Soon after issuing a month-long ban on drone use in several parts of New Jersey, the Federal Aviation Administration announced temporary flight restrictions over numerous “critical infrastructure” sites in New York.
"Since mid-November, New York has been carefully monitoring reports of drone activity and we have been communicating closely with our federal partners,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement. “I've spoken with Secretary Mayorkas 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 — this action is purely precautionary; there are no threat to these sites.
“This is in addition to the state-of-the-art drone detection system delivered to us by the Biden-Harris Administration earlier this week,” she added. “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. Public safety is my top priority and I will stop at nothing to keep my constituents safe."
The ban on drone use over parts of New Jersey began late Wednesday and will run through Jan. 17. Some lawmakers argued the TFRs will only cause more confusion.
Representative Josh Gottheimer said he contacted the F.A.A. Thursday morning to express concern that, without more information, the decision to ban drones so broadly in New Jersey could lead to “more confusion and uncertainty.”
“They must brief the public on the reasons for their action,” said Mr. Gottheimer, a Democrat who represents a northern New Jersey district.
Patrick E. Bradley is an aviation lawyer based in Princeton, N.J., who is also a pilot. He said he cannot recall a similar F.A.A. flight ban in the more than 40 years that he has been flying. What makes it so unusual, he said, is the large number of hyper-specific no-fly regions in a single state. (The New York Times)
The New York TFRs will be in place until Jan. 19.
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