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Mysterious Drones Fly Night-Time Patterns Over North-East Colorado

Maybe there's not so much a fear of a mild threat, more of a curiosity as to what's going on. Seems to be multiple drones flying in a grid pattern at night - who's doing it & why? Doesn't seem to be illegal.
 
Maybe there's not so much a fear of a mild threat, more of a curiosity as to what's going on. Seems to be multiple drones flying in a grid pattern at night - who's doing it & why? Doesn't seem to be illegal.
This is a case where we don't know enough to know IF it's illegal. what are they doing?
 
The FAA's remote ID regulations have been in the works for a lot longer than these mysterious nightly overflights have been reported.
Of course. But folks who want to put through laws or regulations that taste of restriction of liberties often wait for incidents that make those new rules look necessary. Many aspects of the USA Patriot Act were in the works long before 9/11.

This is a case where we don't know enough to know IF it's illegal. what are they doing?
If I'm walking down the street in full accordance with the law, is "What are you doing?" a valid question? Is "I don't know if you're breaking the law" enough reason to try to determine if I am?
 
If it was a business operating the drones, I would have expected them to come forward about it due to the media attention.
 
If it was a business operating the drones, I would have expected them to come forward about it due to the media attention.

Maybe not - if it involved proprietary research or competitive-sensitive capabilities ...

Strategies for implementing autonomous collision avoidance systems for drones are a hot R&D topic right now, and the University of Colorado @ Boulder is one of the universities that's pursuing this research.

There's a company in Boulder that's developed and is marketing a radar-based drone / plane collision avoidance system, but they don't have as many (rotor) drones as have been sighted at one time. (I forget their name).

Another company based in Boulder (Black Swift Technologies) completed a Phase 1 study last spring on terrain-hugging AI control for fixed-wing drones more capable of performing ground mapping / sensing missions than the rotor-type ones.

https://gisuser.com/2019/03/black-s...sly-around-obstacles-and-over-rugged-terrain/
 
Sheriff Jon Stivers of Washington Country in the northeast corner of Colorado told Fox News Denver of the reports he’s been getting about the giant (6-foot wingspan) drones flying in formation in his area of jurisdiction. The 30-drone sighting appears to be the largest formation yet – the previous reports from Phillips County topped out at 17. So, the size of the nighttime (7 pm to 10 pm regularly) drone formations is growing … and now they’ve spread across the northeastern border into Nebraska.

Drone-3-640x405.jpg

(stock photo)
“Britton said he has spoken with a sheriff’s deputy in neighboring Deuel County, Neb., who has been chasing drones in his state the past few days. The Deuel County sheriff could not be reached Friday to comment.”

The Denver Post says Sedgwick County Sheriff Carlton Britton (Sedgwick is the most northeastern county of Colorado) heard that his counterpart across the way in Deuel County is also getting drone reports. However, there seems to be no media coverage of them in Nebraska and no indication that any government, military or other officials of authority are looking into them.
 
Chatter on Reddit from locals is that the flights must be legitimate as the area they cover includes nuclear missile launch facilities and their military would go bananas if this was unauthorised.
 
Given the area that is being affected, I'm very surprised that none of these objects has been shot down yet.
 
Given the area that is being affected, I'm very surprised that none of these objects has been shot down yet.

One or more of the law enforcement agencies interviewed have specifically advised residents to not attempt shooting one down, insofar as they're not known to be doing anything illegal or in violation of applicable regulations.
 
Yes but Enola. You know where they're flying. There are some significantly armed people out there. It would be hard to catch the culprit. To be honest, if a bunch of drones were flying over my house repeatedly in formation I'd be sorely tempted.
 
Yes but Enola. You know where they're flying. There are some significantly armed people out there. It would be hard to catch the culprit. To be honest, if a bunch of drones were flying over my house repeatedly in formation I'd be sorely tempted.
Yeah, the fact they're often flying over a military reservation makes me think it's the military doing stuff.
If I'm walking down the street in full accordance with the law, is "What are you doing?" a valid question? Is "I don't know if you're breaking the law" enough reason to try to determine if I am?
OK, but if you're flying above private property. what then?
 
No problem. All the aliens reading this know now to ditch the saucers and attack in formations of drones, because they won't be breaking any laws and we should let them move on in.

There's a movie in this.
 
OK, but if you're flying above private property. what then?
Planes fly over private property all the time. As someone who lives not too far from JFK and LaGuardia airports, and bodies of water that can accommodate seaplanes, I see them all the time. When a nearby Air National Guard station was active, large, dark (black?) helicopters sometimes flew over my property in curious formations. All of it is legal, as are these drone flights, and my curiosity about any of it is not an excuse to paint it as something sinister or see it as a need to change the law.

