FAA Has a Warning For New Jersey ‘Drone Hunters’

The Federal Aviation Administration has a warning to anyone who might take matters into their hands after a month of reported drone sightings in New Jersey.

Aiming a laser pointer at an aircraft is illegal and can be very dangerous.

The FAA Reports a Huge Spike in Laser Pointer Incidents

The FAA has seen a troubling increase in the number of new laser reports from pilots in New Jersey, according to ABC News. Laser strike reports are up by an alarming 269% over the same period last year in New Jersey.

There have been 59 reported laser incidents in the first half of this month compared with eight in the first half of December 2023.

An airline passenger posted on X, formally Twitter, last week that he had seen a laser pointed into the sky out of his plane window over New Jersey on a flight from North Carolina to New York City.

He believed the incident to be someone "drone hunting".

The FAA reminds potential hunters that pointing a laser at an aircraft is against the law.

Pointing a laser at an aircraft is a federal crime. U.S. law enforcement agencies and the Federal Aviation Administration may seek criminal and civil prosecution against violators. People who shine lasers at aircraft face FAA fines of up to $11,000 per violation and up to $30,800 for multiple laser incidents.

 

Concerns That The Sky Will Become The Wild West

Federal agencies are reacting to the public frenzy over drones by increasing the tracking of nighttime drones.

Still, the Feds claim that less than 100 of the more than 5,000 reported drone sightings recently in New Jersey and other northeastern states have warranted investigation.

The rest appear to be mostly airplanes, hobbyist drones or stars.

The FBI also posted a warning on Wednesday not to shoot at suspected drones or point laser pointers at them, saying that "there could be dangerous and possibly deadly consequences if manned aircraft are targeted mistakenly" as drones.