FAA bans drones over NJ towns
The FAA has implemented temporary flight restrictions on drones across 22 towns in New Jersey, citing security concerns. The ban, which includes threats of deadly force against rogue drones, also extends to critical infrastructure sites in New York, according to Governor Kathy Hochul. FOX 5’s Richard Giacovas has the story.
NEW JERSEY – The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is now banning drone flights in certain areas in New Jersey after numerous mysterious drones have been spotted, raising questions and concerns about their origin and purpose.
On Wednesday, the FAA announced the temporary ban on drone flights in 22 critical infrastructure areas across New Jersey. According to the FAA, the restrictions, requested by federal security agencies, will remain in place until January 17.
The move comes after the FAA issued a statement earlier this week saying they do not believe the drone activity that has been reported presents a national security or public safety risk.
The FBI, the Homeland Security Department and state agencies have been investigating, but officials say there has been nothing so far to suggest that any drones have posed a national security or public safety threat. In fact, authorities say, many of the drone sightings have actually been legal drones, manned aircraft, helicopters and even stars.
JUMP TO WHAT HAS BEEN SEEN IN NJ? | DO DRONES POSE A THREAT? | WHO IS OPERATING?
President Joe Biden said Tuesday night that there appears to be nothing nefarious about the flying objects.
“There are a lot of drones authorized. We are following this closely. So far no sense of danger,” the Democrat said as he left the White House for a trip to Delaware.
Despite federal officials’ comments, many state and municipal lawmakers have nonetheless called for stricter rules about who can fly unmanned aircraft — and for the authority to shoot them out of the sky.
Here’s a list of NJ cities where drones are now banned for the month:
- Bayonne
- Branchburg
- Bridgewater
- Burlington
- Camden
- Cedar Grove
- Clifton
- Edison
- Elizabeth
- Evesham
- Gloucester City
- Hamilton (Mercer County)
- Hancock’s Bride section of Lower Alloways Creek Township
- Harrison (Hudson County)
- Jersey City
- Kearny
- Metuchen
- North Brunswick
- Sewaren section of Woodbridge
- South Brunswick
- Westampton
- Winslow
More mysterious drones spotted over New Jersey?
Officials continue to investigate the origins of mysterious drones spotted over parts of New Jersey. FOX 5 NY’s Briella Tomassetti has the latest.
Dozens of witnesses have reported seeing drones statewide since mid-November, including near the Picatinny Arsenal, a military research and manufacturing facility, and over President-elect Donald Trump’s golf course in Bedminster.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, has said that drone-detection equipment supplied by the federal government has yielded little new information. He declined to describe the equipment except to say it was powerful and could even disable the drones, though he said that’s not legal on U.S. soil.
Murphy urged Congress to give states more authority to deal with the drones.
Meanwhile, federal and local authorities are warning against pointing lasers at suspected drones, because aircraft pilots are being hit in the eyes more often. Authorities also said they are concerned people might fire weapons at manned aircraft that they have mistaken for drones.
The growing anxiety among some residents is not lost on the Biden administration, which has faced criticism from Trump for not dealing with the matter more aggressively.
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said Monday that the federal government has yet to identify any public safety or national security risks.
“There are more than 1 million drones that are lawfully registered with the Federal Aviation Administration here in the United States,” Kirby said. “And there are thousands of commercial, hobbyist and law enforcement drones that are lawfully in the sky on any given day. That is the ecosystem that we are dealing with.”
The federal government has deployed personnel and advanced technology to investigate the reports in New Jersey and other states, and is evaluating each tip reported by citizens, he said.
About 100 of the more than 5,000 drone sightings reported to the FBI in recent weeks were deemed credible enough to warrant more investigation, according to a joint statement by the Department of Homeland Security, FBI, Federal Aviation Administration and Department of Defense.
Speculation has raged online, with some expressing concerns that the drones could be part of a nefarious plot by foreign agents or clandestine operations by the U.S. government.
Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said it’s unlikely the drones are engaged in intelligence gathering, given how loud and bright they are. And he repeated Tuesday that the drones being reported are not being operated by the Department of Defense.
Asked whether military contractors might be operating drones in the New Jersey area, Ryder rebuffed the notion, saying there are “no military operations, no military drone or experiment operations in this corridor.”
Ryder said additional drone-detecting technology was being moved to some military installations, including the Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey.
Drone activity in the past week led to an hourlong closure of runways at New York’s Stewart International Airport, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) north of Manhattan, a four-hour closure of air space around Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio, and the arrests of two men in Boston accused by police of flying a drone too close to Logan International Airport.
The Source: This article contains reporting from the Associated Press.
