So who is flying these drones?

weilke said:
Given the glitchyness of the various FAA databases, one possibility would be a commercial operator who filed all the necessary waiver paperwork and it just disappeared into the digital ether. Low bid IT contracts for the win!
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You would think with all the publicity, the entity deploying these things would fess up.
 
Rushie said:
You would think with all the publicity, the entity deploying these things would fess up.
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It may well be proprietary work they are doing and they have no interest in publicity.

The other possibility is that someone at the FAA knows exactly who this is but the waiver data is protected under some 'matters of national security' exemption. Just like all the 'private aircraft' that live in a mailbox in Bristow, VA.
 
weilke said:
It may well be proprietary work they are doing and they have no interest in publicity.

The other possibility is that someone at the FAA knows exactly who this is but the waiver data is protected under some 'matters of national security' exemption. Just like all the 'private aircraft' that live in a mailbox in Bristow, VA.
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Yep, there’s a good chance one of these federal agencies denying they know anything are liars. That wouldn’t surprise me a bit. But if it’s some secret national security thing, they’d do better to make up some benign cover story. Amateurs. :D
 
mryan75 said:
A friend of mine developed and patented swarming algorithms 20 years ago. Facebook hired him then tried to buy him out with regard to their perpetual flight attempts.
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I was about to say that I was working with a university on an implementation when I was in High School, so his implementation must not have gone mainstream. Then I realized that I was in high school almost 20 years ago.
 
Rushie said:
Yep, there’s a good chance one of these federal agencies denying they know anything are liars. That wouldn’t surprise me a bit. But if it’s some secret national security thing, they’d do better to make up some benign cover story. Amateurs. :D
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Given the gullibility of the average bear, they are probably just fine to leave the 'aliens' explanation in the public space.
 
mryan75 said:
Title 18 USC 32. Maximum penalty up to 20 years in prison. And the feds have prosecuted people for this, including one guy who took a 12 gauge to a drone that was filming his teenage daughter sunbathing on his own property.
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I thought he got off, though...
 
Rushie said:
Anyone with legitimate reason to be pointing cameras at my property can make a public announcement ahead of time.
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You don't know much about the aerial mapping industry do you? They can count shingles on your roof from 2000ish feet above your house from a twin Cessna. They can also cover a couple hundred square miles on a good day. You think they're informing you every time they fly?

And for what it's worth, that's been going on since "drones" were called "RC Airplanes" and only flown by geeks.
 
Todd82 said:
You don't know much about the aerial mapping industry do you? They can count shingles on your roof from 2000ish feet above your house from a twin Cessna. They can also cover a couple hundred square miles on a good day. You think they're informing you every time they fly?

And for what it's worth, that's been going on since "drones" were called "RC Airplanes" and only flown by geeks.
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Of course I know the resolution they get from a distance. That’s not the same thing as something getting right up close and being obnoxious. It’s aggressive and rude.
 
From a 9News online article:

“It is concerning because you know, one of the reports I had last night was that the drone is way bigger than 6 [feet]; it sounds like a small jet engine when it’s flying,” Stivers said. “These are not drones that people in our county can just buy.”

and

Jan. 2, the Sedgwick County sheriff canceled a planned interview with 9NEWS after talking with the FAA. He did say that sheriffs will meet with the agency on Monday, Jan. 6, and the law enforcement agencies will issue a joint news release after.

so maybe we'll know more on Monday. Seems like the FAA is getting more quiet on the topic. These sound like some big drones!
 
kyleb said:
Between always-on surveillance cameras, license plate readers, cell phone tracking, data mining through cookies, charge card transaction records, and a bunch of other stuff, I'm going with stage 27.
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I only said stage 1 because it isn't self-aware yet.

Half Fast said:
In flight recharging using separate charger drones. Not released to the public yet.
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Seems... Inefficient.
 
There are large, fuel cell powered UAVs that have flown across the Atlantic ocean.

Shhhhh...
 
Communication satellites .. that’s one explanation I saw today. It would explain why they’re seen over a wide area.

It wouldn’t explain eyewitnesses who claim to have heard them, and one who claims to have used binoculars to describe an unmarked silver aircraft.

I wonder if the sky was clear the nights of the reports.
 
From various articles...

"We did get eyes on one about 200 to 300 feet above, and it was moving at about 100 knots," said Chris Swathwood, one of the experts scouring the skies for drone activity. "It was a large fixed wing aircraft. It was dark, and it had lights unlike any other manned aircraft would normally have."

"Swathwood's team said the aircraft in question likely cost over $100,000 to build, ruling out most operators."

