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FAA issues temporary ban on drone flights areas of New Jersey and New York City

FAA issues temporary ban on drone flights areas of New Jersey and New York City

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The Federal Aviation Administration temporarily banned drone use over some sites in New York City on Friday, following similar restrictions over nearly two dozen communities across New Jersey in the wake of ongoing complaints about brightly colored — and largely unexplained — flying objects filling the night skies over the two states.

These temporary flight restrictions (TFR) are in effect “prohibiting drone flights over critical New Jersey infrastructure,” according to an FAA statement.

The TFRs, which are set to last until mid-January in both states, cover a huge swath of central and northern New Jersey, the nation’s 11th-most-populous state with more than 9 million residents.

In New York, the country’s 4th-most-populous state with over 20 million residents, the bans are being implemented in areas near JFK International Airport, LaGuardia Airport in Queens and in other sites in Brooklyn and Staten Island, according to the FAA’s TFR list.

Drone prohibitions in New Jersey go as far south as Hancocks Bridge and as far north as Cedar Grove and Clifton.

Other notable communities affected by these new TFRs include Elizabeth, New Jersey’s fourth-most-populous city, Philadelphia neighbor Camden and the port city of Bayonne.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Thursday the FAA plans to issue TFRs “over some of New York’s critical infrastructure sites,” saying the action is “purely precautionary; there are no threat to these sites.”

Hochul said the state has not “detected any public safety or national security threats” and that it will continue to monitor the situation while calling on Congress to give states the “authority and resources they need to manage this evolving technology.”

For about the past month, drones have reportedly been lighting up the night skies with no real explanation of who is operating them and the purpose of the flights.

There has been, though, creeping skepticism about whether most of the reports are due to people mistaking stars or the routine fights of aircraft for drones.

Alarmed New Jersey residents and local politicians have been demanding information about the nightly hovering objects. No person, group or government agency has taken responsibility for them.

Jay Blackman