The New Jersey Drone Flap (2024)
From mid-November to late December 2024, thousands of residents of New Jersey and neighbouring states reported large lit craft hovering at night above their homes, sometimes near sensitive sites. Officials called for the military to step in, flight bans were issued, and the whole country watched the sky for six weeks.
Witnesses
thousands of residents, officials and police
Why it endures
For weeks no authority could say whose craft these were, in the most closely watched airspace in the world. The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security themselves acknowledged that the law did not give them the means to identify and intercept a drone over a town.
Official version (contested)
A joint statement by the FBI, Homeland Security, the FAA and the Pentagon concluded it was a mix of perfectly lawful commercial, hobbyist and police drones, of aeroplanes and helicopters, and of stars taken for craft. Of roughly 5,000 reports, fewer than a hundred warranted investigation, and no threat or foreign involvement was established.