December 28, 2024 • 12 mins
Hytt Films owner and operator Drew Hyttenrauch joins Jon Liedtke on AM800 CKLW to discuss DRONEGATE over New Jersey, what the unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) may be, and advances in drone technology.
This interview aired on AM800 CKLW
This interview aired on AM800 CKLW
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome back to AM eight hundred kl W. John Liddkey
here hosting Live and Local, the last episode of the
show for twenty twenty four. And we are keeping our
eyes right now on where else would we keep our eyes? On?
New Jersey. There have been a number of drone sightings
(00:26):
occurring since mid November. These have been unidentified drones, often
flying at nighttime in clusters larger than typical hobbyist or
consumer drone models. They've been spotted near sensitive locations, including
military facilities and President Elect Trump's golf course in Bedminister.
The FAA has since imposed temporary restrictions on drone flights
(00:50):
over twenty two cities in New Jersey. The FBI and
the Department of Homeland Security are investigating the sightings but
haven't found any evidence of national security threats. The public
is conc earned. Some people have taken to shining laser
beams up at suspected drones, to which pilots have been saying, hey,
we're flying airplanes. Quit shining lasers at us. That's very dangerous.
(01:13):
Authorities are still investigating and we don't really know yet
what this all is. I'm going to go to my
resident drone expert who I bring on to the shows.
Here on I am eight hundred Drew hit and Rod
joins me right now, Hey Drew, how you doing?
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Hey John? How's it going?
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Doing really well? Thanks? So this is all really interesting.
When you first started to hear about drone Gate, what
was your first thought?
Speaker 2 (01:39):
My first thought was either this is a military exercise
that's not being discussed, or it's aliens. But there's always
a better explanation that's more grounded with reality.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
You know, I didn't jump straight to the alien thought process.
When I looked at a lot of these videos, I
noticed that the drones had red and green flashing lights
on them. Drew, you fly, you fly drones? Do any
of yours have red and green flashing lights?
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Yeah. In most of these sightings, at least eighty to
ninety percent of them, all the you know, drones or
commercial aircraft craft that people were seeing were you know
in they have nab lights on them. So you're seeing
the standard you know, red lights in the front and
green lights in the back like most typical claud copters have.
And that's what we were seeing in a lot of
this footage. So it seems like a lot of them
(02:32):
were vtall drones, which are vertical takeoff drones that take
off vertically and then can pitch the motors and props
forward and then fly like a normal airplane. So yeah,
we're still trying to figure out what the heck they are,
and it's still a mystery.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
So you brought up that you thought that it might
have been a military project or a test or training,
whatever it may be. That's actually what I first thought
as well, knowing that we are rapidly approaching the inauguration
January twentieth, also the anniversary of January the sixth, and
we knew that the Biden administration was gearing up for
(03:11):
any possibility. It didn't surprise me to think, hey, maybe
they just chose New Jersey to do some tests over
who cares about Jersey exactly.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
And a lot of people are seeing, you know, strange
things that they couldn't explain. But a lot more people
are looking up now and looking at the sky and seeing,
you know, it's near military basis, so you can see
the military planes flying over in commercial planes as well.
But there were some, you know that twenty to ten
percent that were unexplained. So a mix of UAPs that
(03:42):
are kind of being blended in with these these drone
sightings all over and that are still happening that frequency
kind of but right now it's still happening, and.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
You know, I guess it's not surprising that people get
a little bit concerned about it. It seems like the
past month and a half has been a bit like
war of the World's being broadcast on the radio. Quite frankly, Yeah,
people getting really concerned about it. Do you think that
it makes sense that people might mistake what is a
consumer drone or even a more professional drone with something
(04:18):
that they can't recognize. Should the average person be able
to spot what these look like.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Generally? Yeah, I mean again, most most drones, especially when
flying at nighttime, have the traditional nave lights, which are
the you know, either the red or the green on
the front or back, and most like characteristics are you know,
similar to what a drone would have where you're hovering
in place and then accelerating versus you know, seeing a
(04:46):
helicopter flying, which would have sound and you would or
you would typically hear these things. With the drones any
anything past you know, one hundred feet or so, you
can't hear them at all, So they are silent, so
a lot of these, you know cases where they're seeing
things in the sky that can't hear that are floating there.
