Colorado Mystery Squadron of Drones spotted and recorded.

[Phantomrain.org]

So this is annoying, over 20 drones in a squadron spotted in the sky at night , with blinking lights .
Recorded by police, fire, and residents and get this , not a single one of those drones could be followed, sighted or ticketed by the FAA or identified. Shaking my head as this just happened tonight.

They our asking those that flew the drones to come forward, lolllllllllllll Come on now ,
Residents our asking if they can shoot them down, for me this is blatant display of how hard it is to enforce the simplest FAA rules.

No one could identify what kind of drone it was but that it was 6 ft in length with flashing lights that were being turned on and off in sequence. ...

Meanwhile I got a buddy in Colorado at the air force base and they our on alert.

Phantomrain.org
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[AnzacJack]

Are you saying there are 20 drones, each 6ft in length, flying in formation in your area?
Seems strange to me. Does anyone have pics or video of this?

 

[jzilla80]

Sounds like the "Phoenix Lights" thing from years ago... We sure they were drones? Hmmm

 

[Fred Garvin]

I saw this on the news tonight. At least our news said “They were probably owned by a private company doing agricultural surveys or utility work.” Who knows....

What I’d like to know, for a fact, is what laws were being broken? What regulations were being violated? Why all the attention? Why did the military go on alert?

Seriously....so some drones were flying....big friggin deal.

 

[Meta4]

Are you saying there are 20 drones, each 6ft in length, flying in formation in your area?
Seems strange to me. Does anyone have pics or video of this?

This has been well reported and there are several posts already on the forum about it.
No-one has any idea about them but there are a few guesses.
It's interesting that there are so many suggestions that shooting them down is an appropriate response.

What Are Those Mysterious Drones Doing in Colorado?

The swarm appears to be practicing a search for ... something.

www.popularmechanics.com

 

[65Fly]

Not sure "6ft in length" puts these drones (UFO's) in the DJI Mavic class of hobby drones being flown by miscreants and if it was a stunt then there might be some Youtube channel loading the footage soon. Anyway, it looks like Drone shooting season has opened. Is there a prize for the largest drone shot down?

 

[65Fly]

Also Colorado temperatures at night are in the sub zero -9C (15F) category of cold, not suitable for your average drone batteries. Although winds appear light.

 

[Phantomrain.org]

News took out the drone footage shown on the TV last night , other videos now showing just a black sky on youtube. FAA clueless. FAA unable FAA struggling FAA asking for those to come forward.

 

[Mavic Air Head]

If this was a legitimate use (ag survey, mapping, search and rescue practice, etc) whoever was behind it would have come forward by now because it is such big news.
Now, pay no attention to the Twilight Zone theme music in the background. I grew up in that region during the mid-1970's when cattle mutilations were the rage. Ranchers would find ritualistic slaughtered cattle, no traces of blood, blah, blah blah. We watched a military chopper fly low altitude one night over our cattle, my Dad had his 30.06 on them and hesitated instead of pulling the trigger. Things wound down as word on the street (or pasture as it were) was that it was bored Viet Nam vets in the reserves pulling a prank. There were also copy cat mutilations by land based jerks. Thus ended that alien invasion.
These new aircraft are supposedly not violating any laws (yet) but think about what a squadron of 20 UAVs with 6 ft wingspans would cost. How would you hide 20 of these things in daylight hours without drawing some attention, at least now with the media attention? Technically flying legally at night would require Part 107 qualifications. Violating no laws maybe but regulations???
And now for some ridiculous conspiracy theories to keep the nearly unhinged from sleeping well at night. During the Obama years a drone went down in Iran and the O declined to authorize a search and destroy or recovery mission. Now the Iranians have all of our military drone technology and are building identical military drones. Clearly they have recovered a fallen 1/3 scale RC aircraft from an airshow and are taking a shot across our bow, or rather large midsection! Of the country.
The Chinese government has collected all of our flight data from the cloud and is simply trying to fill in the data where the population supports fewer recreational drone flyers who help feed data in support of their sinister plot to rule the world! Including the Bread Basket of America! And for a fringe benefit they'll gain control of Hail Alley and Tornado Alley for no extra charge!
Or more likely it's Space X looking for a downed rocket and the last thing they want is publicity.
Aliens? CENSORED!!!!! (politically sensitive moderator deleted humorous comment on the grounds that humor is political in all situations regarding space aliens and therefore not humor).
In all seriousness I will be interested when they find the truth.

 

[Boback]

The drones don't appear to be hobbyist drones, so that leaves commercial or military. Is the drones being operated in restricted or military MOA's? They can't be operating in accordance with Part 107 rules as there are several they are breaking. I suspect they are military, or military contracted civilians testing group drone flights testing the ability to provide surveillance over vast areas of land quickly. With the flights at night maybe they are trying to hide their operations which testing continues. With the video reporting that one came close to bystanders, maybe one just came down to checkout a possible threat and the controllers determined non-threat, it turn off the lights and rejoined the formation. Many theories there but my thoughts are military or military related and due to any local FAA official may not have received any information to report.

