Tracking/Identification of large UAV testing (non military)

Longshot338

Filing Flight Plan
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Dec 20, 2020
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6
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Mississippi
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Display name:
Longshot338
Hi all, I’m new to the forum, and I come here looking for help. I live in a rural area, no military bases nearby. My house is about 1-2 miles outside of the outer ring of class B airspace.
For over 3 years now, my family has observed extensive UAV activity, mostly from 10pm to 1 am. Most clear nights, we observe dozens of UAV’s vectoring in from the east and west of our house, joining for a north heading within a couple of miles north of our home. Where they join for a north heading would be right along the outer ring of class B.
None of them have ever shown up on flightaware or any flight tracking services I can find.
These craft have somewhat of a lunging, slow descent as they approach. I suspect it is a drone delivery corporation conducting testing, but that’s just a guess based on process of elimination using all available resources I can find.
Would a home built ads-b receiver pick up identifying information being sent out from them, and allow me to identify them and/or track their destination?
We’ve also observed a lot of smaller UAV activity at night, at tree top level and below. I’m not sure if these are related to the larger craft we see or not. These smaller ones have red or white flashing lights identical to those found on cellular towers, and have high end thermal optics. They will sometimes work together, moving around to maintain line of sight of human presence. My kids and I have been followed at night by these on numerous occasions, while riding our atv on our farm. It’s kind of creepy honestly, and we simply want to find out who it is, and I what they are doing.
And no—I’m not mentally unstable, not doing drugs, and not a part of any illegal activity. I know to many this may sound crazy, but I assure you everything I say is factual. We feel that there are some major privacy violations, which have affected the sanctity of our home. We want to identify the responsible party, and hold them accountable for their harrassment, or initiate contact with them at the very least. The level/cost of the technology we have observed, and the volume/frequency of activity rule out any hobbyist or individual. I’ve filed multiple complaints with the FAA over the past 3 years. They always instruct me to contact the local Sheriffs department, stating that the FAA doesn’t have the resources to conduct these initial investigations. Sorry for the long post, but in order to get help, I felt the need to give substantial background info. I also have several of these low level drones captured on my passive infrared wildlife cameras. The bright lights obscure any ability to determine the structure or outline of these craft. Several of them were 10-15 feet behind the deer which triggered the camera to take a picture. Thanks in advance for any assistance.
 
HostileTracker3, do you have a fix on this target yet?
IP address has it in your sector.
 
I would give https://skyvector.com/ a shot, under "Layers" turn on DROTAMs (drone notices to airmen). If its a larger scale operation and civilian, chances are there will be a zone they created that's visible there. That would give you a specific NOTAM number that you might be able to look up or call someone about.

That, or you have an ATV and they seem interested in following you. They can't fly forever and they'll always go back home to land :p
 
Haha thanks for the info. Maybe the pilots have a man crush ‍♂️. I’m flattered but not interested y’all. Lol
 
And as for ADS-B, only a super small handful of commercial grade drones even have ADS-B in, much less out. ADS-B out would be more likely on a delivery drone company or a company trying to fly beyond visual line of sight with the approval of the FAA.

https://globe.adsbexchange.com/
This site has a whole bunch of unfiltered ADSB data and even shows military aircraft that other sites like FlightRadar24 and FlightAware scrub out of courtesy.

Also also, how do you know they are thermal cameras onboard? A delivery drone probably wouldn't have an expensive sensor payload like that instead of a set of smaller sensors and a small camera for collision avoidance and positioning.

(Source: Professional Drone Pilot)
 
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And as for ADS-B, only a super small handful of commercial grade drones even have ADS-B in, much less out. ADS-B out would be more likely on a delivery drone company or a company trying to fly beyond visual line of sight with the approval of the FAA.
I know they have thermal, because they can react and advance to human presence from about a half mile away. One of the ones I’ve seen low to the ground moves slowly and meanders within feet of the ground. Through my binoculars, at a range of about 200-250 yards, I could see a pulsing laser coming from it to the ground below and in front of it as it moved towards me. I can only assume this is some form of Lidar based collision avoidance and navigation system. I’m careful to speculate too much as to what their purpose is, without having enough facts at hand. My best guess would be they are some type of perimeter surveillance, since this happens to be where they vector in at about 1,000 feet AGL (maximum), and they appear to be landing within a couple of miles north of the house. Like I said, that’s just a theory.
https://globe.adsbexchange.com/
This site has a whole bunch of unfiltered ADSB data and even shows military aircraft that other sites like FlightRadar24 and FlightAware scrub out of courtesy.

Also also, how do you know they are thermal cameras onboard? A delivery drone probably wouldn't have an expensive sensor payload like that instead of a set of smaller sensors and a small camera for collision avoidance and positioning.

(Source: Professional Drone Pilot)
 
I would give https://skyvector.com/ a shot, under "Layers" turn on DROTAMs (drone notices to airmen). If its a larger scale operation and civilian, chances are there will be a zone they created that's visible there. That would give you a specific NOTAM number that you might be able to look up or call someone about.

