When you are a hammer, everything looks like a nail; if you’re a drone spotter, everything looks like a drone.
As someone who has flown more than a few drones in his life and sometimes carries a foldable one in his pocket on weekend walks so he can pull it out at random and fly over hills, lakes, houses and trees, I’m a bit of a a drone watcher; not to be confused with a birdwatcher (that’s me too), who keeps his eyes and ears open for the aviary type. Now that I think about it, drone spotting is a bit like that too. Usually I hear the high-pitched buzz, and then I scan around, scanning the sky for the telltale movement (hover, sprint, hover, zigzag) and spinning rotors of a consumer-grade drone.
Like a birdwatcher, I shout, “Oh look, someone’s flying a drone over us.” Over the years, I’ve seen consumer-grade drones (usually less than 8 ounces) fly over my house. I usually try to identify which DJI drone it is; maybe a DJI Mini, maybe a Mavic or DJI Mavic Pro. Usually it is not one of the larger Phantom Pro drones, as most people are not qualified nor allowed by the FAA to fly them over residential areas.
What’s going on there?
Of course I’m intrigued by the explosion of US drone sightings on the East Coast the past few weeks. In the videos (mostly unverified ones) I’ve seen on TikTok, they’re often much bigger than anything I’ve flown. In fact, they appear to be huge (think five feet in diameter) enterprise-grade drones used by companies for surveillance, package delivery, and feature film operations.
Where I live – in New York – and the surrounding cities along the East Coast of the US, drone spotting is now something of an obsession, although I haven’t quite caught the bug yet.
On a recent crystal clear night with a brilliantly bright full moon and Jupiter nearby, my offspring and I dragged our Celestron telescope out to look at the stars. As we stood shivering at night trying to get the moons of Jupiter in our scope, I started pointing out a few low-orbiting satellites that were quietly zipping by: they’re usually easy to spot by their speed, straight as a arrow trajectory and lights flashing at regular intervals. It never occurred to me to suspect they were drones. Maybe I know better, or maybe, unlike others, I’m not looking for drones in the night sky.
Look, I’m not saying there aren’t drones flying over the East Coast of the US. That may be so, but I don’t think it’s an invasion. Here are some ideas about what’s going on:
- There was a larger drone test conducted by the local or federal government or a company that wanted to see how well a delivery fleet functioned at night. Since 2021 the FAA has approved some night flights with dronesalthough the drones must still remain at an altitude of less than 120 meters. That could explain why these drones are so visible. They are larger and cannot break the rules by flying in airspace reserved for airplanes.
- After that first flight (and perhaps a few subsequent ones), undiscriminating eyes began to think that every light in the sky that they couldn’t identify was also a drone. Drones of the size that most people claim to see are not easy to fly, and night flights would require even more expertise.
- For those concerned that these drones come from foreign enemies, it’s also worth remembering that unless they are military drones, they don’t fly thousands or even hundreds of miles to reach U.S. shores. I also have to wonder what useful information “spy drones” would get from flying over the suburbs at night.
- Amateur drone operators are opportunistically making more night flights than before, hoping people will spot their flyers and add them to these worrying reports. Non-pros making night flights is concerning, but these drones use GPS and no vision to navigate and can take off on a programmed flight and return home on their own without much intervention from amateur pilots.
Acting faster will help
Now I tend to agree that the government (local and federal) has acted too slowly to address the ‘drone invasion’ (they have finally agreed to send in special drone detection technology), but I also think the FAA has been too lax in registering and tracking drones. Essentially, anything that takes off in public airspace should immediately become a tracked dot on local flight tracking systems. FWIW, if you ever found my lost drone, you would open the battery compartment to find my drone pilot registration number.
All that aside, I’m pretty sure the majority of drones people think they see aren’t. It’s still planes, helicopters and satellites. But until the US government effectively responds to consumer concerns, drone hysteria will increase. people will start shooting at these dronesand then someone will probably actually get hurt.
Don’t be a hammer looking for a nail.