--- title: "Mystery “Car-Sized” Drones Reach the Skies of New York" description: "Sightings of mysterious drones that began in New Jersey mid-November have now reached the state of New York." date: "2024-12-11" modified: "2024-12-11" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore.md" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/mystery-drones-new-york" categories: - "Drones" - "Future Society" - "Robotics" - "Robots and Machines" tags: - "drones" - "the digest" - "ufos" --- # Mystery “Car-Sized” Drones Reach the Skies of New York ![Sightings of mysterious drones that began in New Jersey mid-November have now reached the state of New York.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* ## Branching Out The mysterious "car-sized" drones plaguing the skies of New Jersey since last month have now been spotted in the Big Apple. Additional sightings of the apparent UFOs were reported in the Empire State on Sunday night, [with residents of Brooklyn]() saying they saw around a dozen drones flying over the New York City borough before crossing over to Staten Island. There, residents say [they witnessed the drones](), too. Reports [also indicate]() that some sightings have recently been made in Philadelphia. As the sightings seem to spread across the tri-state area, the Federal Bureau of Investigation issued a statement to the media about the ongoing situation — and it sounds like its investigators are totally stumped. "We understand the concern, and we are doing all we can to figure out what's going on," a spokesperson for the FBI Newark Field Office, which is leading the investigation, [*told PIX11*]() last Wednesday. "We truly don't have much information to provide at the moment." https://twitter.com/DianeAtkins/status/1865979665061388343 ## Aerial Aces With New Jersey as the epicenter, the drone sightings began in mid-November and quickly spread to ten or so counties, mostly in the northern regions of the state. The drones have frequently been described as around the size of a car, flying in coordinated patterns and exhibiting blinking lights that have been reported to sometimes inexplicably go dark. The sightings have quickly become the subject of national attention as authorities have been unable to determine what the drones are and who or what is responsible for them, if indeed any single entity is. They've also resulted in some very real consequences. The Federal Aviation Administration [temporarily banned]() flying drones over president-elect Donald Trump's golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, as well as a military base in a nearby county. It's not all fun and games, either: the drones also reportedly [prevented a medevac helicopter]() from reaching the scene of a severe car crash in late November. ## In the Dark Nevertheless, authorities insist that the drones pose no immediate threat to the public. It's undeniable, though, that the spell of sightings is extremely bizarre — if not unsettling to some — and expose local and federal law enforcement's inability to control airspace against the growing popularity of unmanned aircraft. The frustration at the lack of progress made by federal agencies was on display during a congressional hearing on Tuesday, [*USA Today* reports](), in which several House Representatives grilled the FBI's assistant director of the Critical Incident Response Group Robert Wheeler Jr. "You're telling me we don't know what the hell these drones in New Jersey are?" U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzalez (R-Texas) asked Wheeler, as quoted by *USA.* "That's correct," the FBI man replied. "That's crazy," Gonzalez said. "That's madness." **More on UFOs:** *[FBI Baffled by Mysterious "Car-Sized Drones" Circling Over New Jersey]()* ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()