Understanding the New Jersey Drone Sightings: Separating Fact from Fiction

Warren County Community College’s Will Austin Shares Insights on Public Misconceptions, and the Role of Education

Recent reports of nighttime drone sightings in New Jersey have sparked widespread concern, with some citizens raising alarms about large drones and potential security risks. The sightings were the focus of yesterday’s Congressional hearing titled “Safeguarding the Homeland from Unmanned Aerial Systems.”  However, Dr. Will Austin, President of Warren County Community College and a recognized expert in drone technology, provides a balanced perspective on the headlines.  Austin has been asked to review many of the images and videos purporting to show the unidentified drones in the air.

“After analyzing numerous videos shared by concerned citizens, I’m inclined to believe that many of the reported ‘large drones’ were actually manned aircraft mistakenly identified as drones,” Austin explained in a recent DRONELIFE interview. In addition to cell tower lights and other stationary infrastructure, he noted that smaller drones, such as DJI Mavics, have also been observed and are likely being operated legally.

Misconceptions About Drones: What the Public Gets Wrong

Dr. Austin highlighted several common misconceptions contributing to the public’s unease. Many of the images used to illustrate the drone sightings are simply lights in the sky – which Austin points out may have led to the misidentification of manned aircraft as drones. “Northern NJ has numerous airports, some of the largest in the nation, and many misidentifications appear to me to be airplanes at night on approach to land,” he said.

Many news outlets speculate that the  “unidentified drones” may be spying on local military infrastructure.  Austin points out that another prevalent misunderstanding involves the capabilities of drones and their sensors at night. “Privacy or surveillance seems to be the largest misconception,” Austin pointed out, explaining that thermal sensors often struggle to provide clear images in darkness due to limitations like thermal loading.

Austin also addressed the public’s lack of knowledge about drones’ range and flight capabilities. “We professionals know there are very few drones with such a capability,” he said, referring to the false idea that drones can fly across the state without losing their radio signal. He attributed some of these errors to the parallax effect, an optical illusion where stationary objects appear to hover.

Media Hype and the Role of Public Perception

The surge in drone sightings has been fueled, in part, by media coverage, Austin suggested. He cited psychological studies, such as the Asch Conformity Experiments, to explain how public opinion can be influenced by widespread reports. “In simpler terms, people preferred to believe the lie over believing they could ever be fooled or mistaken,” he said.

The media attention has also encouraged some drone enthusiasts to take to the skies in search of these “mystery drones,” inadvertently increasing the number of reported sightings. “I drove around my region on Sunday (December 8th) and personally witnessed a multitude of commercial-off-the-shelf quadcopters basically sightseeing to find those mystery drones,” Austin noted.

A Call for Balanced Regulation and Investment

Dr. Austin sees the current debate as an opportunity to educate the public and policymakers about drones’ potential. He called for more meaningful discussions on how the U.S. can strengthen its drone industry to compete globally. “We need to have true hearings on drones and how we are falling behind our adversaries so we can pump a lot of development dollars into the drone economy,” he concluded.

Dr. Austin emphasized the importance of education in addressing these misconceptions and advancing the drone industry. Warren County Community College’s WarrenUAS program enrolls over 100 students, utilizing more than $5 million worth of equipment to prepare graduates for careers in fields like agriculture, law enforcement, and environmental protection.

“This is precisely why we began the program, now almost a decade ago. We saw the vast potential for drones, if professionalized, with properly trained professionals keeping safety at the forefront,” Austin said. He believes education is crucial to counteracting the negative attention drones often receive.

Austin warned against overregulation in response to public fears, which he feels could stifle the U.S. drone industry. “My greatest fear right now is that in an effort to make sure these drones are not secretly malicious machines from an adversary, we stifle our already struggling drone industry,” he said.

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