A sighting of a “drone” and flight data showing that it was a small general aviation aircraft flying over Bucks County on Saturday. (Credit: LevittownNow.com)
The investigation, so far, has “determined all large fixed-wing reported sightings have been manned aircraft.”
Sightings of mysterious drones over the region continued through the weekend.
According to federal law enforcement, online sleuths, and pilots, many of the reported drones have turned out to be planes, helicopters, and stars.
Several Bucks County police departments have taken reports of drones in recent days, and residents have contacted federal tip lines.
Middletown Township police asked residents to report suspicious activity, “respect airspace laws,” and “stay calm and informed.”
“At this time, we do not have evidence to suggest any immediate danger. However, your vigilance and cooperation are essential as we work through this matter together,” the department said.
On Friday and Saturday evenings, this news organization reviewed more than nine reports, images, and videos of reported drone sightings. Four reports reviewed included time, location, and directional data provided in the post or in follow up messages with the posters.
In all four cases, the objects sighted turned out to be planes, with most being smaller, slower planes traversing the skies over Bucks County. In two cases, the planes were several miles from the location but could clearly be seen from the ground.
One object traveling from Philadelphia over Lower Bucks County and to Upper Bucks County was visually confirmed to be a small Piper PA-28-181, a single-engine, four-seat aircraft, that was traveling about 2,000 feet above the ground at 110 mph.
On Sunday, when clouds covered much of the night sky, there were few drone sightings reported in the area, according to a review of social media.
On Saturday, officials from the FBI, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) held a briefing call for reporters on the reports. An FBI official told reporters that special agents have been working with more than 50 local, state, and federal agencies as they probe the reports.
The probe, which is led by the FBI’s Newark Field Office, has included teams on the ground throughout New Jersey and they have used video radar analysis.
The investigation, so far, has “determined all large fixed-wing reported sightings have been manned aircraft.”
The FBI official reported that dozens of people have been interviewed and multiple videos have been received.
“We established a tip line, and in that tip line process, the process approximately 5,000 tips — have received 5,000 tips through that national tip line. And of those 5,000, less than 100 leads have been generated and deemed worthy of further investigative activity,” said the official, who spoke on the condition that they would not be named.
The official did point out that few reports of mysterious drones have come from trained pilots in the sky and nearly all have come from citizens on the ground.
https://twitter.com/MickWest/status/1868076747130073218
Many of the reports of drones that lined up with approach patterns for major airports, officials said.
The FBI official further stated:
“The combination of efforts so far as noted above, to include technical equipment, tip line information, and noted consults has found — has not found any evidence to support large-scale UAS (unmanned aircraft system) activities.
“It is important to note, though, that they’re without a doubt — without a doubt have been UAS’s flying over the state of New Jersey. With nearly a million registered UAS in the United States, there’s no doubt many of them are owned and operated here within the state.
“The national airspace is designed to be as minimally restrictive as possible. And all indications are these UAS operators are operating within the parameters established for their use in that airspace. This is not to say the FBI does not believe UAS’s are used for criminal or other nefarious activity, and it is well known to us that criminals breaking the law do, in fact, use UAS to support their actions.”
An official from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said “there hasn’t been any electronic detections to confirm the visual reports, but one thing we do have, and I’ll reiterate as our partners at FBI said, is the geospatial modeling, where we’re overlaying the drone sightings and the manned aircraft tracks, and we’re confident that many of the reported drone sightings are, in fact, manned aircraft being misidentified as drones.”
Federal authorities and the New Jersey State Police have deployed advanced camera and radar equipment in the region and has not found any “unusual” activity. Some of the equipment is straight from the government’s research and development pipeline.
The homeland security official said that not all reports and sightings can be dismissed, as unknown drones over military facilities have been credibility reported in the past, but the official said that there are “many cases of mistaken identity where reported drones are, in fact, manned aircraft or facilities.”
A U.S. Department of Defense spokesperson confirmed that there have been sightings of drones of unknown origin at the Picatinny Arsenal and Naval Weapons Station Earle in New Jersey in recent weeks by highly-trained security officials.
“This is not a new issue for us. We’ve, you know, had to deal with drone incursions over our bases for quite a time now. It’s something that we routinely respond to in each and every case when a reporting is cited,” the military official said, noting that the origins remain unknown but there is not evidence that they are linked to a foreign government or group.
“To date, we have no intelligence or observations that would indicate that they were aligned with a foreign actor or that they had malicious intent,” the spokesperson said. “But … we don’t know. We have not been able to locate or identify the operators or the points of origin.”
John Kirby, a National Security Counsel spokesperson and retired U.S. Navy rear admiral, pushed back at claims from a New Jersey congressman that the drone sightings were part of a Iranian operation based in the Atlantic Ocean. Federal authorities have said there is no Iranian ship off the East Coast.
While some lawmakers and posters on social media have called for shooting down what they believe are drones, federal law prohibits citizens from destroying or damaging aircraft.
Drones, according to federal law, are legal to fly given that they are registered with the FAA, stay under 400 feet in altitude, and follow the rules.
The FAA requires that drone pilots are registered, do not interfere with manned aircraft, obtained authorization before flying in controlled airspace, do not interfere with emergency responses, and comply with no drone zone locations.
Democratic and Republican lawmakers have called for answers on the sightings.
Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick, a Republican and former FBI special agent, sent a letter to federal officials calling for “immediate answers and decisive action regarding the increasing reports of unexplained drone activity.”
U.S. Sen. Andy Kim, who represents New Jersey, visited Round Valley Reservoir in Hunterdon County, which borders Bucks County, last Thursday night and posted videos of sightings he made with police.
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The next day, the senator said that he did further analysis of the sightings with pilots and others, which led to him posting that the group “concluded that most of the possible drone sightings that were pointed out to me were almost certainly planes.”
Kim stated that he doesn’t “discount others may have seen actual drone activity, and not all I saw is fully explained by flight paths, but much of it was. And I think the process through which I got confirmation points to the kind of explanation we need from gov authorities to address the public’s concern.”
In speaking with reporters, federal authorities did note that they have been seeking expansion of counter-drone authority for incursions and noted Congress has proposed legislation.
A senior White House official said that they believe federal, state, and local authorities should have more ability to “take additional actions” against drones.
