The recent epidemic of reported drone sightings across New York and New Jersey could be due to potential “gas leaks” or “radioactive material,” one subject matter expert has said.
Reports of mysterious drone sightings in multiple states have drawn widespread attention from lawmakers and members of the public in recent weeks. John Ferguson, the CEO of Saxon Aerospace, a drone manufacturer in Kansas, weighed in on the topic in a TikTok post that has gone viral.
The FBI said it has received more than 3,000 tips regarding drone sightings, with the majority of these reported observations happening at night.
In his nine-minute video, Ferguson offered an “assessment of the drones,” saying the only reason an unmanned aircraft would be flown at night was if its operator was “looking for something.”
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“My own guess is that these drones are not nefarious in intent. If they are, they are, but I doubt it. But if they are drones, the only reason why they would be flying, and flying that low, is because they’re trying to smell something on the ground,” Ferguson said.
He added that the drones could be searching for gas leaks or pockets of radiation. He also said he believed the drones were seeking something “very important.”
In a series of follow-up videos, Ferguson said many of the drones appeared to be compliant with federal regulations and reiterated his theory.
Newsweek contacted Ferguson for comment via TikTok outside normal business hours.
The absence of concrete answers as to the origins of the unmanned aerial vehicles has prompted some lawmakers to accuse government agencies of concealing information, and the vacuum has led to the propagation of theories as to what the sightings could mean.
One of the more outlandish explanations is the Project Blue Beam conspiracy theory, which claims that global elites plan to stage a fake alien invasion.
The theory, proposed by Canadian journalist Serge Monast in the 1990s, alleges that this covert operation would establish a totalitarian world government by faking otherworldly or supernatural events using advanced technology.
In the wake of the drone sightings, the conspiracy theory has seen a revival online, with influential social media accounts posting about it and garnering millions of views.
On Sunday, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas suggested that a Federal Aviation Administration rule change in September 2023 could be a reason behind the uptick in drone sightings.
“In September of 2023, the Federal Aviation Administration, the FAA, changed the rules so that drones could fly at night,” the Biden administration official told ABC News’ This Week.
Mayorkas continued, “And that may be one of the reasons why now people are seeing more drones than they did before, especially from dawn to dusk.”
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