Sheriff, FAA meet about mysterious drone sightings

January 6th, 2020 | Kinsey Senkel

A Colorado sheriff hosted a closed-door meeting with law enforcement agencies and government officials to talk about mysterious drone sightings in the northeastern part of  Colorado and Nebraska.

Morgan County Sheriff David Martin was meeting with the Federal Aviation Administration on Monday after several reports of the nighttime flights at the end of December.

Authorities say the drones have 6-foot wingspans and fly in grid-like patterns hundreds of feet in the air in groups of six to 10.

Following the meeting, the Federal Aviation Administration responded to a request for comment from the Rural Radio Network.

The FAA released the following statement:

We take every drone-sighting report seriously. Multiple FAA divisions are working closely with federal, state and local stakeholders to try to determine whether the reported sightings in Colorado and Nebraska are drones and, if so, who is operating them and for what reason. The purpose of today’s meeting was for the various agencies to share information and to discuss how we can most effectively collaborate in our efforts.

To date, the FAA has undertaken a number of actions:

·        We have contacted UAS test sites, drone companies, and companies that have received authorization to operate drones in these areas. To date, we have not been able to determine that any of these operators were the source of the reported drone flights.

·        We have contacted General Aviation (GA) airports in the affected counties to ensure they are aware of the sightings; to ask the pilots using their airports to be cautious and to report sightings; and to report any people they see operating drones on the ground.

·        We are in contact with federal law enforcement and national security partners to discuss potential ways they can assist in identifying who may be operating these aircraft.

We will continue to collaborate closely with our safety and security partners at the federal, state and local levels on our identification efforts.


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