To ask if anyone wants to talk about "the drones" ?

[MistressoftheDarkSide]

Distracting myself from my rather hideous real life, I've been poking around YouTube and am quite interested in all the apparent drone sightings mainly in the US but also apparently over here to a lesser to degree.

Obviously some of the pictures and alleged video footage are misidentified aircraft, but NJ in the US are having quite the conniption over some of what they're seeing.

I'm an open minded sceptic, but the amount if traction this is getting is intriguing.

Theories are that it's military testing of new tech, or even civilian testing, but official statements imply that TPTB don't actually know what's going on. I find that weird, given all the sophisticated tech we have for surveillance and tracking, especially given how busy airspace is in general.

Anyway just wondered if anybody else was curious about it all - or have you seen anything weird? I haven't - I'm under the flight path of our local airport and we seem to be "drone free" lol. Always wondered about "aliens" but not obsessed or anything.

Given the current state of the world, maybe I should add alien invasion to my "you couldn't make this shit up" bingo card - I have about three spots left to call "house" after some of the stuff I've been dealing with.

Anyway, have at it :

YABU - you're a tinfoil hat wearing nutter and should get out more.

YANBU - there are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio......

half the time Occam's razor is a fallacy as there could be many different reasons for x,y,z with the drones etc

I know what you mean - it can be the last refuge of the internet debate wanker. In this case I think it fits though - none of the other theories make sense. Apart from it being aliens.

There's always Hanlons Razor ....

I caught a bit of the Pentagon Q&A / media briefing, and the undercurrent that struck me was:

"Loads of people have drones, they're allowed over loads of places, also, this is modern life and the new face of warfare so get used to it".

Which I suppose is all true to a point. But while mass hysteria might be a factor, the trigger would be sensible to identify. As I recall, the UK sightings were last month, and didn't get that much coverage. And are still under investigations as they were over US bases.

Am just watching it all with popcorn and wondering how far it will go.

Incidentally thinking back to the Chinese spy balloon thing a while ago, that all got nipped in the bud relatively quickly compared to this. Just musing.

You do realise they're nothing, right?

You're panicking over nothing.

Who says I'm panicking? I'd be cracking open vodka rather than popcorn if I was panicking 😆

I live near a main airport and we are no stranger to police helicopter and small plane action (thanks Flightradar24).

A couple of weeks ago, around 9pm I saw what I thought was a plane in the sky - bright white light about 30degrees inclination. I thought it was in an odd position to be flying straight at me. Then the one light became a collection of 5 arranged around a circle. It was only then I realised it was a drone. It held for about a minute and then (I guess) turned to a different direction and too all intents and purposes "vanished" into thin air.

There are a few drone enthusiasts who post quite wonderful overflies of the local area. The quality is gobsmacking. Twenty years ago the shots would have cost tens if not hundreds of thousands of pounds. We are talking total UHDTV broadcast quality here.

Anyway, what was it Grissom said ? "Hear hooves, think horses, not zebras."

You might not be but it’s worth remembering that there will be people who are and hyping up nothing to be something can really exacerbate people’s fears (not saying that’s what you’re doing but it’s certainly what the press are doing).

Just to be clear it was a drone about 400 metres away (at a guess) not a plane 4 miles away.

It was over some sports fields at the local university - possibly filming a match ?

I do think there is far more drone usage than lots of people realise and that they’re really quite large in some instances and very sophisticated. I was watching David Attenborough’s new Asia series and they were explaining about filming a wolf hunting with a drone, the pictures are exceptional.

@MistressoftheDarkSide I'd say posting a thread and continuing to insist there is something amiss when you've been told there isn't is quite panicky

Oh blimey, I forgot this is a public forum largely populated by grown up women who occasionally like to talk about subjects other than parking wars and knitting. 🙄

I only came back to this thread this morning because other people had posted on it, and I'm not insisting something is amiss, other than the ridiculous way this is being reported on and general comments about the ways if the modern world.

But I will take my admonishing with good grace, before someone starts claiming I'm a right wing shill. And I say that as a veteran of the State of Fear threads.

Also, very few people appear in the least bit interested in the subject either on here or in real life, and it's been nice chewing the fat with those who do appear to have an interest. So to the curious and chatty - thank you 😊 and to those I have irritated, my heartfelt apologies. I shall give my head an appropriate wobble 😝

with covert ops ect whos to say what's what, what we think makes sens does not always mean it does make sense besides if they will do covert ops near the public then depending on the good ones vs our adversaries etc sometimes fallout happens from the operations and then rather than the public being told the truth instead its cover ups

Seems like a giant game of gaslighting tbh.

The drones are there, both in the USA and over bases in the UK.

Sightings were reported quietly and acknowledged by the authorities as far back as mid-November.

Now apparently there's nothing to see, it's only planes and helicopters and anyone who says otherwise is crazy.

We'll find out the truth someday. Whatever it is, it must be embarrassing to the US government, or directly linked to them, imo.

It's seems particularly bad on here today

but I've been on a lot less than usual so maybe my brain is recalibrating

always nice to chat though. Hope you'll return if there's any more drone drama!

I don't like drones. A couple of years ago, a drone flew over our back garden and the neighbours' gardens. It flew up and down occasionally hovering over our garden. 2 weeks later we had a break in via the back door. I'm convinced they scouted the place to plan break ins.

Bigger drones are even more disconcerting. I wonder what Elon who is familiar with fancy tech toys makes of this these 'drones'.

NJ mayor says residents are not confusing planes for drones and things are not adding up

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGdhkpXb1/

Trump claims he will disclose when he comes to office.

I hope so. If anything comes of trump getting in at least we may have this.

He wants to be remembered. Imagine the impact disclosing the info re ET life and UAP remains etc would have!!!!!
He would certainly be remembered in history then.

NJ mayor says residents are not confusing planes for drones and things are not adding up

Ah, a Fox News piece, no surprise there.

As far as the moving images the very first image is a conventional aircraft either on approach/on departure with at least one position light and landing light visible…

A later sequence is an aircraft seen from slightly below head, so as the rules require both position lights are visible…in addition it has the strobes and the alternating forward lights some conventional aircraft have.

Another view is an airliner from below, though cunningly looks like the camera may have been is rotated whilst in aircraft has passed overhead.

Single white lights could be anything, quite possibly landing lights at a distance….

So whilst the NJ mayor may well have concerns Fox has chosen to muddy the water with images of conventional aircraft again….maybe that’s what Trump will disclose end of January.

Maybe Fox needs to read something like this which even mentions the pulsating forward lights I mentioned ( known by the acronym ALLS), many similar basic guides to lighting are on the internet:

https://pilotinstitute.com/airplane-lights/

As per my description above, once the drone had shifted on it's axis, it was unmistakeable. Also if it is carrying lights and shifts slightly, it will "vanish".

I live near a major airport, so I damn well know what plane lights look like, and how they move.

As a PP said, people would be surprised how common (and large and sophisticated) drones are. They were on my IT scanning radar over 10 years ago, when insurers were looking a cheap ways to assess claims. That and streetview.

Honestly I'm not seeing anything here that's not explained by mass hysteria and every drone enthusiast in the area getting in on the action. If I were a teen in NJ now I'd totally be buying the best drone I could afford and freaking out my neighbours.

I hope you came to terms with your total lack of advancement in your career in the media 😀