Daytime Drone Fly-by Over my Home Today

Please excuse this thread, as I'm sure one day soon drones will be far too commonplace to mention, but for the sake of record keeping and posterity, I'm making this report:

This afternoon, what was certainly an unmanned drone flew directly over my house near West Dundee IL. Several friends and I witnessed it as we were having a cookout on the deck for Labor Day.

It was gray, with no lights we could see. Way too small to fit anyone inside. It had no tail, instead the wings were V shaped and the nose had small stabilizer wings. It was only flying a couple hundred feet high at most, and we heard the faint sound of a propeller.

Again, just posting for the record. I would guess it belongs to Google...

It's probably not a big deal, just a little creepy..

originally posted by: Aqualung2012
Please excuse this thread, as I'm sure one day soon drones will be far too commonplace to mention, but for the sake of record keeping and posterity, I'm making this report:

This afternoon, what was certainly an unmanned drone flew directly over my house near West Dundee IL. Several friends and I witnessed it as we were having a cookout on the deck for Labor Day.

It was gray, with no lights we could see. Way too small to fit anyone inside. It had no tail, instead the wings were V shaped and the nose had small stabilizer wings. It was only flying a couple hundred feet high at most, and had we heard the faint sound of a propeller.

Again, just posting for the record. It's probably not a big deal, just creepy..

Lol, they fly over my house everyday.

a reply to: sacgamer25

The same as I've described? If so, that must be weird for you, and I wonder why so many?

originally posted by: Aqualung2012
a reply to: sacgamer25

The same as I've described? If so, that must be weird for you, and I wonder why so many?

Actually I do think I've seen one similar to what you describe. I think thier is at least 3 different designs that fly over my place.

They are easy to spot they have a different wing configuration than passenger planes and no windows.

The one you describe looks like the smallest of three, about the size of a Cessna. Does that sound about right for size?

And they fly much slower than passenger planes also.

a reply to: sacgamer25

It was definitely smaller than a Cessna, and yes very slow.

A few months ago a different kind flew over my house in the middle of the night that made no sound and had a constant white light and a blinking red light. Low and show...

a reply to: Aqualung2012

just a little creepy..

That it flew by is good. If it circles over your hood thats even creepier.

Not to long ago the police descended on our hood looking for some people that raided or robbed the PGE yard nearby. We live along a freeway wall and the double wall provided a conduit for them to travel. For some reason the law thought they were gone to ground and setup this late night stake out, placing cars (with loud radios) all around while high up the helos buzzed around and round for hours.

When they finally left I heard it. Way up high the high pitched whine of a single prop.

I know that was the drone. It didn't leave all night. it was there to look for the "escaped felons". Someone should have told them to fly higher. If I could hear it so could they.

originally posted by: intrptr
a reply to: Aqualung2012

just a little creepy..

That it flew by is good. If it circles over your hood thats even creepier...

The night-time one I mentioned above did just that. More like it ran straight lines back and forth. My buddy who was outside with me was freaking out haha...

I think that one was probably a quadcopter, but couldn't see.


Thinking about your story there, the thing that bothers me the most is that you can't tell what type of gear each drone has. They can carry any sort of camera/microphone imaginable, as well as weaponry...

a reply to: Aqualung2012

Because they are TOYS...hobby craft anyone can buy....and some kid near you bought one. They cost as little as $29. My local gas-station sell 3 different ones.

One is an exact copy of a stealth jet, one is a helicopter and the other is a UFO type. All have remote videos cams as well. They cost around $30, $50 and $79.9 respectively.

You are overly paranoid.

originally posted by: mysterioustranger
a reply to: Aqualung2012

Because they are TOYS...hobby craft anyone can buy....and some kid near you bought one. They cost as little as $29. My local gas-station sell 3 different ones.

One is an exact copy of a stealth jet, one is a helicopter and the other is a UFO type. All have remote videos cams as well. They cost around $30, $50 and $79.9 respectively.

You are overly paranoid.

And you are mistaken. This was no toy, not a chance... Also: if you'll read carefully, I said in the OP it's probably not a big deal, right?

But I do appreciate your input, up to and excluding your rude comment about my psyche.

I saw one fly over East St Louis when I was working on the roof last summer.

It didnt look like what you describe though. It was an old school plane design/sort of.

There was a man hunt in the area. Black police choppers circling and the works.

a reply to: Aqualung2012

Thinking about your story there, the thing that bothers me the most is that you can't tell what type of gear each drone has. They can carry any sort of camera/microphone imaginable, as well as weaponry…

It was night so surely Infra Red (IR).

Just the beginning of drone use here. Sadly, one day weapons will be standard issue.

They've had them on ground robots for some time.

www.thetruthaboutguns.com...

Did it look like this?


That'd be a Predator drone, if so. If the rear stabilizers were pointed in the other direction, it could've been a Reaper drone.

a reply to: parad0x122

It was very similar to that, yes, except the stabilizers were towards the front (at the nose) and there was no tail, just V shaped wings at the back.

a reply to: Aqualung2012

Hmm...don't know that I've seen that type before.

Hopefully either Zaph or someone else with much more knowledge from the Aircraft forum stops by to take a look. I'll drop them a link to your OP for more input :-)

i.huffpost.com...

Like this?

a reply to: tenacioustoast

That is almost exactly what it looked like! Only the wings were set back a bit further..

What are we looking at here?

What are we looking at here?

It's most likely a Boeing Insitu ScanEagle.
en.wikipedia.org...

However, the fact you say that it had small front stabilizing wings leads me to believe you may have seen something more similar to the Aeronautics Orbiter 3.
defense-update.com...

if it sounds like someone is mowing their lawn in the sky, its a good sized drone and not one of the toy types, possibly a hobbyist but more than likely there for a specific purpose and that purpose isn't recreation

originally posted by: tenacioustoast
However, the fact you say that it had small front stabilizing wings leads me to believe you may have seen something more similar to the Aeronautics Orbiter 3.
defense-update.com...

I'm almost positive that the drone in this video is what we saw. Thank you for the research. I'm looking into whether this drone is used by hobbyists...

Yes, this link says this model is used by military and DHS..

Not a toy...

I'm positive that's what we saw. Thank you!