A photograph of a drone found on the property of the Nantucket Memorial Airport on Dec. 15, 2024.
A small drone was found at an airfield at the Nantucket Memorial Airport in Massachusetts over the weekend amid heightened attention on the aircraft after a series of sightings across the northeast.
The drone was found on pavement in an area reserved for aircraft operations.
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Airport staff noted that the drone was under .55 pounds, meaning it is small enough to be used for recreational use and may not require Federal Aviation Administration registration. However, drone pilots are typically prohibited from flying in airport airspace unless they receive special authorization. Two men are currently facing charges for flying too close to Logan Airport over the weekend.
The find in Nantucket was reported to the FAA and Transportation Security Administration.
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Drones, sometimes referred to as unmanned aircraft system or UAS, have become a hot topic in recent days after reports started in late November of the devices lighting up the night skies in New Jersey without explanation as to who is operating them or what they might be used for.
However, one aviation expert told NBC10 Boston that the activity is not unusual, but rather people are talking about it more.
"They’re not sort of secret events these are things that have always been there and people are noticing them people are looking up more at the skies now because people are talking about it," said Seth Miller, PaxEx.aero aviation expert.
The NBC10 Investigators reviewed the FAA Unmanned aircraft sightings data from January 2024 through September 2024 and found 32 sightings in Massachusetts. This data is mostly based on sightings by pilots. Only one pilot had to take evasive action to avoid the drone.