You know, you can easily miss identify that as a
(05:07):
as a UFO or a UAP. But it's definitely strange.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
How fire can drones travel.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
It all depends on what you're flying. But a traditional
all typical drone you can pick up at Best Buy
or a Dji Mavic three Pro or a Mini FORB
can go up to around ten kilometers with the Djio
three transmission system. But the latest one that's coming out
now is though four, and that you can fly up
(05:39):
to I think it's something like twenty or thirty kilometers,
which is unbelievable. But the one thing that was interesting
about what a lot of residents in New Jersey we're
seeing was we're drones that were hovering in the sky
for longer than you know, typical flight times on a
commercial or even you know, any any drone, Like most
(06:01):
drones can only fly for around forty minutes or so max.
But they were seeing UAPs drones that were in the
sky for hours. So that's kind of spooky.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
That is really interesting. So when you talk about that,
you're saying forty minutes. That's that's the length of time
that you're able to use because you fly these drones professionally. Yes,
that's that's that's wild. So what are some of the
uses and applications that drones can be used for these
days other than scaring New Jersey residents?
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Well beyond using them for aerial cinema and capturing you know,
really nice aerial photos and videos that can be used
for search and rescue. The police use DJI matrices, which
are larger quad copters that have flear night vision cameras
built onto them so you can see in the night
and for search and rescues, or I recently have seen
(06:55):
police even using smaller FPV drones to try to find
like a say that there's a suspect inside of a
bank or inside a comedian story. They can actually fly
one of these you know tiny FPV eja and eos
into into you know, a place that would be dangerous
and and get a visual, live visuals of what they're
(07:18):
heading into. So there's a lot of applications for aside
from you know that, plus agricultural stuff or agricultural spraying
and search and rescue. Yeah, like a lot a lot
of different things that can be used for as well
as military applications as well.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
I can imagine so FPV of course being first person video,
so the drones in that case, they're able to be
flown indoors, like the transmission works.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Yeah, these ones are just smaller FPV drones that can
be flown indoors and you're either wearing video goggles or
you can look at it on your controller. Those are
a lot of fun to fly.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
That's that's that's wild stuff. And where do you think
the future of drones is going to be heading over
the next decade? Are they going to be getting faster
for their range? Like what do you see when you
keep your ear to the ground.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Yeah, well I keep my ears on all the latest
tech developments with with drone tech and battery tech. DJ
is for releasing the new Dji Mabick four Pro, which
is a newer drone coming out that has about fifty
to sixty minute flight time, and now they even have
hybrid drones that I was trying to get an explanation
(08:28):
as to why these people are seeing drones in the
sky for two to four hours and there are hybrid
drones that use gas powered a small engine on them
that's a generator that's powering the batteries, so you can
get extended flight times and fly for up to twelve
to twenty four hours. But the future of drones is
pretty bright, and we're seeing a lot more affordable stuff
(08:50):
that's coming out, and yeah, just a lot more cool
things for search and rescue and for consumer drones, and yeah,
it's an exciting time to get into the hobby for sure.
But we're also going to see a lot more drones
in the sky. Same with like Amazon's already testing delivery
drones in Arizona that are landing in people's backyards, which
(09:13):
of those are also ve tall, So those take off
vertically and pitch pitch forward and then can fly kind
of like an airplane and they can carry like a
five pound payload and drop that on your grass in
the backyard. So we're going to see a lot more
delivery drones in the near future.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Amazon Prime deliveries within an hour, delivered right to your backyard.
I love that. Yeah, you know it's The drone industry
has evolved a lot since I bought my Dji Mini
two back in twenty twenty, and I'm not at all
using it for commercial purposes, but you know, it's fun
to just pop up there and fly around. I'd love
to try out a first person video drone. Like you've
(09:52):
been discussing, there are there any misconceptions about drones that
people should know about that you'd like to clear up.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
I think the one that like that people say, oh,
this drones flying in my backyard and it's spying on me.