That, or you have an ATV and they seem interested in following you. They can't fly forever and they'll always go back home to land :p

Don't think the skyvector site is going to be much help. Just took a look at Colorado and nearby states with DROTAMs turned on. Most areas are clearly marked with the DROTAM as being UAS Prohibited. For the most part these are existing R areas and "sensitive" areas. The Lockheed Martin plant (SW of Denver), the USAF side of KCOS and the chemical storage/destruction site east of Pueblo. What I didn't see are the known UAS/RPV areas NW of Boulder and near Alamosa (KALS). Prohibited areas are outlined in red, those that are indicating UAS activities are in blue. Not obvious until you click on the notam area. Odd that the Academy is "prohibited" when they teach them to fly the drones down there.
 
Overdrive. I guess I hit the wrong button, and only submitted the body of your post, leaving out my reply to your question about thermal optics.
To answer your question, they can detect human presence at distances of at least a half a mile away, then react and advance in a way which enables them to maintain line of sight with said human(s). They will also coordinate with each other. As in—if terrain or foliage blocks any of their view of us, others will maneuver in order to maintain visual. I had my rifle with thermal scope in the crop fields one night, coyote hunting. 3-4 of them came in from different directions, and basically posted up checking me out. One of them was about 3 Miles away, either at a cell tower, attached, or in the line of site of it from my viewpoint. It honestly appeared to detach and do a roll out. Yes...it sounds bizarre. But it happened. It was about 6-8 feet wide I’d say, and had a solid red light on either side. It flew several miles my way, about 100-150 feet AGL, and stopped about 2,500 feet from me, to the east. At the same time, the other 3 were all scattered at various locations to my west...anywhere from 500 to 1,500 feet away. One of them is different from the others. It almost exclusively stays within a couple of feet from the ground. It kind of slowly snakes around on a neighbors adjoining property as it advances to my presence. I have looked at it with my binoculars at a distance of about 250 yards, and observed a pulsing laser emitting from it to the ground, below and in front of it. I’m not familiar with all of the technology out there, but from my research, I am assuming that would have to be a Lidar based navigation and collision avoidance system. Several people who live about 4 Miles from me have seen some even stranger things. 2-3 credible people told me they saw a craft about the size of a football field drop a gate, then what they described as what looked like “a string of glowing red bowling balls” hang out, then disburse and move rapidly in different directions. I have not seen that myself. A friend of mine in game and fish described seeing a craft that size about 3 Miles from my house. He was out of his vehicle with his NVG on, looking for widlife violations. He told me it came directly overhead, was about the size of a football field, and made no noise. He did not see any gate open or any objects come out. I’m not concerned with what they are seeing, as it is not right by my home harassing me. Is it bizarre...yes. Do I trust their credibility...yes. I’ve reached out to all appropriate channels attempting to handle this the right way and find answers to what is going on around my home and on our property, to no avail. So now I’m determined to bring as much attention to them as possible, and force them to contact me. If someone happens to shoot one down over my property, hopefully I can find it and keep it until the owners come to retrieve it. You never know....some crazy redneck may drive down the county road one night and see them and shoot several of them down.....you just never know!
 
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Some observations about the many postings.
1. Lasers/lidar do not always have human-visible lights.
2. something the size of a football field hovering a distance AGL smaller than it’s size is intriguing.
3. do NVG have distance/size measurements built into the technology? I ask because I don’t know.
4. something the size of a football field hovering or even moving near the observer with no sound is intriguing.
Even tho the B2 is incredibly quiet on approach, when it gets close, it aint. As those of use who’ve watch it at OSH can attest.
5. there is research and prototypes of electric flying vehicles but I haven’t seen anything in the literature about something the size of a football field.
6. shooting down any aerial vehicle is a federal crime. just sayin’ ya know.
 
Some observations about the many postings.
1. Lasers/lidar do not always have human-visible lights.
2. something the size of a football field hovering a distance AGL smaller than it’s size is intriguing.
3. do NVG have distance/size measurements built into the technology? I ask because I don’t know.
4. something the size of a football field hovering or even moving near the observer with no sound is intriguing.
Even tho the B2 is incredibly quiet on approach, when it gets close, it aint. As those of use who’ve watch it at OSH can attest.
5. there is research and prototypes of electric flying vehicles but I haven’t seen anything in the literature about something the size of a football field.
6. shooting down any aerial vehicle is a federal crime. just sayin’ ya know.

I came here humbly looking for input from people, more knowledgeable than I about this stuff. I’m a private pilot. That’s it. My aviation knowledge isn’t extensive. I expected some skepticism. That’s why I try to minimize my guessing and stick to facts...what I have observed.
1.) As I stated, I described exactly what I saw. I don’t pretend to be familiar with Lidar, and made that clear.
2.)Not sure what you’re referring to. I’m assuming you Misread something, or I may have mistyped something. If so, I apologize.
3.)I’ll have to ask him how he first noticed it. But I do know he took them off right after he did. But I see where you’re coming from. These distances are to put things in perspective and are not precise. Best guesses.
4.)you’re absolutely right. It is intriguing. If I didn’t trust this man and know him for years, I’d be skeptical myself.
5.)like I said, I have seen all kinds of things around our home, but have not seen that myself.
6.) I’m well aware of that. If I wanted to shoot one down myself, I would have done it long ago. I prefer to do things the right way.
 
That's some crazy stuff. You could PM me a rough location around where it's happening and I can look into it but I'm not sure you'd be able to find much unless you follow them back to where they took off from. Drones that have waivers to fly at night are required to have a white strobe light that is visible from 3 miles away - a red solid light is strange.

If this was happening near me, I'd be in the same boat as you - trying to find out who is doing it and what they're doing.
 
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