“I swear, these drones over my house are causing my Comcast internet and TVs to act erratic!!” -Scotch Plains NJ panicked resident.
This is a really long post. TLDR: drones and its uses.
Let me tell you about a fascinating moment in history, one that unfolded right here in New Jersey back in 1938—a time when telephones were scarce, TVs were not the norm, and the internet was unimaginable. Back then, the radio was king. It wasn’t just a source of entertainment; it was a lifeline for news and storytelling, bringing families together around its crackling hum.
The 1930s were the golden age of radio. People tuned in religiously to shows like The Roy Rogers Show, Tarzan, The Ed Sullivan Show, The Lone Ranger, and the comedic antics of Abbott & Costello. But on the night of October 30, 1938, a broadcast from the Mercury Theater on the Air, led by the young Orson Welles, delivered something entirely different—a dramatization of H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds. It was a performance that would ignite one of the most infamous cases of mass hysteria in modern history.
The original story, written in 1898, tells of an alien invasion in England. But Welles and his team gave it a modern twist: the Martians weren’t landing in England—they were coming down in Grovers Mill, New Jersey. The broadcast was a masterclass in immersive storytelling. It wasn’t presented as a straightforward play; instead, it mimicked a series of breaking news bulletins. Listeners heard panicked voices, the wail of sirens, the buzz of newsroom chatter, and even “scientists” and “military officials” warning of poisonous gas and devastating destruction—all portrayed by actors. The sound effects were so vivid, the screams so genuine, that it felt terrifyingly real.
Many people tuned in partway through the program, listening to the fictionalized “news reports” with terrified witnesses screaming about aliens. To listeners, it wasn’t a story; it was a real alien invasion unfolding live on the airwaves. Chaos erupted.
In towns across New Jersey, people grabbed their guns and stepped outside, scanning the skies for alien ships. Neighbors warned each other, spreading the fear like wildfire. In one particularly case, a group of residents shot at a water tower because it resembled the alien “tripods” described in the broadcast. Others, convinced the Martians were releasing poisonous gas, soaked handkerchiefs in water and covered their faces. Families sealed their windows and doors. Some people even packed up their cars and fled town, desperate to escape the impending apocalypse.
Emergency personnel were flooded with frantic citizens. People begged for answers, and police were overwhelmed trying to calm the public. Reports of panic poured in from as far as Newark, with stories of terrified residents abandoning their homes.
But the hysteria didn’t end with the broadcast. In the days and weeks that followed, the drama took on a life of its own. Gossip and sensationalized reports spread like wildfire. Newspapers ran stories claiming that people had died of heart attacks from the shock, that others had been hospitalized, and that suicides occurred because listeners thought the end of the world had arrived. While many of these claims were unverified or exaggerated, they added fuel to the fire. Pranksters seized the opportunity, staging fake alien landings to scare their neighbors to prolong the chaos.
The War of the Worlds 1938 broadcast remains a legendary example of how misinformation, combined with a believable medium, can lead to mass panic. It highlights the psychology of hysteria, the role of media in shaping public perception, and how fear spreads like a virus when left unchecked. Even more fascinating is how people’s imaginations filled in the gaps—confirmation bias at its finest. They didn’t just hear the story; they believed it, added to it, and convinced themselves of its reality.
Today, this story serves as a reminder of the power and responsibility of media, the dangers of misinformation, and the extraordinary ways human psychology can shape behavior in times of uncertainty. It’s a tale of panic, gullibility, and the unintended consequences of a brilliant piece of storytelling. And it all began with a radio signal, a fictional Martian landing, and a little town in New Jersey called Grovers Mill.
The story above offers a brief glimpse into the infamous War of the Worlds broadcast of 1938. It’s a tale that has been dissected in countless books since, that separates fact from fiction, what was true and what was exaggerated. Beyond its historical intrigue, the event serves as a powerful lesson in the psychology of mass panic, the impact of misinformation, the influence of media on public perception, and the ways gossip and confirmation bias can prolong hysteria.