That's typically a good one, Like, no, most of the
drones aren't spying on you, and a lot of them
don't have the zoom capabilities. Obviously newer ones do, but
typically a lot of them don't. So when obviously you
don't fly your drone over someone's backyard and respect people's privacy,
(10:22):
but especially with FPV drones, like I can't zoom it
at all. I'm looking at a super wide angle view
and that's all I see. So when I'm flying over people,
they're just tiny little specs. I can't see any details.
I'm looking at the big wide shot. So people get
weird when they, you know, aren't necessarily educated enough on
(10:43):
what they're seeing, and they just categorize every drone as
the same kind of thing. And I even come across
that too when I'm flying my FPV drones in a field.
You know, I'm minding my own business. Just obviously, I'm ripping.
I'm going about two hundred klometers an hour, avoiding people.
But it can still, you know, it can still startle
people and and keep them on edge and go like,
(11:04):
what are you doing? Why you flying not drone there?
So there's still kind of a bit of a stigma
around FTV drone racing too, at least like people that
just don't don't get it.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
Two hundred kilometers an hour or one hundred and about
one hundred and twenty five miles per hour, that is wild, Drew,
you and I are going to have to get together.
I'd love to see one of these things, as you said,
really rip it in the air sometime.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Thank you so much. We've got to do some FTV
for you. We'll get you with the goggles and you
can experience FPV flight. It'll be a blast.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
Oh, I can't wait. I just hope that I don't
crash it into a wall or something. We'll find out
if we get together. Hey, Drew, thank you so much
for your time. I really appreciate it, and Merry Christmas
and Happy.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
New Year to you you as well. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
Thank you so much. That is Drew hitten Ra who
is a professional drone flyer. He does a lot of
incredible work with it. You saw some stuff that he
did with the Sears Demolition and you can check out
his work as well at his website. Drew, what's your website?
Speaker 2 (12:08):
My website is w www dot h y t T
dot ca.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
A excellent Thanks so much, Drew. This is a M
eight hundred CKLW John Lydkey here. We're going to take
a quick break, but we will be back right after this.
Welcome back to AM eight hundred kl W. John Liddkey
here hosting Live and Local, the last episode of the
show for twenty twenty four. And we are keeping our
eyes right now on where else would we keep our eyes? On?
New Jersey. There have been a number of drone sightings
(00:26):
occurring since mid November. These have been unidentified drones, often
flying at nighttime in clusters larger than typical hobbyist or
consumer drone models. They've been spotted near sensitive locations, including
military facilities and President Elect Trump's golf course in Bedminister.
The FAA has since imposed temporary restrictions on drone flights
(00:50):
over twenty two cities in New Jersey. The FBI and
the Department of Homeland Security are investigating the sightings but
haven't found any evidence of national security threats. The public
is conc earned. Some people have taken to shining laser
beams up at suspected drones, to which pilots have been saying, hey,
we're flying airplanes. Quit shining lasers at us. That's very dangerous.
(01:13):
Authorities are still investigating and we don't really know yet
what this all is. I'm going to go to my
resident drone expert who I bring on to the shows.
Here on I am eight hundred Drew hit and Rod
joins me right now, Hey Drew, how you doing?
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Hey John? How's it going?
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Doing really well? Thanks? So this is all really interesting.
When you first started to hear about drone Gate, what
was your first thought?
Speaker 2 (01:39):
My first thought was either this is a military exercise
that's not being discussed, or it's aliens. But there's always
a better explanation that's more grounded with reality.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
You know, I didn't jump straight to the alien thought process.
When I looked at a lot of these videos, I
noticed that the drones had red and green flashing lights
on them. Drew, you fly, you fly drones? Do any
of yours have red and green flashing lights?
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Yeah. In most of these sightings, at least eighty to
ninety percent of them, all the you know, drones or
commercial aircraft craft that people were seeing were you know
in they have nab lights on them. So you're seeing
the standard you know, red lights in the front and
green lights in the back like most typical claud copters have.
