Residents concerned as FAA investigates mystery Colorado drones (31 December 2019). Video Source: Youtube.
It's like a scene from a 1970s' Spielberg film: Internet chatter among Youtubers indicates that since the third week of December 2019, fleets of drones have been flying at night in "research grid formation" in the United States, "[o]ut west. Colorado, Nebraska, Idaho, Wyoming." Some of these drones have wingspans of six feet and have hovered for hours over small towns. This has provoked a storm of discussion on the legality of drone invasion of airspace over, and even inside, private homes, about which I previously blogged, here.
FAA, other agencies investigating mysterious Colorado drone sightings; remote ID rule proposed (31 December 2019). Video Source: Youtube.
On 1 January 2020, one Youtuber wrote:
And another on the same day wrote:"I’ve noticed them for months now! I’ve mentioned them to Co-workers but they thought I was nuts but they pop out every night in a group then split up and go their separate ways! I have pics and video and literally watch out of curiosity every night I’m at work, northeast of Platville Colorado"
And another:"6 foot drones. Even small ones that the military uses costs around 15k each. So 6 ft drones times 20, yeah."
And another:"Shoot one down and you'll find out who is controlling them. ... This is the United States, fly toys over our private property at your own peril. ... I'm not sure about drones enjoying the same rights as aircraft, and I'm pretty sure there is a limit of how low non law enforcement drones can fly around private property, hence I said you'll find out."
"My recommendation exactly. If it's flying over my property, it's a target."And another:
And another:"It will flush out WHOEVER OWNS THEM. Don't be too surprised if no one comes forward to claim them, Backward engineer them to see whats under hood."
"Gotta have some serious battery power."On 2 January 2020, another Youtuber commented:
"These are in Australia too."Some commenters were doubtful:
"it's not low enough to hit with a shotgun. Good luck shooting one with a slug."The most paranoid commenters had detractors:
And:"you will go to jail, and buy them a new drone so have fun ... lol, and you think that law applies to police drones? How naive, you dont even know who it belongs to, and your going to risk shooting live ammo into the air putting lives at risk... it's people like you that make everything worse for everyone."
And:"As a fellow Californian, and a licensed drone pilot. Have fun with that. Someone shot down a friend's dji Matrice last year while he was doing some real estate photography in the Tustin hills. He ended up being able to get his drone back, as well as footage of who shot it. Long story short, the person who shot the drone down ended up with about 5 grand in fines, had to pay $2500 to replace my friends drone and spent a short amount of time in jail. ... He lost the shotgun he used as well. I actually called my friend to find out additional info and found out that the guy who shot the drone down had thousands of unpaid fines to his HOA and his house was essentially taken from him. It just took the drone incident for them to actually pursue it."
"You own the land not the airspace."Another protested:
And a retort:"Trespass is an infringement of a person's freedom to have exclusive possession and control and quiet enjoyment of their property. It's a freedom recognized by 900 years of the common law, the source of our law. Easy answer there. Even the U.S. Supreme Court has recognized that up to about 500 feet over your property, you own the airspace, something recognized at common law for centuries (look it up). Above that, it's regulated. Below that, it depends on the facts and circumstances as to what is or isn't reasonable. I own weapons, train with them, and have never fired one except for practice without just and legal cause. What you're concerned with and what another would be concerned with aren't arguments against the right to prevent trespass. To each their own; that's liberty. Your choice if you want flying cameras over your property. It's not my choice. Choice is the essence of liberty, isn't it?"
This discussion confounded some Youtubers, when they realized that they may own their land, but not the airspace over it:"No it doesn’t. The airspace is regulated and controlled by the FAA from ground level up. You do not and never have owned the air above your property. Helicopters and planes can fly hundreds of feet up and take pictures of the pores on your skin. A drones camera is zero threat. Even a couple feet outside a window will see nothing."
People report seeing the machines flying as low as thirty feet above the ground, but locals have been told by news outlets not to shoot the drones down, even if the machines are flying above their properties. Deeper on the Internet, anons discussed how to hack the drones by jamming their signals remotely. The codes for doing this are supposedly open-sourced."What does this mean? Airplanes have people in them and fly at high altitudes, not the same thing at all as an unmanned drone flying at a couple of hundred feet over my property. Eagles and other animals don't trespass, so that's not an issue. And what about freedom? Property rights are part of freedom. Fly a drone at low altitude over my property and whose freedom is being infringed?"
The US government and military deny that these drones belong to them. A most curious conspiracy theory came from one commenter, who would not confirm any source of the following rumour:
And another response, in line with others who suspected corporations like Amazon, which may be scanning areas for 5G expansion and associated drone services:"Yea it is the government. Theres some missing nuclear warheads in 1 of the military facilities i think warren is the name. They're trying to find the radiation from them. ... eh i mean im not 100% sure its correct info but thats what i been seeing in the interwebs."
"Just a little internet searching and you’ll find that there are 5G antenna latency drones scanning wireless networks. Private companies have the autonomy to fly drones in their coverage areas. Why did no one else find that."
Mystery Drones Fly Over Colorado And Nebraska: Who’s Controlling Them? | TODAY (31 December 2019). Video Source: Youtube.
Drones flying over Colorado (27 December 2019). Video Source: Youtube.
RAW: Mysterious drones flying nighttime patterns over northeast Colorado (31 December 2019). Video Source: Youtube.
Military applications information released to the public in 2017: US Military Released Micro Drone Swarm From FA 18 Super Hornet Jet (10 January 2017). Video Source: Youtube.
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