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Comment by _DeadFred_ | Hacker News Reader

I mean there were 12 drones following a Coast Guard lifeboat. Doubt the Coastguard crew mass hysteria'd themselves into thinking 12 nearby 737s were following their boat (unless they just raided some Colombian drug submarine prior to coming into port).

https://apnews.com/article/fbi-drones-new-jersey-a978470fa3b...

And the official government response is super odd. Police were following a drone (that is totally safe we are told) then called the helicopter back because he felt unsafe. But the drones are safe (except if you are a police helicopter?).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yxDXqU9OQQ

Lots of strange behavior.

EDIT: Downvotes for posting an APNews article and an elected New Jersey Assemblyman that just came out of the government briefing, really?

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> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yxDXqU9OQQ

Isn't this just the standard politician response? I am angry, this is ridiculous, so on. It might be more useful to actually listen to the hearing.

'We don't know what these drones are, where they come from, so we followed one, then we... just stopped following it'.

That's not the normal Police/Sheriff response, no.

There are multiple New Jersey state government officials that attended this government hearing retelling that the Police/Sheriff said a Police helicopter did just stop following the unknown drone because 'the Police/Sheriff felt unsafe'.

> There are multiple New Jersey state government officials that attended this government hearing retelling that the Police/Sheriff said a Police helicopter did just stop following the unknown drone because 'the Police/Sheriff felt unsafe'.

I can't find that? Care to share?

Sorry I don't have Twitter and didn't save the link. Believe the one was a female New Jersey elected official. I suggest you start with looking up responses of officials from the meeting today if you don't believe this Assemblyman.

To be fair helicopters are held aloft by man's engineering hubris and blatantly flaunting gravity. Taking a drone to the tail rotor may not be entirely healthy to the crew of the chopper.

Oh, my understanding was that they manage to fly because they’re so ugly that the ground wants nothing to do with them and pushes them away. I stand corrected :D

Helis have to get out of the vicinity of drones all the time, it's a safety thing. If a drone suddenly flies into heli rotor, what do you think happens?

Somebody died near where I live because LifeFlight aborted after a drone was spotted by the heli. Firefighters abort flights for drones too, it's really serious.

> And the official government response is super odd. Police were following a drone (that is totally safe we are told) then called the helicopter back because he felt unsafe. But the drones are safe (except if you are a police helicopter?).

A misguided drone flying into a helicopter does seem unsafe. Just because something isn’t a threat to a ground pedestrian does not mean it can’t be a threat to a whirlybird.

Can you site an actual reliable source, and not the mouthpiece of a political party?

If we can't trust the Coast Guard then we are screwed as a country.

If there was such a news source we'd all be reading it and agreeing with one another.

But there is such a reliable source, it is right in GP’s post — the AP article with the cosst guard interview. I don’t understand these comments.

https://apnews.com/article/fbi-drones-new-jersey-a978470fa3b...

The actual quote from the Coast Guard says they saw some drones but they weren't a threat. The Congressman is that one that says the Coast Guard says they were followed by drones.

Name one, please.

GP also provided this AP article as a source. This article quotes a coast guard official directly.

https://apnews.com/article/fbi-drones-new-jersey-a978470fa3b...

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