And that's what we were seeing in a lot of
this footage. So it seems like a lot of them
(02:32):
were vtall drones, which are vertical takeoff drones that take
off vertically and then can pitch the motors and props
forward and then fly like a normal airplane. So yeah,
we're still trying to figure out what the heck they are,
and it's still a mystery.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
So you brought up that you thought that it might
have been a military project or a test or training,
whatever it may be. That's actually what I first thought
as well, knowing that we are rapidly approaching the inauguration
January twentieth, also the anniversary of January the sixth, and
we knew that the Biden administration was gearing up for
(03:11):
any possibility. It didn't surprise me to think, hey, maybe
they just chose New Jersey to do some tests over
who cares about Jersey exactly.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
And a lot of people are seeing, you know, strange
things that they couldn't explain. But a lot more people
are looking up now and looking at the sky and seeing,
you know, it's near military basis, so you can see
the military planes flying over in commercial planes as well.
But there were some, you know that twenty to ten
percent that were unexplained. So a mix of UAPs that
(03:42):
are kind of being blended in with these these drone
sightings all over and that are still happening that frequency
kind of but right now it's still happening, and.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
You know, I guess it's not surprising that people get
a little bit concerned about it. It seems like the
past month and a half has been a bit like
war of the World's being broadcast on the radio. Quite frankly, Yeah,
people getting really concerned about it. Do you think that
it makes sense that people might mistake what is a
consumer drone or even a more professional drone with something
(04:18):
that they can't recognize. Should the average person be able
to spot what these look like.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Generally? Yeah, I mean again, most most drones, especially when
flying at nighttime, have the traditional nave lights, which are
the you know, either the red or the green on
the front or back, and most like characteristics are you know,
similar to what a drone would have where you're hovering
in place and then accelerating versus you know, seeing a
(04:46):
helicopter flying, which would have sound and you would or
you would typically hear these things. With the drones any
anything past you know, one hundred feet or so, you
can't hear them at all, So they are silent, so
a lot of these, you know cases where they're seeing
things in the sky that can't hear that are floating there.
You know, you can easily miss identify that as a
(05:07):
as a UFO or a UAP. But it's definitely strange.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
How fire can drones travel.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
It all depends on what you're flying. But a traditional
all typical drone you can pick up at Best Buy
or a Dji Mavic three Pro or a Mini FORB
can go up to around ten kilometers with the Djio
three transmission system. But the latest one that's coming out
now is though four, and that you can fly up
(05:39):
to I think it's something like twenty or thirty kilometers,
which is unbelievable. But the one thing that was interesting
about what a lot of residents in New Jersey we're
seeing was we're drones that were hovering in the sky
for longer than you know, typical flight times on a
commercial or even you know, any any drone, Like most
(06:01):
drones can only fly for around forty minutes or so max.
But they were seeing UAPs drones that were in the
sky for hours. So that's kind of spooky.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
That is really interesting. So when you talk about that,
you're saying forty minutes. That's that's the length of time
that you're able to use because you fly these drones professionally. Yes,
that's that's that's wild. So what are some of the
uses and applications that drones can be used for these
days other than scaring New Jersey residents?
