Although the explosion of drone activity in December has largely fallen off the national radar, unexplained sightings are still popping up in Rye – concerning area residents and baffling city officials.
“Almost every evening I see a drone flying from the Hix Park area and tonight it is stationary over the marina! What is this??” wrote one Facebook user on Jan. 30 in the Rye Moms Facebook group. “There are six huge drones flying over Milton Harbor and Hix Park at [the] moment.”
Someone else posted in the group on Jan. 22: “This is the second night in a row. They are large and get very close to homes.”
Another Facebook user said she’d seen one nearly every night recently.
While Rye police say they have not noticed a substantial pattern, Lt. Michael Anfuso said many of the sightings reported to police were of large drones that didn’t remain in the area for long.
Anfuso said the department has been logging occurrences across the city ever since the issue drew national attention and caused hysteria in the Northeast — particularly New York and New Jersey.
To date, Rye police have received six reports of sightings in the city since Dec. 15, according to Anfuso.
It is unclear whether the drone activity is recreational.
City Manager Greg Usry said police are “working with the county and FBI” in cases where drones are spotted hovering over sensitive city areas, like Con Edison headquarters on Theodore Fremd Avenue, Rye City Hall on Boston Post Road, and the city public works facility in Disbrow Park.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) does not regulate airspace under 500 feet. And drones typically hover under that height threshold.
“We’re kind of like everybody else, in the sense that we’re kind of [in the] unknown,” Anfuso told The Record. Police plan to continue “monitoring the situation,” although they don’t view it as a security concern, he said.
Legally, drones are allowed to operate within city boundaries, Usry said.
“The Council can prohibit drones in certain areas if it chooses,” Usry told the City Council at a recent meeting, but “it all comes down to managing expectations of enforcement.”
While residents have expressed concern — Councilwoman Julie Souza said the idea of drones “outside bedroom windows” was “creepy.”
“We can’t shoot down drones,” said Usry.
“We can’t?” Souza responded.
“No,” Usry replied.
On Jan. 28, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt revealed in her first press briefing that many of the recent sightings in the U.S. were authorized by the FAA for “research,” without providing additional details.
The drones are “not the enemy,” Leavitt said, quoting President Donald Trump.
But that’s a far cry from December when the sightings reached fever pitch.
In the weeks leading up to Dec. 17, the FBI received more than 5,000 drone sighting tips, with little explanation from the federal government.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, and several members of Congress, including freshman lawmaker George Latimer, urged federal officials to address the unidentified sightings.
The Biden administration was slow to respond, eventually announcing the drones didn’t pose a national security threat, and many were, in fact, manned aircrafts.
But it was too late to stop the feeding frenzy on social media.
Reality TV star Bethenny Frankel, of Greenwich, Conn., weighed in on the drone sightings in a December Instagram reel that she filmed as part of an 11-post saga on the drones.
“It’s giving a little bit, like, Starship Enterprise,” Frankel said.
Still in her pajamas, she had a chauffeur drive her around Rye at night to chase the drones.
Few things generate conspiracy theories like an unidentified flying object.
“Is it to distract from the P Diddy case?” user @katchup2587 commented on one of Frankel’s posts.
“I wonder if they’re spraying bird flu everywhere!” another, @magicallytwisted, commented.
