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On this week’s episode of AvTalk, Ian and Jason take a deep breath and discuss the New Jersey drones. What are people claiming they’ve seen, why nearly all of the reports are just aircraft, and why you should never, never shine a laser or fire a gun at an airplane—identified or not.
Plus, AerLingus takes its first (and second) A321XLRs, Boeing restarts 767/777 production, and the FAA finalizes drug and alcohol testing for repair stations outside the US. And NASA completes the first aircraft accident investigation on another planet.
Helpful links for this week’s episode
- DHS, FBI, FAA & DoD Joint Statement on New Jersey drone sightings
- Statistics on laser incidents in New Jersey in December 2024
- FAA’s finalized drug and alcohol testing rule
- The first aircraft accident investigation on another planet
- Flying stinky pigs
- Busiest routes of 2024
Thank you for listening!
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8 Responses
Awesome rant. I’m onboard with you. This reminds me of the LA blackout stories of people flipping out because they saw the big scary milky way for the first time when the sky darkened. On top of all that, we probably have a whole host of copycatters who see all of the attention drones are getting in the media right now. Who wouldn’t want to fire up their quadcopter and cruise it over their favorite conspiracy theorist neighbor’s house tonight!
Thanks for this episode, and the flightradar24 app is hugely useful. I’ve used it to exclude cases of planes (we’re in the Newark flightpath), and yet we’re still consistently coming across lighted objects that do not register on the app at all and seem to simply hover in place for extended periods of time. So–are these cases of aircraft that are simply not registered with the app? UAS? Is it an illusion created by a plane seen at an extreme distance that only SEEMS to be hovering? In some of these cases, we are “zooming out” for several miles and still not seeing anything, but unsure as to how to gauge distances in the sky (in some cases, we’ll find a plane that registers on the app and then a lighted object in the same part of the sky that does not, and yet seems to be closer than the plane). Thanks.
Hey, could you do a segment on Beta technology in Vermont? I enjoy the show.
Episode 299 had me in hysterics. It’s nice to know that there are still atleast 2 normal people out there on your side of the world! Thanks for the laughs!
I can only imagine what these imaginative folk might think if they saw the Starlink Satellites busting a path through the skies…
You two are the only ones I have heard since this all started that are actually calling it what it is. I have been screaming at the news since this began about the fact that these are clearly airplanes! One video that was on repeat in the news, while by the way having an aviation “expert” sitting at the desk agreeing these are drones, was that of a 737-700 clearly in the Southwest Airlines livery. It could not be more obvious. They had a red circle around it as it flew over and calling it a drone. It was at that moment that I realized just how many stupid people are amongst us on this planet. I can’t believe that humans have gotten to the point where they are looking at legitimate aircraft that have been flying over their heads for the past 100+ years and calling them unknown objects. It truly is scary how many people are just completely clueless! I have tried to explain this to so many of them and most of them are telling me I don’t know what I am talking about. Mind you, I am a commercial helicopter pilot and have been in love with aviation since I was a young kid. I know more about aviation than the average person, yet, I’m being told I’m the one who’s clueless?! Anyways, thank you so much for being the ONLY source of media that has stated facts in this whole mess. I just wish it will stop and people go back to staring at their phone screens again.
Oh my god
Air Busan Flight 391 was a scheduled international passenger flight operated by Air Busan from Gimhae International Airport in Busan, South Korea, to Hong Kong International Airport in Hong Kong.[1][2][3] On 28 January 2025, the aircraft caught fire shortly before takeoff at Gimhae International Airport, resulting in 7 injuries and the evacuation of all 176 people on board.
It was our government.