By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Reported sightings of drones over New Jersey have prompted a spike in the number of people in the state pointing lasers at airplanes flying overhead, which is illegal and can be dangerous, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said.
The FAA said reports are up 269% to 59 in the first half of December, compared with eight in the same period last year. Aiming a laser at an aircraft is a serious safety issue and a violation of federal law. U.S. agencies have repeatedly said the spike in drone sightings does not pose national security risks and appear to be mostly aircraft, stars or hobbyist drones.
The FAA said it has received dozens of new laser reports from pilots in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania airspace.
The FBI in New Jersey separately warned people Wednesday not to shoot at suspected drones or point lasers at them, warning "there could be dangerous and possibly deadly consequences if manned aircraft are targeted mistakenly" as drones.
Federal agencies have stepped up tracking of drones in New Jersey and in nearby states after a frenzy of public concern.
Fewer than 100 of the more than 5,000 reported sightings in New Jersey and other northeastern U.S. states merited investigation, officials at the Defense Department, Homeland Security Department, FBI and FAA said this week.
The Biden administration gave members of the U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee a classified briefing on the issue on Tuesday.
Officials have repeatedly said most of the large fixed-wing sightings involved manned aircraft, and came after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Monday called for more federal comment on the reported sightings.
There are about 1 million registered drones flying about 42 million flights annually. "There are thousands of commercial, hobbyist and law enforcement drones lawfully in the sky on any given day. With the technology landscape evolving, we expect that number to increase over time," agencies said this week.