Subject: Drone operations over people
Rather than continue to banter about the latest conspiracy theories, how about we get a little background information about drones operating over people and at night.

The FAA has a nice overview of that. Here's the link:

https://www.faa.gov/uas/commer...

And here are what I believe are relevant highlights

The FAA published a rule that became effective on April 21, 2021. This ruling dramatically changed the landscape for drone (what the FAA calls unmanned aircraft or UA) operations.

There was a prior rule issued in 2016 that dealt with UA weighing less than 55 pounds. That ruling prohibited operation of these small UA over people or at night. They also included certification for the remote pilots of these aircraft. The older ruling allowed UA pilots to request an exemption to these prohibitions.

This new ruling laid out procedures for UA pilots to operate over people and at night. This eliminated the need for the exemption process under the prior ruling.

Specific to the recent paranoia, night operations of a UA have two requirements. The remote pilot needs to be properly licensed for night operations and the UA needs specific lighting, including flashing lights.


Now, for my interpretation of what is happening.

Until 2021, there were effectively no drone operations at night. Sure, there were likely some exceptions issued, but night flying drones were rare, especially over people. With these new rules, anyone can fly a drone at night. You don't need any particular reason, just some pilot training and a compliant drone. Now that night drones are much less restricted, they're getting more common. But people aren't used to seeing them. So rather than slow down and think rationally, people panic. (Cue agent K - A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals.)

What we are seeing in the skies over New Jersey and elsewhere around the country is nothing more than the free market providing drones properly equipped for night flight and individuals choosing to get properly licensed to fly them. We've all seen some of those beautiful drone video shots of landscapes and other scenery. Until now, they're all been day time videos. Now there's going to be night videos as well. But night videos of Yellowstone Park aren't going to be that interesting. Night videos of cities - that's going to look good.

Or it's aliens. After all, I've always liked a good documentary, and those rarely get better than the Men In Black series of documentaries.

--Peter