Fast forward to today, and we see echoes of that hysteria in the recent drone sightings in New Jersey. While some concerns are legitimate, misinformation is spreading explosively, triggering a new wave of confirmation bias. Some claim these drones are extraterrestrial in origin. Others insist they are Chinese spy devices. And just like in 1938, pranksters are jumping in—this time, creating fake drone videos on TikTok to ride the viral wave of NJ sightings.
The response has been equally chaotic. Some politicians are urging people to shoot the drones down. In Scotch Plains, one individual in a local group has declared the drones to be part of an “Iranian mothership” hovering overhead and releasing smaller drones. Another resident claims these drones have interfered with his Comcast TV signal. Meanwhile, the most troubling aspect may be the subtle suppression of logical voices attempting to inject reason into the conversation.
The goal here is simple: to educate ourselves. By separating fact from fiction, we can address the legitimate concerns surrounding drones with clarity and avoid falling into the trap of hysteria. Posted here are tidbits of information, complete with source links, about how drones are being used and their explosive growth. At the end of the day, you’ll be equipped to decide for yourself: Will you seal your doors to protect against alien poison gas and flee from the Iranian mothership? Or will you stay and wonder at aerial technologies? Let’s start with the latest statements from the federal government.
On December 12, 2024, Department of Homeland Security and the FBI released a joint statement that there is no evidence that reported drone sightings are a national security or public safety threat. They also state many sightings are mistaken identity.
https://www.dhs.gov/news/2024/12/12/joint-dhsfbi-statement-reports-drones-new-jersey
The White House also released a live address regarding NJ drones. The spokesperson said that many (not all) reports are actually small/etc airplanes that are operating *legally*. The White House states that after “extensive analyses of imagery” there is no evidence of the drones being of a foreign nation nor any evidence that they pose a national or local security threat.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJDj4p033qs6
When asked, The White House confirmed that the NJ drone sightings are *ruled out* by the *Federal government* as NOT being operated by foreign entities.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2024/12/11/press-briefing-by-press-secretary-karine-jean-pierre-and-chair-of-the-council-of-economic-advisers-jared-bernstein-2/
New Jersey State Police has their own drones and interestingly own DeDrone technology, the ability to bring down a drone.
https://www.dedrone.com/customers/new-jersey-state-police
Since 2013, New Jersey has been selected as one of the states by the FAA to participate in their drone testing. A politician can be seen discussing the good uses of drones.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbZ5UTcLKf0
There are over 100 programs across US universities that teach drone piloting. In July 2024, The FAA selected Kean University in our county as the only “four-year” institution to join its Drone initiative. NJ’s Raritan Community College, a 2yr institution, has their own Drone programs.
https://www.kean.edu/news/kean-university-named-faa-drone-training-program
Our NYPD neighbors have a fleet of over 100 drones with dozens of police trained to operate them under the Drone as First Responder (DFR) program.
https://www.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/827-24/mayor-adams-interim-police-commissioner-donlon-drone-first-responder-program-to#/0
DFR programs are being operated by many police departments across America, from California to Maryland. Some see a future where DFR drones can be outfitted with weapons, thermal imaging, microphones, license plate readers, face recognition, and more.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/06/drone-first-responder-programs-are-latest-aerial-police-surveillance-push
Approximately 6 days ago, a man in Virginia was convicted and sentenced to 7 years in prison using drone footage under their DFR program. From a historical perspective, he is the first person to be convicted using drone footage.
https://wjla.com/news/local/drone-program-montgomery-county-guilty-conviction-evidence-done-police-mcpd-drone-as-first-responder-dfr-program-ovan-ali-45-of-fairfax-va-guilty
Very brief history of drones in law enforcement use that go back over a decade.
https://www.axon.com/resources/history-of-drones
UPS has their own Flight Forward drone program. They used drones successfully to deliver COVID vaccines.
https://about.ups.com/us/en/our-stories/innovation-driven/drone-covid-vaccine-deliveries.html
FedEx has their own drone delivery program, piloted since 2019. They planned on testing larger autonomous drones that can carry around 400lbs.
https://www.fedex.com/en-us/sustainability/wing-drones-transport-fedex-deliveries-directly-to-homes.html
DHL has their own drone delivery program since 2019.
