The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has imposed airspace restrictions to outlaw flights by drones over parts of New Jersey and New York, including an area of Westchester. The FAA’s action is in the form of a series of Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFR). A TFR is a legally-binding airspace regulation and violators are subject to sanctions including fines.
The restrictions went into effect at 9 p.m. Eastern Time last night and cover certain areas from the surface up to and including 400 feet above ground level. The restrictions remain in effect until Jan. 18 at 9 p.m. but could be extended at any time.
Drone flights are banned in the restricted airspace unless the operator has obtained a waiver from the FAA or is law enforcement, a first responder, Homeland Security, Department of Defense or a commercial operator with a valid approval for the operation from the government.
Yonkers is one of the locations used to define an area where drone operations are banned. The Bronx, Queens, and about a dozen sites on Long Island are among the others for which a NOTAM, which is a notice from the FAA to pilots, has been issued.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul had been among the local government officials calling for the federal government to take action in the wake of numerous unexplained drone sightings and welcomed the FAA’s imposition of airspace restrictions.
“Since mid-November, New York has been carefully monitoring reports of drone activity and we have been communicating closely with our federal partners,” Hochul said. “I’ve spoken with Secretary Mayorkas (Homeland Security) multiple times and was just informed that he has coordinated with federal partners and the FAA plans to grant temporary flight restrictions over some of New York’s critical infrastructure sites.”
Hochul said that the action is purely precautionary and that there are no threats to the sites. She pointed out that the flight restrictions are in addition to the drone detection system delivered to New York by the federal government earlier this week.
“While we have not detected any public safety or national security threats, we will continue aggressively monitoring the situation as we call on Congress to pass legislation to give states and local law enforcement the authority and resources they need to manage this evolving technology,” Hochul said. “Public safety is my top priority and I will stop at nothing to keep my constituents safe.”
According to the FAA, there are more than one million drones lawfully registered with it in the U. S. and there are thousands of commercial, hobbyist and law enforcement drones lawfully in the sky on any given day.
The FAA issued a statement saying, “Having closely examined the technical data and tips from concerned citizens, we assess that the sightings to date include a combination of lawful commercial drones, hobbyist drones, and law enforcement drones, as well as manned fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and stars mistakenly reported as drones. We have not identified anything anomalous and do not assess the activity to date to present a national security or public safety risk over the civilian airspace in New Jersey or other states in the northeast.
“That said, we recognize the concern among many communities. We continue to support state and local authorities with advanced detection technology and support of law enforcement. We urge Congress to enact counter-UAS (Unmanned Aircraft System) legislation when it reconvenes that would extend and expand existing counter-drone authorities to identify and mitigate any threat that may emerge.”
