Suffolk drone detection system finds mostly real estate agents taking to the skies

A surge of suspected drone activity above Long Island skies beginning in late 2024 fueled a range of conspiracy theories.

Foreign governments spying on the United States? Otherworldly visitors?

On the East End, drone sightings last year were more due to real estate photographers trying to get idyllic aerial views of homes. 

The Suffolk County Sheriff's Office — which installed a system to detect drones around Francis S. Gabreski Airport to unravel the mystery shortly after the conspiracy theories surged — has found that the reported sightings were largely benign. But officials noted at least one instance where a drone reportedly flew dangerously close to a descending aircraft.

Incident reports obtained by Newsday show sheriff deputies responded to more than 60 drone detections around the county airport in Westhampton in 2025. The reports offer a glimpse into the type of drone activity seen around the airport after the county installed drone-detection technology in January 2025, while solving a mystery that had bedeviled residents.

Up in the air

The reports show drones flying in restricted airspace came from real estate photographers, unsuspecting recreational users and, in some instances, drone operators who had received proper clearance to fly. In about 60% of cases, however, deputy sheriffs canvassing the area of a reported drone were unable to pinpoint the operator, the reports show.

Some of the busiest months included January, when the detection technology was installed; March, when a brush fire burned about 400 acres; and during early summer. The detections came primarily during the afternoon; two reports were nighttime.

Chief Deputy Sheriff Christopher Brockmeyer, who oversees the department’s police division, said drones have become easier to obtain and use recreationally and have also become more prevalent among commercial users, like professional photographers and at construction sites to monitor progress. 

“The education piece maybe isn’t there for people that could just go to a store, pick it up and give it to their kid without any knowledge of the requirements that surround it,” he said.

On the morning after the Westhampton brush fire broke out, the sheriff’s office received a detection that led them to a Newsday photographer, who had a Federal Aviation Administration license and certificate of registration, according to a report. Five days later, the sheriff’s office tracked down an unidentified person using a drone to shoot video of the fire’s aftermath.

On July 22, a deputy sheriff dispatched to Cedarfield Lane in Westhampton found a child flying a small drone. The child's father told the deputy he had been unaware of the restrictions, according to a report. The deputy showed the father how to use a cellphone app to check airspace boundaries.

Dedrone system

Brockmeyer said in late 2024 there had been numerous reports around the United States of drone sightings “interfering with airspace and potentially interfering with air operations.”

Gabreski, a general aviation airport with three runways that only serves private travel, corporate businesses and air taxi services, sees the bulk of its traffic during summer when the Hamptons population balloons. Officials had documented 28 reported drone sightings around the airport between Dec. 13 and 25, 2024, heightening the urgency to get more information on the type of activity around the airport, which is also home to the New York Air National Guard's 106th Rescue Wing.

Sgt. Richard Tedesco, who is responsible for the department’s technology unit, said the sheriff’s office received the drone detection equipment from the Suffolk County Department of Fire, Rescue and Emergency Services. A county spokesperson previously told Newsday that FRES acquired the Dedrone technology through federal Homeland Security funding.

The technology uses an antenna to monitor for radio signals. When a drone signal is detected, it triggers additional sensors similar to a “radar sweep” that can triangulate the drone’s precise location, Tedesco said.

“It will also let us know where the operator is,” he said.

The sheriff’s office then dispatches patrol units to investigate, he said.

Brockmeyer said the deputies often found “a low-altitude type of flight” that was not interfering with air traffic. Before the drone detection technology was installed, the sheriff’s office relied on eyewitnesses to spot a possible device and alert authorities, Brockmeyer said.

The FAA publishes maps that show maximum altitudes around airports for unmanned aircraft systems. 

The FAA says its receives more than 100 reports each month of unmanned aircraft near airports and notes that flying drones around airports and aircraft "is dangerous and illegal." Last year, a drone collided with a firefighting aircraft in California, forcing the aircraft fighting the Palisades fire to be grounded for several days, the Los Angeles Times reported. 

Tedesco said when the drone detection technology initially went live, sheriff deputies were looking at the airspace “more broadly.” He said they realized they didn’t necessarily need to send units to investigate reports in an "outer ring" and instead focused on the "inner ring" that includes flight paths for incoming and outgoing aircraft.

Flying safely

To fly a drone for commercial use, the operator needs to be licensed with a Part 107 Remote Pilot Certificate.

“It's kind of like having a license to drive a vehicle,” Brockmeyer said.

Deputy sheriffs don’t issue tickets for violations since flying a drone is a federal offense, Brockmeyer said. Fines and penalties — such as the revocation of licenses — are levied by the FAA.

“We're not trying to hamper the efforts of the commercial operators and/or Realtors or the flying public that are using for recreation use,” he said. “We just want to make sure they're doing it safely.”

Deputy sheriffs visited local real estate offices in June to help educate them on restrictions around the airport and the requirements to fly.

“And that education piece worked,” Brockmeyer said.

Ernie Cervi, regional senior vice president for the East End at Corcoran, told Newsday its agents are required to use professional photographers and the agents do not fly drones.

In past years, some drone users would have been automatically restricted from flying in restricted airspace by the device’s software. Sheriffs said most vendors have discontinued that, something they “found out just by happenstance,” Tedesco said.

DJI, the company that manufactures some of the most popular recreational and commercial drones, updated its software in January 2025 so it can generate in-app warnings for flying into FAA-designated restricted airspace as opposed to restricting the flight.

The company told Newsday that geofencing has not been mandated by the FAA, which has instead “advanced the principle of operator responsibility.”

On June 28, a pilot spotted a metallic silver drone about 20 yards off the tip of a wing as the airplane flew over Great Peconic Bay, descending toward Gabreski's Runway 24, according to a police report filed shortly after the incident. The near-strike, while outside the airport's restricted boundary, demonstrated "how dangerous it can be," Brockmeyer said. 

He said deputy sheriffs couldn't find the drone operator, but it likely belonged to a boater. The pilot reported seeing a "large group of boats," according to a report, and Brockmeyer said boaters tie up alongside each other in that area. 

"They wanted to launch their drone over the boats and get a nice aerial of view and it seemed like a great idea," he said.

That is, he said, until an aircraft came dangerously close.