"While no one has taken responsibility, and even the Federal Aviation Administration has claimed ignorance, the answer could be a secretive Air Force program intended to keep prying eyes away from nuclear missile silos."

"A Federal Aviation Administration map of the region where the drones have been spotted — Logan, Phillips, Sedgwick and Yuma counties — is pocked with red dots of where drones are forbidden, restricted airspace presumably above missile silos"

...so where is this FAA map showing these restricted areas? I don't see anything on a standard sectional in those areas.

So maybe this is a counter drone exercise. Either way these drones seem big, fast and perhaps even fixed wing.

Maybe the earth is about to rip in half and they are looking for the first holes :)




 
I can't find the red dots they are talking about on the sectional, Airmap, or on the FAA UAS Facilities Map. Not sure where the author got that info from.
 
overdrive148 said:
I can't find the red dots they are talking about on the sectional, Airmap, or on the FAA UAS Facilities Map. Not sure where the author got that info from.
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Are they in the “sensitive areas” map/listing? I’ve seen one of those recently for drones but can’t find it right now. Not true restricted areas, just a nice map of everything a bad guy would want to blow up. LOL.
 
Sucks, I just saw a map like this too but can't find it again. When I zoomed way in there were these tiny circles and each one was like a power plant or dam, etc. But it didnt seem like a FAA map. But just as Nate said...everything a bad guy would want to blow up.

Another dumb question...does the area around Limon, especially north and east even have missile silos?. I was poking around Google maps and maybe spotted something but I couldn't see the telltale fence, security radar thingys or obvious large horizontal blast door like I would see in ND when visiting my grand parents. I was always amazed how close we could get!
 
Sinistar said:
Another dumb question...does the area around Limon, especially north and east even have missile silos?. I was poking around Google maps and maybe spotted something but I couldn't see the telltale fence, security radar thingys or obvious large horizontal blast door like I would see in ND when visiting my grand parents. I was always amazed how close we could get!
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Limon is too far south. F. E. Warren does cover multiple states though.
 
Sinistar said:
Sucks, I just saw a map like this too but can't find it again. When I zoomed way in there were these tiny circles and each one was like a power plant or dam, etc. But it didnt seem like a FAA map. But just as Nate said...everything a bad guy would want to blow up.

Another dumb question...does the area around Limon, especially north and east even have missile silos?. I was poking around Google maps and maybe spotted something but I couldn't see the telltale fence, security radar thingys or obvious large horizontal blast door like I would see in ND when visiting my grand parents. I was always amazed how close we could get!
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Limon has a number of large jails and two huge wind farms in the area, Don’t think there are any active/usable missile silos left in Colorado, just the ground indications of past history - the roads to nowhere, etc.
 
Lots of silos in Wyoming and Nebraska, but these are all west of the drone sightings.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/90th_Missile_Wing_LGM-30_Minuteman_Missile_Launch_Sites

319th_Missile_Squadron_-_MAF_-_LC.png
 
Well, I was wrong, there are missile sites in Colorado and western Kansas. North of Limon, tho.
 

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Oh, good catch! I didn’t scroll down enough in that wiki article to find the silo sites in Colorado.

They seem to be located a couple of counties away from the drone sightings. That’s close enough to imagine that the drones used for monitoring silos could be responsible for the sightings.
 
Meeting complete. They are on the hunt for the control vehicle.

I would think the easiest way would be to have your own drone in the area ready to go. Once they are spotted quick file a drone flight plan for that area (or whatever kind of plan is needed). If they don't reveal the secret Notam then purposely fly above one and then bring it down from above. Then blame it on their damn drone which got in your way. Or if you think you have the range follow them back to the mother ship.

The weird thing about going after the control vehicle is if they are even breaking any laws. The vehicle can be out there. It can be receiving data from the drones. Maybe a gray area is their transmissions to the drones.
 
Sinistar said:
I would think the easiest way would be to have your own drone in the area ready to go.
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Just get a police helicopter, police C-182, or Army Apache and follow a drone "home" using the FLIR.
 
kyleb said:
Just get a police helicopter, police C-182, or Army Apache and follow a drone "home" using the FLIR.
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Surprised the newsies haven’t done it yet with their leased helicopter they all share. Probably afraid they’ll hit one.
 
murphey said:
77 organizations at the meeting. Right. Sure. You know there’s going to be a lot of positive results.


Oh wait. They’ve created a committee.
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Think one can get a transcript under CO sunshine law? LOL.

That’d be a fun read.
 
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