It’s worth noting that a drone cannot be stealthy in the usual sense, since it must be in communication with its operator.
Copter drones have red and green lights that are there (I believe), primarily, to give the operator an idea of the orientation of the drone so he knows which way its already going when he wants to turn left or right or whatever. Since these things are symmetrical, there is no perceptible front or back at any kind of distance. Its not an issue with FPV drones that place the operator in the cockpit virtually and no light are necessary. . More sophisticated drones can be pre-programed to fly a certain flight path via GPS. Again, no lights. Illegal? I guess so but not needed from an operational standpoint. In any case, anybody up to serious no-good wouldn’t be advertising the drone with flashing lights. I assume that plenty of recreational drones operators are already out copy-catting and trying to make the news. “C’mon Bubba, let grab same Natty Light and the drone. This is gonna be fun!”
Red and green lights are position lights, and they’re not required on drones as they are for manned aircraft, though some do have them. For night flight, the regs require strobe lights that can be seen at a distance of 3 statute miles. They can only be dimmed for safety reasons, but aren’t supposed to be turned off.
Of course, this matters little to anyone flying a drone who doesn’t want it to be seen. But we aren’t sure that’s what’s happening.
There’s a lot of stories on network news about drones over NJ. Surely someone has seen them take off or land. Anything heavier than a 1kg must make substantial noise.
If they really want to be stealthy, why are they flying with their lights on?
