?
Aviation regulators worldwide have been trying – and often failing – to deal with the sudden proliferation of millions of drones.
Many countries, like the US, limit how high they can legally fly and drone manufacturers often have “geofence” their products, preventing them from entering airspace above militarily sensitive areas.
However, these restrictions can be hacked and drones have caused widespread mayhem in the past, including the closure of airports.
The proliferating drone issue has been a major ongoing concern in the aviation community and occasionally, such as now, become a wider public opinion crisis.