https://group.dhl.com/en/media-relations/press-releases/2019/dhl-launches-its-first-regular-fully-automated-and-intelligent-urban-drone-delivery-service.html
Walmart has their own drone delivery that is active in some states. Not available in our area “yet.”
https://www.walmart.com/cp/drone-delivery/3585490
One of the rules of drone flying is that the operator on the ground must maintain a line of sight, meaning if you can’t see your drone with your naked eye, you need to comeback. Last year, FAA has cleared UPS delivery drones for longer range flights without complying with the line of sight rule.
https://www.theverge.com/2023/9/6/23861764/faa-ups-delivery-drones-amazon-prime-air
CVS Health teamed up with UPS sometime ago to test drone deliveries.
https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/finance/cvs-ups-join-forces-drone-delivery
Boeing, who designs airplanes for travel, also manufactures industrial level drones, including drones for military applications. They are currently being tested.
https://www.flyingmag.com/boeing-delivers-mq-25-stingray-to-u-s-navy-for-testing/
UberEats has been experimenting with drone delivery since 2019.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/bizcarson/2019/10/28/first-look-uber-unveils-new-design-for-uber-eats-delivery-drone/
DoorDash has their own drone delivery service in very limited areas.
https://help.doordash.com/consumers/s/article/Drone-Delivery?language=en_US
ElroyAir has been working hard for the last 7 years to develop all sorts of autonomous drones. Orders for their drones passed more than 2 billion dollars.
https://elroyair.com/
Wing is growing their drone delivery system. DoorDash partners with Wing. Interesting to note that Wing is now part of Google.
https://www.wing.com
Walgreens partnered with Wing to test deliveries over a metropolitan area.
https://www.walgreensbootsalliance.com/news-media/our-stories/walgreens-and-wing-launch-drone-delivery-first-major-us-metropolitan-area
Wing, the now Google company, talks about their ambition to use drones for millions of orders with 12 months.
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-64891005
DroneUp is a drone delivery company for hire. Walmart uses DroneUp. If I remember correctly, Walmart is ending their contract with DroneUp as service due to their high costs.
https://www.droneup.com/
Matternet is growing fast as an autonomous drone delivery network.
https://www.matternet.com/
In October 2024, Matternet, DroneUp, and Wing discusses explosion in the drone market, even forming collaborations with other services, like ground autonomous robots (yes, that’s a real thing; you probably seen them cleaning supermarket aisles or at the United Airlines Club collecting dishes).
https://www.supplychaindive.com/news/wing-matternet-droneup-boost-drone-delivery-services/731368/
FlyTrex is a drone delivery service operating in 2 states.
https://www.flytrex.com/
DJI, a major drone manufacturing company that makes recreational and professional drones, has developed agriculture-specific-drones that are widely being used in the agricultural sector.
https://viewpoints.dji.com/blog/farmers-of-the-future-unlocking-the-full-potential-of-drones-in-u.s.-agriculture
Drones for video/photography in NJ is perfectly legal.
https://www.nj.gov/njfilm/regulations-drone.shtml
Some microbreweries are beginning to use drones for beer deliveries. Here’s one example from the UK.
https://www.beveragedaily.com/Article/2020/06/17/BrewDog-starts-using-drones-for-craft-beer-deliveries/
Home insurance companies are using drones (and satellite data) to monitor homes.
https://uphelp.org/us-home-insurers-are-using-drones-and-satellites-to-spy-on-customers/
Auto insurance companies are beginning to use drones.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/sap/2020/01/29/how-drones-become-a-valuable-tool-for-the-auto-insurance-industry/
Drones being used to fight insurance fraud.
https://consortiq.com/uas-resources/how-drones-are-blowing-the-roof-off-insurance-fraud
Drones in the health care industry keeps growing.
https://www.dronesinhealthcare.com/
Drones are used in Wildlife monitoring.
https://wildlifedrones.net/drones-for-wildlife-conservation/
Drones are being used for conservation purposes.
