As of Monday afternoon, we still don’t have an answer from anyone taking credit for them — but we have heard from a bunch of folks who said they don’t know anything.
Here’s a list.
The Federal Aviation Administration
On Friday, an FAA spokesperson said the agency has not received any drone reports in northeastern Colorado matching the description shared by the sheriff’s offices there. There were no updates from the FAA on Monday, other than that they are speaking to law enforcement but “don’t have any concrete information to act on at this time,” per spokesman Ian Gregor.
Since we were pointed to the Department of Defense last week, we gave them another call.
North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD)
After calling the national number for the Department of Defense, we were sent to
NORAD, which basically told us they aren’t aware of any drone operations taking place in northeastern Colorado.
They told us to call the FAA, the agency that told us to call the DoD in the first place.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Since one drone operator mentioned the activity in northeastern Colorado could be atmospheric, we contacted NOAA,
which does have a drone program.
Awesome, but according to spokesperson Theo Stein, the program isn’t conducting any work in Colorado.
“We certainly don’t have a drone fleet like the news reports describe,” Stein wrote in a text to 9NEWS.
Xcel Energy
According to its website, Xcel Energy is starting to use more drones for things like
inspecting electricity and natural gas lines.
A spokesperson for the energy company got back to us Monday night and said that the drones being flown over northeastern Colorado aren't part of that program.
Amazon
Amazon made headlines for its
Prime Air delivery service. But no, a spokesperson said Prime Air is not behind the drones in northeastern Colorado.
Google
Google is also trying its hand at a drone delivery service. Its spokesperson also said the company is not responsible for the northeastern Colorado drone sightings.
But what about …
Colorado Oil and Gas Association
There has been lots of speculation online that the drones are being used for mapping or something else with the oil and gas industry.
Jake Taylor, the spokesperson for the Colorado Oil and Gas Association, said reports about the drones were “definitely interesting” but that he hadn’t heard anything about who they belong to.
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Of course, there are plenty of private companies that do drone mapping in Colorado. We gave a few of them a call.
Black Swift Technologies
This Boulder-based company conducts a variety of atmospheric research missions – including mapping for things like wildland firefighters.
And while a photo of a drone on the company website kind of looks like the 6-foot wingspans of the drones described by Stivers, CEO Jack Elston said the mystery objects don’t belong to his company.
Measure
This national drone mapping company showed up on multiple Google searches of large businesses that do this sort of thing — and it has a Denver office.
A spokesperson emailed us though and said they have nothing to do with the mystery in the plains.
Juniper Unmanned
Golden-based Juniper Unmanned also uses drones for mapping,
according to its website.
And a company spokesperson told 9NEWS they’re assisting the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) in eastern Colorado; however, they end their operations at dusk and don’t fly at night – contrary to the reports from local law enforcement about the activity of the mystery drones.
This means Juniper Unmanned isn't involved.
But, if CDOT is using drones, would they know anything? We placed a call to find out.
The Colorado Department of Transportation
CDOT spokesperson Tamara Rollison nixed any theory the drones could be associated with CDOT.
“We would not be flying drones around at night,” she said.
Alright … back to the drawing board …
Adventure UAV
Adventure UAV is another Colorado-based company that does drone mapping. Tyler Mattas, the owner, said he’s not behind the mystery in northeastern Colorado, but did have a couple of theories.
Among them was the fact it’s a single large drone with a bunch of lights that people are confusing as multiple aircraft in a grid pattern.
Regardless, he said it’s most likely commercial.
“It’s not your average hobbyist,” Mattas said. “I don’t think any local people are operating drones that large.”
One thing he mentioned was
checking the FAA’s website – after all, if the mystery northeastern Colorado drone operator is legit, they would have to get a waiver to fly at night and outside of the line of sight, assuming their flight pattern is as expansive as the reports suggest.
This led to a rabbit hole search of the FAA’s website,
which lists all the waivers that have been granted.
Multiple companies showed up on the search, and we contacted all of them. We’ll only update this with who we’ve heard back from.
Uber
Here’s where things get interesting:
Uber actually has an FAA waiver to fly drones at night, as well as outside the line of sight. But, in an email to 9NEWS, a spokesperson said the company currently doesn’t fly in Colorado.
Zipline International Inc.
Zipline is a company with a noble mission: Deliver lifesaving medical supplies with drone. It was kind of a stretch they’d be flying a grid pattern in northern Colorado at night, but we thought we’d email them anyway
since they have FAA waivers to fly at night and outside the line of sight.
Lo and behold, they said they are not responsible for the drones.
Flytcam Motion Pictures
This was another stretch when it came to being the company that was actually responsible for the drones,
but they do have FAA waivers for flying at night and outside the line of sight so, we thought we'd ask.
The response: Nope. Not them.
1Up Aerial Drone Services Inc.
This Colorado company also does aerial drone services in Colorado.
Chuck Adams, the CEO, said he’s not behind the northeastern Colorado drone sightings.
He did have one compelling theory though – that the drones aren’t a drone at all.
He sent over this video of the SpaceX Starlink Satellite Train:
It would go against what local law enforcement and people who have reached out to 9NEWS have said, so it was worth a few more phone calls and emails.
NASA has not yet responded to a query about if this is a possible explanation. SpaceX also hasn’t responded to an email or tweets. We’ll update this story when we get a yes or no answer.
One more thing worth a mention? Recreational drone users
don't need a special waiver to fly at night. So, it's possible the drones belong to someone (or a group) just doing it for fun, but not likely, given the reported size of the drones.