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Well beyond using them for aerial cinema and capturing you know,
really nice aerial photos and videos that can be used
for search and rescue. The police use DJI matrices, which
are larger quad copters that have flear night vision cameras
built onto them so you can see in the night
and for search and rescues, or I recently have seen
(06:55):
police even using smaller FPV drones to try to find
like a say that there's a suspect inside of a
bank or inside a comedian story. They can actually fly
one of these you know tiny FPV eja and eos
into into you know, a place that would be dangerous
and and get a visual, live visuals of what they're
(07:18):
heading into. So there's a lot of applications for aside
from you know that, plus agricultural stuff or agricultural spraying
and search and rescue. Yeah, like a lot a lot
of different things that can be used for as well
as military applications as well.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
I can imagine so FPV of course being first person video,
so the drones in that case, they're able to be
flown indoors, like the transmission works.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Yeah, these ones are just smaller FPV drones that can
be flown indoors and you're either wearing video goggles or
you can look at it on your controller. Those are
a lot of fun to fly.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
That's that's that's wild stuff. And where do you think
the future of drones is going to be heading over
the next decade? Are they going to be getting faster
for their range? Like what do you see when you
keep your ear to the ground.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Yeah, well I keep my ears on all the latest
tech developments with with drone tech and battery tech. DJ
is for releasing the new Dji Mabick four Pro, which
is a newer drone coming out that has about fifty
to sixty minute flight time, and now they even have
hybrid drones that I was trying to get an explanation
(08:28):
as to why these people are seeing drones in the
sky for two to four hours and there are hybrid
drones that use gas powered a small engine on them
that's a generator that's powering the batteries, so you can
get extended flight times and fly for up to twelve
to twenty four hours. But the future of drones is
pretty bright, and we're seeing a lot more affordable stuff
(08:50):
that's coming out, and yeah, just a lot more cool
things for search and rescue and for consumer drones, and yeah,
it's an exciting time to get into the hobby for sure.
But we're also going to see a lot more drones
in the sky. Same with like Amazon's already testing delivery
drones in Arizona that are landing in people's backyards, which
(09:13):
of those are also ve tall, So those take off
vertically and pitch pitch forward and then can fly kind
of like an airplane and they can carry like a
five pound payload and drop that on your grass in
the backyard. So we're going to see a lot more
delivery drones in the near future.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Amazon Prime deliveries within an hour, delivered right to your backyard.
I love that. Yeah, you know it's The drone industry
has evolved a lot since I bought my Dji Mini
two back in twenty twenty, and I'm not at all
using it for commercial purposes, but you know, it's fun
to just pop up there and fly around. I'd love
to try out a first person video drone. Like you've
(09:52):
been discussing, there are there any misconceptions about drones that
people should know about that you'd like to clear up.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
I think the one that like that people say, oh,
this drones flying in my backyard and it's spying on me.
That's typically a good one, Like, no, most of the
drones aren't spying on you, and a lot of them
don't have the zoom capabilities. Obviously newer ones do, but
typically a lot of them don't. So when obviously you
don't fly your drone over someone's backyard and respect people's privacy,
(10:22):
but especially with FPV drones, like I can't zoom it
at all. I'm looking at a super wide angle view
and that's all I see. So when I'm flying over people,
they're just tiny little specs. I can't see any details.
I'm looking at the big wide shot. So people get
weird when they, you know, aren't necessarily educated enough on
(10:43):
what they're seeing, and they just categorize every drone as
the same kind of thing. And I even come across
that too when I'm flying my FPV drones in a field.
You know, I'm minding my own business. Just obviously, I'm ripping.
I'm going about two hundred klometers an hour, avoiding people.
But it can still, you know, it can still startle
people and and keep them on edge and go like,
(11:04):
what are you doing? Why you flying not drone there?
So there's still kind of a bit of a stigma
around FTV drone racing too, at least like people that
just don't don't get it.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
Two hundred kilometers an hour or one hundred and about
one hundred and twenty five miles per hour, that is wild, Drew,
you and I are going to have to get together.
I'd love to see one of these things, as you said,
really rip it in the air sometime.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Thank you so much. We've got to do some FTV
for you. We'll get you with the goggles and you
can experience FPV flight. It'll be a blast.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
Oh, I can't wait. I just hope that I don't
crash it into a wall or something. We'll find out
if we get together. Hey, Drew, thank you so much
for your time. I really appreciate it, and Merry Christmas
and Happy.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
New Year to you you as well. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
Thank you so much. That is Drew hitten Ra who
is a professional drone flyer. He does a lot of
incredible work with it. You saw some stuff that he
did with the Sears Demolition and you can check out
his work as well at his website. Drew, what's your website?
Speaker 2 (12:08):
My website is w www dot h y t T
dot ca.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
A excellent Thanks so much, Drew. This is a M
eight hundred CKLW John Lydkey here. We're going to take
a quick break, but we will be back right after this.
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