For two months now, residents across the Northeast have reported thousands of mysterious nighttime drone sightings, and the Federal Aviation Administration — which has sole authority over U.S. airspace — has yet to explain what is behind the phenomenon. In growing numbers, local and state officials are calling on the federal government to do more to help identify the drones, pursue pilots operating unlawfully and make sense of the situation to an increasingly wary American public. Here is a closer look at some of the unfolding developments that have come to light in recent weeks.
Have drones been spotted over the East End?
There have been multiple reports of unexplained drone activity on both forks, including several over Southold and three over Riverhead last month, as well as at least one over Shelter Island and one in Laurel this month. Just after the New Year, county officials revealed that Francis Gabreski airport in Westhampton Beach has experienced repeated breaches of restricted airspace surrounding the airport, which serves as the headquarters of the 106th Rescue Wing of the New York Air National Guard.
There is little uniformity among the sightings. Some drones have been observed hovering for hours in one place, while other reports detail clusters of drones or unidentified objects flying in various patterns.
Southold Police Chief Steven Grattan — himself a licensed drone pilot — said recently that residents and police officers reported sightings of “sedan-sized” drones above Orient, Mattituck, Cutchogue and Southold on Dec. 13 and 14 that appeared to be flying in an unusual pattern.
According to this report, “[law enforcement] personnel observed drones [that] appeared to be flying in a zigzag-style pattern near Route 48 and Route 25 in the Mattituck, Cutchogue and Southold areas.”
North Haven resident David Wind was in his backyard under a “crystal clear sky” just after dusk on Christmas night when he spotted what appeared to be a large drone about 1,000 to 1,500 feet in the air, hovering in a stationary position.
“As I watched it, I started looking around, and I noticed a couple [of] planets, and then I saw a few more [drones],” he said in an interview. “And as I started counting, I identified, the first night … seven distinct and similar shaped items, all with the same pattern of blinking.”
Mr. Wind, an attorney and a drone pilot, said the light patterns on the drones were triangular in shape, unlike the quad copter design of many consumer drones, including his own DJI Mavic.
“These were not ordinary aircraft,” he said, adding that there was “no discernable noise whatsoever.”
Then Mr. Wind spotted another drone, “even lower,” hovering over the bridge connecting North Haven to Sag Harbor, and called police.
“They sent a bunch of officers out, and they were able to corroborate they were drones,” he said, adding that afterward, the officers “went to Long Beach and saw an even higher number of them.”
Mr. Wind said that he watched the drones hover for what “must have been four or five hours. A few of them moved, but really with no discernable pattern.”
The sightings continued for three nights, he said.
What’s being done in terms of detection and deterrence?
At a Jan. 3 press conference, county officials pressed for federal help after the rash of drone sightings over or near Gabreski became a threat to airport operations. As with all working airports, the five-mile radius surrounding the base is a no-fly zone for drones.
Suffolk County Chief Deputy Sheriff Chris Brockmeyer said drones are being spotted “over the airport, over taxiways, over runways — and that’s a serious safety concern.”
A 2018 FAA study found that drone collisions can cause more structural damage to airplanes than birds of the same weight at a given impact speed.
In response to the Gabreski airport press conference, an FAA spokesperson said in a statement that the agency “looks into all reports of unauthorized drone operations and investigates when appropriate.
“The FAA works with federal and local law enforcement partners to educate them about how to respond to unsafe or unauthorized drone operations,” the statement said. “FAA personnel in the 77 local Flight Standards District Offices (FSDO) across the country perform investigations and, when necessary, take appropriate enforcement actions.”
A DeDrone detection system was installed earlier this month at Gabreski airport, according to Suffolk County Sheriff Errol Toulon’s office.
The system works by using a combination of sensors that include radio frequency detectors, radar and cameras which are analyzed by AI algorithms to spot, track and locate drones in real time. The devices can sometimes pinpoint pilot locations, according to the manufacturer, Axon, a multi-billion-dollar technology company with a focus on public safety, which also produces police Tasers and body-worn cameras. Another drone detection system made by Robin Radar Systems is also in use in New York state, according to NBC News.
While Suffolk County officials said that attempting to shoot down drones flying in restricted airspace is extremely dangerous — “too dangerous” — Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said last month that his county police were authorized to fire on drones that pose a threat.
