White House says New Jersey drones 'authorized to be flown by FAA' | Hacker News Reader

White House says New Jersey drones 'authorized to be flown by FAA'

theguardian.com

36 pointsn1b0m30 comments

If the drones were “authorized to fly by the Federal Aviation Administration”, then why did the same FAA feel the need to temporarily put in place dozens of drone bans over critical infrastructure?

Because a loud contingent of poorly informed people were looking up at commercial aircraft and losing their minds. The FAA couldn’t really ban all aircraft because this would be very disruptive. And they knew there were not any drones, so a ban on drones made perfect sense because it checked all the boxes:

1. Has no effect on the normal world 2. Quiets down the kooks

Seeing the videos/photos it was obvious some of them weren't even drones, they were commercial aircraft.

Drones can be fixed-wing aircraft.

Sure but it was obvious that a number of the pictures were actual planes, often corroborated by the photograph being taken directly next to an airport takeoff/landing flight path.

It was obvious to any educated observer that a number of the claimed "Drones" were actually Airbus A320 aircraft being operated by American Airlines. The photos where clear enough to see the American Flag paint scheme on the tail. Yet still conspiracy idiots continue to defend these misidentifications. Some of them are out there with firearms even.

Ah, gotcha!

I recall something about dear leader Trump telling them to shoot the drones out of the sky.

That's not going to have an impact on the people who believe otherwise.

Why couldn't the Biden admin say this?

They did. The end of the article quotes them saying so.

Massive media failure here, reporting the drone hysteria with a straight face. It was the clown scare all over again, but they either didn't recognize it or were unwilling to lose the clicks by saying so.

clown scare?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_clown_scare

They never outright confirm or denied like Trump admin did right now. They circled the issue entirely:

>Former president Joe Biden said at the time that the drones were “nothing nefarious” and told the public that his administration was following the issue closely but that there was “no sense of danger”.

>John Kirby, Biden’s national security communications adviser, also said at the time that the drones were not a national security or public safety risk.

>“To the contrary, upon review of available imagery, it appears that many of the reported sightings are actually manned aircraft that are being operated lawfully,” Kirby said at the time.

White House today:

>“After research and study, the drones that were flying over New Jersey in large numbers were authorized to be flown by the FAA for research and various other reasons,” she said, adding that “many of these drones were also hobbyists, recreational and private individuals that enjoy flying drones”.

This is a much more clear and concise report.

Very interesting. Am I reading into this too much when I say

Biden Response = Paternalistic, trust-based. Interpreting the data, but not sharing the data

Trump Response = Neutral, sharing the data (all drones are "authorized"), non-interpretive

neither administration shared data. Trump's did a much better job of framing the issue though which is just about the only thing his team excels at doing.

"All flights were authorized by the FAA" is highly compressed data

It is not. It's a single data point -- that there weren't any unauthorized flights. It doesn't even explain the nature of the authorization (was it a blanket one like what allows hobby drone operations, or a specifically licensed one?)

That statement says very little.

>It is not. It's a single data point

So it is?

Wouldn’t that be a datum?

You got me there

FAA post authorised the alien drones to fly out of the sea and hover over people's rooftops. case closed and no lies told.

The issue is their phrasing or presentation is that it was not direct. It was somewhat evasive. Why couldn’t they give a straight answer and tamp down the conspiracy theories at once?

The straight answer the public wants is, “where can I ensure that someone has reviewed my complaint about the drones’ behavior?”. I don’t mean to criticize the mob behavior implied, but in a very real sense, if I were a licensed drone operator in New Jersey, I would demand that the government not tell people who I am, for fear of my safety and well-being, without there being some sort of due process that I’ve failed to comply with. Neither Biden nor Trump admins were willing to tell us who is operating drones in New Jersey, which is sensible, even if it’s deeply unpalatable to residents who wish to register their objections usefully. What’s missing here is a reporting system for filing complaints about behaviors such as stalking a given property or person without their consent, with the FAA or NTSB or etc. serving as intermediary between the two parties and guaranteeing a followup so that residents can feel heard.

Unfortunately, "it appears" is a weasel phrase, and “nothing nefarious” and “no sense of danger” coming from an admin that lied their asses off wasn't very believable at the time. Why not just come out and say it back then like they did today?

Note that the two major theories were that (1) the government has been hiding alien technology, and/or that (2) those were foreign military planes. To the degree that there's any credibility, those are extreme stories that warrant the absolute attention of... the whole world! Neither WH communications are sufficient to address an issue of such extreme magnitude!

Also, we have to consider that any government that's hiding alien technology would probably do anything they could to misdirect the issue.

They did, you must have a pretty bad information ecosystem.

Weren't they all alien UFOs? Or clowns?

i thought it was plainly obvious it was Santa testing new sleighs and all the sheep keep denying it.

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