South Florida

South Florida residents claim they've spotted mysterious drones in the sky

Viewers across South Florida have been sending our newsroom videos of what looks to be like drone sightings. But how can you tell that what you’re seeing is really a drone?

NBC Universal, Inc.

Several federal agencies have said that there is no national security threat, but they did confirm there have been some drones seen flying near or over military installations.

And some people in South Florida have claimed to see them in their own backyards.

Watch NBC6 free wherever you are

>
Watch button  WATCH HERE

“It was like a flashing white green light, and we followed it, and I pulled over and that’s when I took out my camera,” Rebecca Davila said.

For two weeks, Davila has been taking videos on her phone in Plantation. The videos show what she believes to be drones in the sky.

Get local news you need to know to start your day with NBC 6's News Headlines newsletter.

>
Newsletter button  SIGN UP

“There was no noise. We usually hear the airplanes really loud where we can feel. It actually shakes our homes a little bit sometimes because they take off from the airport, so there was no noise,” she said.

“It was very quiet and also the light was pulsating and getting brighter, and I took pictures and it didn’t look like a planet or star it, looked like something very different than my eye has ever seen," she said.

And miles away in Sweetwater, Eric Stanley saw something similar.

“I saw weird colors, and I’m like, this doesn’t look like a drone to me, like looks more like a plasma ball," he said.

There have been sightings of what look to be like orbs and drones in different areas. One of the spots was near the 79th Street Causeway.

The sightings of drones have left people confused.

“What else would it be? And that’s where the question comes in – we just wanna make sense of it,” Davila said.

The Federal Aviation Administration explains how to pick out drones in the night sky based on their lights.

But the Federal Aviation Administration wants to clear the air as to what the different lights in the sky could signify. They released a video explaining all aircraft, including drones, are required to have certain lights at night.

Planes and helicopters typically have lights on the front of their wings, a white strobe light, and a red beacon light that flashes on their tail.

The FAA says drones need to have strobe lights that are visible for at least three miles, fly below 400 feet, and have lights to help the drone pilot know which way it’s pointing.

Davila said what she’s seen fits the bill.

"(...) pretty close, at one point it felt like a flashlight that was pointing, and it was pointing right at me," she said.

Residents on Friday were asking where these drones coming from. That’s still the big question many lawmakers have: Who is operating these drones?

The FAA says there are more than one million drones registered in the U.S.

Contact Us