Federal report reveals the cause of mysterious drone sightings — but major mystery remains
Federal officials knew in mid-December that some of the mysterious drones spotted in the skies over New Jersey and New York were authorized aircraft — but withheld that information from the American public, as President Trump suggested many months ago.
An internal slideshow presentation arranged by Transportation Security Administration officials debunked four of the New Jersey drone sightings as optical illusions created by sꦇanctioned aircraft.
“The alignment of the aircraft gave the appearance to observers on the ground of them hovering in formation while they were actually moving directly at the observers,” reads a slide about several reported sightings over Somerville, NJ the night of Nov. 26, 2024.
The slides were first shared by , and also included an explanation for the three drone sightings over the Salem Nuclear Power Plant and the adjacent Hope Creek Generating Station on Dec. 12, 2024 — a day before the Federal Aviation Administration imposed airspace restrictions over New Jersey.
The report dispels Dec. 5, 2024, sightings of drones along the Jersey coastline as “aircraft arriving
from the South on approach into JFK” that “turned toward land around Sea Girt, flying for 2 to 3 minutes toward the coast, turning back out to sea, and flying 3 to 5 minutes straight away from the coast.”
Those aircraft — a Cessna C150 and UH-60 Black Hawk – would’ve appeared to hover in the sky to anyone on the ground, according to the feds. Both aircraft were authorized to be in the area.
A second Dec. 12 account of a drone over Clifton, N.J., dispersing some sort of a gray mist was also dismissed as another plane: a Beechcraft Baron 58, which experienced turbulence, “dropped approximately 100 feet before regaining altitude.”
The rapid change “over the wing’s surfaces cause wingtip vertices,” or condensation clouds, “that may appear as gray mist.”
But the incomplete presentation failed to address some of the more notable sightings, including the swarm of 12 to 30 drones spotted Dec. 8 over the Atlantic by patrolling members of the U.S. Coast Guard.
A sailor who spoke to The Post about the incident said they were sent out to look for drones when “they found us.”
“They appeared out of nowhere” at about 9 p.m., and followed the boat for approximately 15 minutes, he said. When the vessel shifted course, so too did the drones.
“They had four propellers. Seven feet across. The flashing lights, like you’ve seen. The festive green, red, and white lights.”
Trump accused the Biden administration in January of knowingly keeping New York and New Jersey residents “in suspense.”
Added Trump: “For some reason, they don’t want to tell the people, and they should. Our military knows and our president knows. And for some reason, they want to keep people in suspense.”
In December, Biden said there was “nothing nefarious” in the sky. Members of Congress concurred following a classified briefing.
