Hill Air Force Base has confirmed that Utahns recently spotted unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, flying near the base in Davis County.
In a statement, officials said they will continue to monitor the area and are working with local authorities to track the drones.
“To date, unmanned aerial systems have not impacted Hill AFB operations and all appropriate measures are being taken to safeguard Hill AFB personnel, assets, and infrastructure,” the statement read.
Nationwide, unidentified drones and lights have sparked curiosity and concerns about national security. On Dec. 15, Utahns reported seeing lights in the sky above Davis County on the social media site Reddit.
Hill Air Force Base is requesting people report any suspicious activity to local police or base security.
For some in the industry, the increased sightings and attention on drones is a byproduct of change overhead.
“We're sort of entering what I like to call the new golden age of aviation,” said Brendan Stewart, vice president of regulatory affairs at drone company Red Cat, which owns and operates Salt Lake City-based Teal Drones.
“The makeup of operations in the national airspace is changing, and folks who've not spent a lot of time sort of looking up at the sky and wondering what's going on are now realizing that the day-to-day operations in the airspace are different than they used to be,” Stewart said.
The Federal Aviation Administration regulates drone use, and Stewart said those regulations have loosened in recent years, allowing for more waivers. That means more drones in the skies at night and other times when people may not be used to seeing them.
Teal recently secured a $260 million contract with the U.S. Army, but it isn’t just the military that uses drones. Photographers, hobbyists, law enforcement, and even search and rescue teams all use unmanned aerial vehicles.
Stewart said Teal’s factory is in South Salt Lake, but they try to be cognizant of the neighborhood so they conduct most of their testing in Utah’s West Desert.
“There's probably a lot of folks who are not used to seeing that activity, and especially because drones fly lower than most manned aircraft, it could be a little surprising or unsettling to see them show up.”
For Stewart, the best way to identify what’s in the sky is to download an app that tracks the signals of drones and planes.
The holidays are another reason sightings may be on the rise at this particular moment. When drones end up as gifts, that lifts the number of people, many of them new, flying them. The FAA requires passing an online safety training course to operate a drone recreationally, but not everyone knows that.
“They're probably not nefarious,” Stewart said. “It's probably, frankly, a pretty boring operation that's going on that just happens to be conspicuous.”