A frustrated Gov. Kathy Hochul has called for federal assistance after the latest drone sighting temporarily shut down an airport Friday night, the latest in a series of mysterious occurrences taking place across the country.
Officials at Stewart International Airport, located roughly 60 miles north of New York City, said they shut down their runways for an hour after the Federal Aviation Administration alerted them that a drone was spotted in the area around 9:30 p.m.
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“There were no impacts to flight operations during the closure,” the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said in a statement.
Hochul said in a statement Saturday that the incident is the latest drone sighting in the state since mid-November and expressed her frustration.
“This has gone too far,” she said.
Hochul said she has called on the New York State Intelligence Center to probe the drone sighting incidents but called on the federal government to do more.
Specifically, she called on Congress to pass the Counter-UAS Authority Security, Safety, and Reauthorization Act, which would strengthen the FAA’s oversight of drones and give more authority to state and local law enforcement agencies to investigate the activity.
“Extending these powers to New York State and our peers is essential,” she said. “Until those powers are granted to state and local officials, the Biden Administration must step in by directing additional federal law enforcement to New York and the surrounding region to ensure the safety of our critical infrastructure and our people.”
Residents and officials have been looking for answers after drones have been seen hovering in the sky in several locations, especially in central New Jersey, since mid-November. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and several members of Congress have also called for the federal government to investigate the sightings.
Officials from a wide range of federal agencies spoke with reporters Saturday on a phone call and emphasized that the federal investigation into drone sightings in New Jersey is ongoing. One FBI official said that out of the nearly 5,000 tips they have received, less than 100 have generated credible leads for further investigation.
A Department of Homeland Security official said that they are “confident that many of the reported drone sightings are, in fact, manned aircraft being misidentified as drones.”
The FBI official also talked about how investigators overlaid the locations of the reported drone sightings and found that “the density of reported sightings matches the approach pattern” of the New York area’s busy airports including Newark-Liberty, JFK, and LaGuardia.
But, an FAA official says that there have “without a doubt” been drones flying over New Jersey, pointing to the fact that there are nearly a million drones registered in the U.S.
“With nearly a million registered [unmanned aircraft systems] in the United States, there’s no doubt many of them are owned and operated here within the state,” the FAA official said.
The FAA official noted that flying a drone is legal in most locations during the day or night, provided that the drone remains below 400 feet, stays within the drone operator’s line of sight, and does not pose safety hazards to people and property or violate airspace restrictions.
A Joint Chiefs of Staff official said that there have been visual sightings of drones reported by “highly trained security personnel” near Picatinny Arsenal and Naval Weapons Station Earle in New Jersey. The official said that they do not believe the sightings “were aligned with a foreign actor, or that they had malicious intent.”
“We don’t know what activity is. We don’t know if it is criminal, but I will tell you that it is irresponsible,” the official said. “Here on the military side, we are just as frustrated with the irresponsible nature of this activity.”
In the meantime, the FAA and federal officials are taking precautions because of the drones.