https://www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/where-we-work/united-states/colorado/stories-in-colorado/colorado-drones-for-conservation-feature/
Weather Drones, or “meteodrones,” are being tested and used collect realtime data to obtain the most accurate weather possible.
https://www.weather.gov/news/242205-grandSKY
With the increase of drone use in the local policing sectors, the ACLU advocated safeguards on data, limits, accountability, and abuse prevention.
https://www.aclu.org/issues/privacy-technology/surveillance-technologies/domestic-drones
It’s completely legal in the U.S. to fly a drone at night per FAA, as long their rules are followed, such as affixing bright anti-collision lights to the drone, maintain line of sight, and don’t drink and fly.
https://www.jouav.com/blog/can-you-fly-a-drone-at-night.html
Drone sales were $2.9 billion in 2018, $3.6 billion in 2022, and $4.3 billion in 2024. Projected to reach approx $5 billion in sales by 2029.
https://www.statista.com/outlook/cmo/consumer-electronics/drones/worldwide
But wait, there’s more? Solar Drones! After the U.S. Military kept a solar drone, Zephyr S, flying non-stop for 64 days, they are now ambitiously testing a new solar drone that can fly for months non-stop, go higher, and carry more weight.
https://interestingengineering.com/military/solar-drone-fly-months-stratosphere
As of October 2024 in the United States, there are almost 1 million *registered* drones with the FAA. And over 400,000 people who obtained an FAA “license” to operate them (you don’t need one for pure recreational use). Think about that for a minute. There are almost 1 million drones legally registered *with the Federal Aviation Administration.* (Note, this number does not include unregistered drones, which will bring the number much higher.)
https://www.faa.gov/node/54496
Because of the explosion of drone use, the FAA started talks on drones having RemoteID in 2021. FAA’s RemoteID rule is now in effect. To understand RemoteID in simple terms, think of it as a digital license plate for a drone that broadcasts information on who is the owner, where did it take off from, speed, altitude, etc. whenever authorities need that information in instances such as flying over unauthorized areas.
https://www.faa.gov/uas/getting_started/remote_id
It’s illegal and a Federal offense to shoot any aircraft–including drones–in the air. Contrary to what many believe, airspace is not owned by the home owner, the local agencies, the county, or state. Airspace is regulated by the FAA, a federal agency. (There are different Class levels of airspace, for example, Class A airspace is located 18,000ft; it’s where commercial airliners fly.) Air rights is still considered controversial by many but a general rule is that a homeowner controls the airspace that they can “reasonably use.” Example, if your home is 25ft high and the attached chimney/antennas extend the home to 35ft, you “reasonably” control that area. Strangely, if you happen to own a 2 story home in a metropolitan area, say like the middle of Manhattan, then you have air rights to approx 35 stories high. This is a dynamic topic that keeps evolving so check local land laws. If a drone, or other aircraft, flies 50ft over your home, there is nothing you can do about it. If you shoot the drone, you will be arrested, likely face Federal charges and fine, and can be sent to (Federal) prison. Here’s one gross example–of many–where a man was sentenced to 4 years in Federal prison for shooting a police DFR drone (he also illegally owned the gun). Do NOT listen to any politician who says shoot drones!!
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24453048-goney-criminalcomplaint/?responsive=1&title=1
Quick image that shows different Airspace classes by the FAA.
https://www.aerial-guide.com/article/sectional-chart-airspace-classification-overview
Many companies and institutions use drones for various purposes, including roofing estimates, wedding photography, real estate videos, academic research, scientific investigations, and more. Personally, I’ve utilized drones for archaeological work in California, Wyoming, and Colorado, as well as for photography across New Jersey.
Considering there are hundreds of thousands of FAA-licensed drone operators, nearly a million registered drones in the U.S., a booming use of drones across sectors like military, weather, delivery, photography, law enforcement, rescue, and insurance, the fact that flying drones at night with anti-collision lights is legal, that the Federal government has officially ruled out the NJ drones as foreign or a national security threat, and State Police having DeDrone technologies to take down a drone, and numerous colleges now offer drone training programs—what do you think these FAA-compliant drones with anti-collision lights in NJ are?
