[PSM]

At the end of July, the FAA reassigned EWR (Newark) from New York TRACON (Approach/Departure Control) to Philidelphia TRACON. This necessitated a realignment of both approach and departure routes through the Northeast Corridor airspace, including LGA and JFK. With the time change and lack of foliage in the Fall, it's likely that people are seeing aircraft landing lights at night that they are not used to seeing. Calls to the press exacerbated the hysteria and (remember Flash Mobs?) I have no doubt that some droners are doing similar things with drones. With all the press attention, people are also out looking for them.

UFO story: When I was an instructor and the US Army Combat Surveillance/Electronic Warfare School at Ft. Huachuca, we were a major reason for UFO sighting in SE AZ. After I got out of the Army I got a job in TV in Tucson. We ran reports of these sightings one night. The next day I told the news director what it was that the reports were describing and told him that I could get him on Ft. Huachuca to see for himself. He declined. This was 1971. Fake News isn't new.