The treasures of the stars above New Jersey linger in mystery. Unusual lights. Flying things. Hundreds of witness. They want to consider … but the fact? The truth is boring.
Pleasant to the infamous aircraft despair in New Jersey from 2024.
It all started out sweetly in November when Morris County people began to notice odd, brightly lit objects glinting through the night sky. Video flooded social advertising. In an office break place, ideas spread more quickly than free pie. Were they uavs? Key federal tech? Aliens? By December, observations were popping up across various state, and people were convinced that anything big was happening.
Spoiler alert: it wasn’t.
All that secret, it turns out, was ultimately solved by one straightforward fact: planes.
Planes, Planes Everyday
Northern New Jersey doesn’t really have hectic roads, it’s got airlines that are essentially bumper-to-bumper. This area of the sky experiences more than 2,500 airlines every year between major hubs like Newark Liberty and smaller airstrips. That’s all from jumbo jets to little planes, all lit up like Christmas trees.
But to the human eye, especially at night, those lamps may do a number on your perception. What appears to be a helicopter buzzing low to the ground might actually be a corporate flight cruising at 5, 000 legs. An item that people allegedly claimed to be a helicopter in a viral video turned out to be a United Airlines flight yards below. Another “hovering UFO” over Morris County? Basically a standard passenger plane operating its own thing.
The Signals That Deduced Us All
Here’s the point about plane: they have laws about lighting. The FAA says flights need red and green navigation lights, bright strobes, and landing lighting. Uavs? They only need one light to be apparent three miles away.
The majority of New Jersey sightings didn’t also suit the lighting patterns of drones. Instead, they looked strangely like the FAA-required installation for planes and helicopters. But somehow, people were seeing intergalactic invasions instead of your garden-variety aircraft.
But My Journey Software Said It Wasn’t a Plane!
Ah, yes, the beloved flight-tracking software. Many aspiring investigators whipped these out, scanning the stars and declaring anything that wasn’t “definitely a helicopter” as a result. Here’s the difficulty: trip apps don’t observe everything. Smaller helicopters, older plane, and certain government operations may slip through the cracks. But just because it’s not on your game doesn’t think it’s not up it.
Yet Andy Kim, a senator from New Jersey, fell for it. After a day chasing lamps with local authorities, he tweeted concerns about America’s aircraft detection abilities. The next day? He backtracked, admitting most of what he saw were good flights.
Also, Some Mysteries Remain…
For the die-hard crime scientists, don’t stress – no all been explained. The FBI has received over 5, 000 drone-related ideas global, though most turned out to be flights or legal robots. Researchers are still scratching their minds over about 100 observations, which is about 100.
But here’s the kicker: the FBI and FAA insist there’s no threat to public health. The FAA has also placed a temporary ban on drones flying over some of New Jersey, likely to relieve the hysteria for everyone.
The Truth Is Boring
At the end of the day, what we’re left with isn’t a sci-fi story or a secret government functioning. It’s really New Jersey’s utterly busy airport doing what it does best: confusing the hell out of everyone.
So next time you see unusual lights aloft, remember: the stars aren’t full of techniques. They’re whole of flights.
