Drone Over Brooklyn Was 'Likely' a Toy Plane, Not Government Spy
An Alitalia pilot who reported seeing a U.S. military drone flying over Brooklyn Monday likely confused a toy for the aircraft, reports suggested.
The pilot was landing a passenger jet at the John F. Kennedy Airport in New York when he spotted the unmanned aircraft and reported it to air traffic control. Two other pilots were cautioned about a possible object in the area, but claimed to see nothing, according to CNN.
"We saw a drone, a drone aircraft," the pilot said, according to the news site.
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But "New Yorkers shouldn't start hiding in the subways just yet," David Ewalt wrote in a Forbes report, because the aircraft was likely just a "toy."
"Many 'toy' planes are capable of reaching altitudes far in excess of 1,500 feet, and some of them are quite large," Ewalt explained, although he noted "FAA regulations limit model planes to a maximum flight altitude of 400 feet."
"I'm reminded of the novel '1984.'" one Internet user wrote on a CNN blog, referring to George Orwell's 1949 dystopian novel about a tyrannical government who employs government surveillance and mind control.
The comment fueled a large debate over government conspiracy.
"Those people who think drones present some 1984 type threat over US territory that is not present with any fighter aircraft can be easily seen," one user responded to the comment. "They are the ones wearing the pointy tin hats, sitting under pyramids mumbling about undocumented aliens from Roswell hiding behind the grassy knoll."
"Obama is the one increasing military spending, especially on things like these drones," another user prompet. "The NDAA he signed went further than Bush and increased his power to spy on us/ put us in jail without trial."
A third user suggested that the government was using drones "not to 'spy'" on US citizens," only "terrorists" in the U.S.