“We don’t want to wait until we have some kind of disastrous event to then say, ‘Well, we could have done this and we could have done that,’ ” Mr. Blakeman said.
“The Nassau County Police Department has the authority and certainly has my approval that if there is a mass gathering anywhere and there is a drone that is a threat to the public at large, they have the authority and the jurisdiction and the right to shoot down that drone.”
Mr. Blakeman’s statements followed the FAA’s implementation of a temporary drone ban over parts of New Jersey and New York, which authorized local law enforcement agencies to use “deadly force” if a drone presented an “imminent security threat.”
Geo-fencing, “directed energy” weapons designed to neutralize small drones remotely and other counter-drone strategies are evolving rapidly, but most are currently out of reach for local agencies.
What are the rules for legal drone operations?
All drones that weigh .55 pounds or more must be registered with the FAA and more than one million are currently registered in the U.S., according to the agency. Recreational operators are required to pass the FAA’s Recreational UAS Safety Test, known as TRUST. To become a commercially licensed drone pilot, which generally includes anyone who profits from drone use, requires far more extensive training and passing the FAA’s Part 107 exam. Both commercial and recreational drones must remain at or below 400 feet at all times, and the drone must remain within the line of sight of the pilot or, in some cases, a spotter.
Drone pilots cannot fly in restricted airspace without explicit permission — which in some instances can be obtained by using LAANC [Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability], an online tool to secure real-time authorization through apps like B4UFly. Until a few years ago, it was illegal to operate a drone at night in the U.S. without a federal waiver. In 2021, the FAA began authorizing night flights for drones equipped with anti-collision lights that are visible for at least three miles.
Has anyone been caught in connection with the unexplained sightings?
Suffolk County officials said that none of the drone pilots behind recent aerial incursions into Gabreski airspace have been identified. Despite a Congressional mandate to incorporate millions of consumer and commercial drones into U.S. airspace in recent years, the FAA remains severely limited in its ability to enforce its own regulations. Between October 2022 and June 2024, the FAA fined a total of just 27 operators for violating federal drone regulations.
When did this phenomenon start?
The nighttime drone sightings began in mid-November in New Jersey and have spread throughout the tri-state area, with more than 5,000 sightings reported across the Northeast. Witnesses have described seeing clusters of what appeared to be drones — many of them larger than typical hobby drones, and some as large as cars — racing through the night skies. Public concerns first spread in November after the unidentified objects appeared near the U.S. military research and manufacturing facility known as the Picatinny Arsenal, as well as over President-elect Donald Trump’s Bedminster golf course.
Gov. Kathy Hochul first acknowledged the sightings on Dec. 13 but said that, “at this time there’s no evidence that these drones pose a public safety or a national security threat.”
In a joint statement issued last month, the departments of Homeland Security and Defense, along with the FBI and the FAA, said the public should not be concerned.
“Having closely examined the technical data and tips from concerned citizens, we assess that the sightings to date include a combination of lawful commercial drones, hobbyist drones and law enforcement drones, as well as manned fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters and stars mistakenly reported as drones,” the statement said. “We have not identified anything anomalous and do not assess the activity to date to present a national security or public safety risk over the civilian airspace in New Jersey or other states in the Northeast.”
The Association of Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International, the nation’s largest nonprofit industry trade group, weighed in last month as well, with AUVSI president Michael Robbins saying that drones have become a vital component of dozens of industries ranging from first responders and law enforcement to agriculture, film-making and infrastructure inspections.
“However, the lack of adequate government investment in airspace awareness technology has left the nation ill-equipped to reliably distinguish between lawful drone operations, careless activity and potential threats,” Mr. Robbins said in a statement. “This week’s sightings highlight the urgent need for the U.S. to modernize its approach to airspace monitoring and regulation. The lack of clear rules and sufficient airspace awareness has led to these positive applications being overshadowed by concerns of misuse and safety. ”
What to do if you spot a suspected unauthorized drone
State, county and local police departments are fielding — and investigating — reports of drone sightings. Chief Grattan said that sightings logged by his department are forwarded to the New York State Office of Counter Terrorism, Homeland Security and the Suffolk County Police Department. A spokesperson for the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office said that drone sightings can be reported to [email protected] or by calling 311. The FAA’s 77 field offices also take reports directly on the agency’s websites.