As I said, if current laws and regulations seem to be inadequate, then they can be changed after objective and thoughtful debate, balancing freedoms against safety - not just as a response to this:
 
Planes fly over private property all the time. As someone who lives not too far from JFK and LaGuardia airports, and bodies of water that can accommodate seaplanes, I see them all the time. When a nearby Air National Guard station was active, large, dark (black?) helicopters sometimes flew over my property in curious formations. All of it is legal, as are these drone flights, and my curiosity about any of it is not an excuse to paint it as something sinister or see it as a need to change the law.

As I said, if current laws and regulations seem to be inadequate, then they can be changed after objective and thoughtful debate, balancing freedoms against safety - not just as a response to this:
No equivalency. I know who's flying the planes and helicopters. Whoever is flying the drones is specifically refusing to identify.
 
No equivalency. I know who's flying the planes and helicopters. Whoever is flying the drones is specifically refusing to identify.
I'm not a libertarian, but this drone crap is getting out of hand. No, you don't have a right to fly something over my property near me or over me or low enough to photograph me without accountability, like at minimum a license plate and registration, insurance, and the right of my elected representatives to establish regulations that can deny you that right.
 
No equivalency. I know who's flying the planes and helicopters. Whoever is flying the drones is specifically refusing to identify.
Not to beat a dead horse, but they're not required to under current law. That's why I used the analogy of walking down the street. I'm not required to identify myself unless there is a reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing, and even then only if state and local law allows it.
I'm not a libertarian, but this drone crap is getting out of hand. No, you don't have a right to fly something over my property near me or over me or low enough to photograph me without accountability, like at minimum a license plate and registration, insurance, and the right of my elected representatives to establish regulations that can deny you that right.
And I don't necessarily disagree, and maybe that should be the law. Maybe Google shouldn't be driving around taking pictures of every street on Earth. But they do. And satellites miles above us take our pictures all the time and don't ask permission. If you don't like it, try to change the law.
 
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Yeah, the fact they're often flying over a military reservation makes me think it's the military doing stuff.
I'm just guessing, but it's probably the military just using cheap drones to test out a new surveillance methodology.
I had thought originally that it was Google or some other mapping provider doing aerial photography, but I think that idea can be scrapped now.
 
Not to beat a dead horse, but they're not required to under current law. That's why I used the analogy of walking down the street. I'm not required to identify myself unless there is a reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing, and even then only if state and local law allows it.

And I don't necessarily disagree, and maybe that should be the law. Maybe Google shouldn't be driving around taking pictures of every street on Earth. But they do. And satellites miles above us take our pictures all the time and don't ask permission. If you don't like it, try to change the law.
I thought that's what we were talking about. Although it would give me much emotional satisfaction - as many illegal actions might - I am unlikely to obtain a shoulder-launch anti-missile weapon and shoot down a drone. I'm surprised that no one has in the drones' area. These are the mythical black helicopters come to life. Google drivers with licenses and identification drive around in trucks with license plates and if I try hard enough (starting with - walk up and ask them) I can find out who is photographing and whether they are obeying all local regulations, which I can then work to change if I don't like them. I can also, if I really want to, identify the satellites that fly over my house, and I can notify the authorities if one is up there that has not been self-identified by one of the space agencies - I know a few former military people who take their telescopes out on clear nights and count and identify satellites, like plane-spotters. Not the case here.
 
Although it would give me much emotional satisfaction - as many illegal actions might - I am unlikely to obtain a shoulder-launch anti-missile weapon and shoot down a drone.
Me neither. On the other hand, I have some some annoying neighbors who i'd... Oh, never mind.
:fire::ufo:
 
Not to beat a dead horse, but they're not required to under current law. That's why I used the analogy of walking down the street. I'm not required to identify myself unless there is a reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing, and even then only if state and local law allows it.
And why I made a counter comparison. Rules for public and private property are quite different.
 
One of the sheriffs involved in the case had asked for the public's help in locating a presumed command vehicle from which the drones were being controlled. This call for public help has now been rescinded.
Search off for ‘command vehicle’ in mystery drone case

A Colorado sheriff on Wednesday rescinded his call for people to be on the lookout for a “command vehicle” that may be operating mysterious groups of drones spotted in recent weeks over northeastern Colorado and western Nebraska.

That request for public assistance “is no longer pertinent or relevant,” the Phillips County Sheriff’s Office said on Facebook.

However, a person who was at Monday’s closed-door meeting between law enforcement and government officials attended by Sheriff Thomas Elliott said authorities were never looking for such a vehicle.

Nobody has claimed responsibility for the mysterious nighttime flights of groups of six to 10 drones in grid-like patterns since December, which prompted the Monday meeting in northeastern Colorado.

The sheriff’s original statement said a task force had been organized to investigate the flights, and it was asking for the public’s assistance in finding the command vehicle operating the drones.

The statement said the vehicle could be a closed-box trailer with antennas or a large van that seems out of place.

