State Officials Call For More Information To Address Drone Concerns

Intentionally or carelessly discharging a firearm in a manner likely to cause bodily injury or death is a Class C misdemeanor punishable by up to 90 days in jail and a fine of up to $500

by Jamil Ragland

State Sen. Tony Hwang, R-Fairfield, added his voice to a growing chorus of public officials in Connecticut and beyond demanding some transparency from the federal government regarding a spate of unidentified drone sightings over the tri-state area in the past few weeks.

“I want to be here to advocate and give voice to my constituents, and to ask for information that is critically needed to guide state authorities, our state agencies, and to ultimately empower our local law enforcement to be able to do their job to protect and inform our community,” he said at a press conference at the Fairfield Train Station Monday morning. “Because at present, we’re at a standstill. We’re not getting that information from our federal authorities. So it’s very unsettling to public safety and security and our peace of mind during the holiday season.”

Since last Thursday, residents in Fairfield, Enfield, Danbury, and East Windsor have claimed to have spotted drones in the sky over their towns.

Authorities have also charged two men Saturday with flying a drone too close to Boston Logan International Airport. The Associated Press reports that drone activity has been spotted around Picatinny Arsenal, a military research and manufacturing facility in New Jersey, and also that drone activity around US military bases at home and abroad has been occurring for several years. The FAA also estimated this year that there are over 2.8 million commercial and recreation drones circulating in the US.

Hwang said that there are two possible theories: that the federal government does not know who is flying drones or why, or that the government knows and is not sharing the information with the community. He said that neither possibility is good. He also addressed some of the conversations he’d heard about shooting down the drones, but he said that course of action must be avoided without federal assurances and guidelines.

“Without facts, we lead to speculation. And speculation leads to uncertainty and potentially fear. And we cannot allow that,” he said. “I think that is the concern. That is a big reason why I wanted to have this press conference, is absent action, absent guidance, people are going to take actions into their own hands, and that is dangerous.”

Hwang also pointed out that fears about balloons floating over the United States two years ago were confirmed when the objects were shot down and discovered to be flying with surveillance technology over American soil.

While no drone has been seen with weapons, they still pose a risk based on their potential to interfere with other aircraft in the area. During the wildfires that burned in the state earlier this year, officials asked residents multiple times to refrain from operating drones near the fires. Interference from drones led to firefighting helicopters being grounded multiple times.

Other Connecticut elected officials have gone public about the drones as well.

US Rep. Jim Himes, D-4th District, appeared on Fox News Sunday morning to discuss the drone concerns as the ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. He said that he knows “with confidence” that the drones do not belong to a foreign adversary or are extraterrestrial in origin, but said that the federal government could do a better job of allaying people’s fears.

“My frustration is that the FAA in particular, which is the agency of jurisdiction for our domestic skies, ought to be out on Saturday morning saying, ‘Let us show you how many aircraft, commercial and private and military, go over New Jersey in any 24-hour period,” he said. “And then the FAA should say, ‘We’ve got about 800,000 registered drones in this country and there’s probably several million more that aren’t registered.’ So just putting information out there to fill that vacuum would be helpful.”

In a letter to the FAA, FBI, Department of Defense, and Department of Homeland Security last Friday, US Sen. Richard Blumenthal requested a briefing from the FAA no later than Dec. 18, asking that the agency present a comprehensive plan to address the public’s concerns.

“The proliferation of reported drone activities in this region raises significant safety and security concerns for both commercial and private aviation as well as national security concerns,” Blumenthal wrote. “Incidents involving drones interfering with aircraft operations have increased, posing a real and substantial risk to passengers, crews, and others in the vicinity. And, I am particularly concerned about the potential for these unmanned aerial vehicles – many of which are as large as a car – to disrupt air traffic and, more alarmingly, to be used maliciously to threaten national security.”

State officials have said that if any resident sees an unidentified flying system, they can either file a report on the Division of Emergency Management and Homeland Security’s website, call the Homeland Security tip line at 1-866-HLS-TIPS (1-866-457-8477) or use the CT Safe app on their phones.

According to the Connecticut General Statutes, it is illegal to intentionally or carelessly discharge a firearm in a manner likely to cause bodily injury or death can be charged with a Class C misdemeanor punishable by up to 90 days in jail and a fine of up to $500. Residents who decide to shoot into the sky at lights or objects they think are drones should realize that most of the sightings have been verified as commercial aircraft with pilots and passengers, and they should be cognizant that bullets can injure or kill others on the way back down as well. 

It is legal to own drones but it is not legal to fly them without a flight plan, depending on the size of the device. You can find information on Connecticut’s rules regarding drone use here.