 

[Mavic Air Head]

The drones don't appear to be hobbyist drones, so that leaves commercial or military. Is the drones being operated in restricted or military MOA's? They can't be operating in accordance with Part 107 rules as there are several they are breaking. I suspect they are military, or military contracted civilians testing group drone flights testing the ability to provide surveillance over vast areas of land quickly. With the flights at night maybe they are trying to hide their operations which testing continues. With the video reporting that one came close to bystanders, maybe one just came down to checkout a possible threat and the controllers determined non-threat, it turn off the lights and rejoined the formation. Many theories there but my thoughts are military or military related and due to any local FAA official may not have received any information to report.

I think there is some substance to your speculation. From the vague television maps, this area is all relatively remote farm ground and rolling prairie, so the only restricted areas would be near small town and small private airstrips. The govt has vast tracts of military based land to conduct tests. I worked on the Nevada Test Site and we literally drove hours at 60 mph 2 hours to get where we were working. BTW if anyone has seen an airshow, you'll recognize the Area 51 alien lights as night training fighter jets, sic 'em boys (and girls)! Maybe a civilian contractor conducting tests for an upcoming bid, but with satellite technology what it is I doubt it would be for military purposes.

 

[65Fly]

News took out the drone footage shown on the TV last night , other videos now showing just a black sky on youtube. FAA clueless. FAA unable FAA struggling FAA asking for those to come forward.

Always of interest to me is the quality or rather the lack of it when it comes to photographing things in the sky at night. UFO's being the most common category which I guess this falls into. It must be difficult to think of changing camera settings when the excitement of filming something strange in the sky but if you want a decent image then you must do so. On smartphones this can be difficult as focus is automatic for most but if possible on other types of camera you should set the focus on manual at infinity with a wide aperture to capture as much light as possible. Cameras autofocus will struggle in low light so that is why we get blobs or circles of light that pop in and out. You can push up the ISO too but then grainy effects will reduce detail. If the lights burn out the image or create flare in the lens then reduce the aperture until they are points of light not circles or orbs. You should be able to bring out more details in post processing. Use an optical zoom not a digital one and find a solid wall (or better a tripod) to set the camera on to minimise camershake. A lot to think about in the excitement of the moment as they fly about. Alternatively send up your own drone to chase them up close

 

[Mavic Air Head]

Always of interest to me is the quality or rather the lack of it when it comes to photographing things in the sky at night. UFO's being the most common category which I guess this falls into. It must be difficult to think of changing camera settings when the excitement of filming something strange in the sky but if you want a decent image then you must do so. On smartphones this can be difficult as focus is automatic for most but if possible on other types of camera you should set the focus on manual at infinity with a wide aperture to capture as much light as possible. Cameras autofocus will struggle in low light so that is why we get blobs or circles of light that pop in and out. You can push up the ISO too but then grainy effects will reduce detail. If the lights burn out the image or create flare in the lens then reduce the aperture until they are points of light not circles or orbs. You should be able to bring out more details in post processing. Use an optical zoom not a digital one and find a solid wall (or better a tripod) to set the camera on to minimise camershake. A lot to think about in the excitement of the moment as they fly about. Alternatively send up your own drone to chase them up close

Great tips. Everyone thinks they'll automatically go viral with their smartphone cinema.
I read earlier that these drones are flying 10 and 20 mile grids, so clearly not toys. Right now there is so much "hysteria" and sensationalist reporting that you can't know what is fact and what is conjecture. Sad thing is when it gets resolved there will probably be just a little paragraph in an obscure newspaper with the explanation.

 

[MacCool]

If it's 20 people flying 20 drones, somebody's gonna talk and the mystery will be solved.

 

[Mavic Air Head]

If it's 20 people flying 20 drones, somebody's gonna talk and the mystery will be solved.

Although the crop circle crowd managed to stay pretty tight lipped.

 

[dixter]

its a secret... and if I told you... then I'd have to .... you....

 

[jwt873]

Strange things going on here in Canada too.... https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/manitoba-lights-sky-starlink-satellites-1.5410040

Is 2020 the year we make contact ??

 

[ff22]

Attack of the Korean Drones! Curses, foiled again by a guy with a bad haircut!

The kind of red headed one or the crew cut dark color?

 

[AnzacJack]

Super interesting. Maybe mapping trials? Geo scanning by a mining company? I know they do this with helo's in Aust.

 

[harle83]

News took out the drone footage shown on the TV last night , other videos now showing just a black sky on youtube. FAA clueless. FAA unable FAA struggling FAA asking for those to come forward.

Well at least the Authorities say don’t shoot. When I was a kid these lights were UFO’s now must be drones. I love the guy sitting there with his wife and saying it got real close then shut off it’s lights. He didn’t mention any sound and we know drones are by no means stealth so I think it’s something else. It’s a pretty remote area and the FAA of all things would know with night time waver rules. I like UFO’s better. I wish we could get beyond anything we can’t explain must be a drone, my oh my.