On Wednesday, another person who attended that meeting said no such call for public assistance was discussed .

“The working group was never looking for a command vehicle as described in the recent social media post,” said the official, who requested anonymity because the person did not want to publicly contradict the sheriff’s statement.

Wednesday’s updated Facebook post did not explain why the information provided previously about the command vehicle was no longer relevant. ...
FULL STORY: https://apnews.com/c9dc5404a4919a03391a753fa81d515c
 
Most of these sightings are probably bollocks. Just ordinary misidentified planes, not even drones at all.

https://www.wowt.com/content/news/A...nes-One-local-expert-thinks-so-566821351.html

Recent drone sightings all over the state have many questioning what's going on, but experts say what you think might be a drone could very well be a plane. 6 News sat down with Kelly Deeds, general manager with Advanced Air in Council Bluffs, and showed him video we took last night near Mead of what we believed to be a drone caught on camera.
“Listen to it — that's an airplane. That's an airplane,” Deeds said.
He said he's worked with aircraft for the past 26 years, even piloting large drones himself.
The lights on the moving object in this video give it away, he said.
“That's a real airplane that's not a drone," he said. "Well, you can hear it too, plus the lights set up on it. The lights are red and green, and you got the tail strobe — that's an airplane."
Hysteria, and the appalling inability of the average observer to identify mundane phenomena in the sky.
 
And private individuals are taking off, exploring the area in a vain attempt to find the drones. These misguided individuals are probably responsible for some or most of the reports.
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Update ...

This news item provides some additional data based on more recent events and investigations. Here (below) are the excerpts representing the most tangible new information.
Theories persist about mystery drones seen in rural region

People insist they have spotted fleets of large drones crisscrossing rural America’s night sky, their mission mysterious, raising questions that have veered into conspiracy theories and launching an investigation.

Authorities in Colorado have tried to put those theories to rest, announcing that they have confirmed nothing unusual or criminal about dozens of weird drone reports since November. They were mostly hobbyist drones, commercial aircraft, stars, planets and weather phenomena.

Yet if history is any guide, the investigation that used a heat-detecting plane in Colorado’s mystery-drone highway, with sightings that stretched into Nebraska and Wyoming, will settle nothing for many people. ...

F.E. Warren Air Force base in Cheyenne, Wyoming, oversees 150 Minuteman III nuclear missiles in silos scattered across the prairie in the three-state region. The missiles need regular checking, maintenance and protection against threats, yet Air Force officials insist the drone reports have nothing to do with them.

“Our base is kind of a drone no-fly zone. So we do have counter-UAS — unmanned aerial systems — training that goes on within the confines of this installation. But any drones spotted outside this installation are not part of our fleet,” said Lt. Jon Carkhuff, a base spokesman.

Base personnel haven’t seen any of the purported drones, he added ...

The Colorado Department of Public Safety, working with local law enforcement, didn’t attempt to investigate drone sightings in Nebraska or Wyoming.

In northeastern Colorado, the agency found:

— Of 90 drone reports received from Nov. 23 to Monday, 14 were smaller-sized hobbyist drones.

— Of 23 drone reports between Jan. 6 and Monday, a period that involved flights of the heat-detecting plane working with investigators on the ground, 13 were smaller hobbyist drones, stars or planets and six were attributable to known commercial aircraft or atmospheric conditions. Authorities weren’t able to identify fliers of the hobbyist drones.

— Four confirmed sightings of the 23 were unidentified. ...

The Colorado Department of Public Safety plans to scale back flights of the heat-detecting plane to try to confirm reports as they’re made.

The department will still take reports, however, said Colorado Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management spokeswoman Micki Trost.

“So we do encourage the public that if they do see something suspicious, to please visit our website and file a report,” Trost said.

FULL STORY: https://apnews.com/08e24017555a00fe37a67316069aa2ef
 
Latest news about the drones
Drone mystery solved? Wichita group might be responsible for some sightings
By JEFF RICE | [email protected] | Sterling Journal-Advocate
PUBLISHED: January 17, 2020 at 4:48 pm | UPDATED: January 21, 2020 at 2:14 pm
A group of Wichita, Kan., UAP enthusiasts may have been responsible for some of the mysterious drone sightings over Colorado in December and January.
Michael Spicer of Durango, Colo., told the Journal-Advocate late Friday afternoon that a group known as ArchAngleRECON from Wichita has been chasing what he believes is the mysterious “unidentified aerial phenomenon” first encountered by a Navy fighter pilot in 2004.
etc
https://www.journal-advocate.com/20...they-might-be-responsible-for-some-sightings/
 
For those interested in drones and what they can do, have a look at Ascending Technology's website and the small YouTube link titled Wonder Woman's Light. Amazing really and unless you knew, it would be difficult to guess what was behind these effects.
 
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