Topic
Civilian, police and airline reports, from single witnesses to mass sightings seen by thousands. 258 events, newest first.
Select any year above to see what happened that year.
Sightings9 Dec 2025
Through autumn 2025 Vilnius Airport was repeatedly shut as balloons carrying contraband drifted in from Belarus. Lithuanian officials called it part of a hybrid attack, and on Dec. 9, 2025 the government declared a nationwide emergency situation. The objects were identified, not unexplained.
Photo: Trevort Morgondont, CC BY-SA 3.0
Sightings9 Nov 2025
Operator Engie said drones flew over the Doel nuclear plant near Antwerp on the evening of Nov. 9, 2025, first counting three and then five, aloft for about an hour. Operations were not affected. The operators were not identified; it followed drone reports over Belgian military bases.
Photo: Tadmouri, CC BY-SA 4.0
Sightings4 Nov 2025
Days after drones were reported over Kleine-Brogel air base, drone sightings disrupted Brussels Airport on the evening of Nov. 4, 2025, and briefly halted Liege Airport on Nov. 6 and 7. Belgium's National Security Council met and the defense minister pledged a stronger air security center.
Photo: Ad Meskens, CC BY-SA 4.0
Sightings31 Oct 2025
Berlin Brandenburg Airport suspended takeoffs and landings for almost two hours after a drone was reported nearby, diverting a series of flights. Police sent a patrol car and helicopter; officers saw a drone but its operator was not found.
Photo: Roy Zuo, CC BY-SA 4.0
Sightings2 Oct 2025
Munich Airport suspended flights on the evenings of Oct. 2 and 3, 2025 after unconfirmed drone sightings, amid a wave of drone incidents across Europe; thousands of passengers were affected. Germany's interior minister promised faster rules letting police call on the military to shoot drones down.
Photo: Thomas Kniess, CC BY-SA 3.0
SightingsOct 2025
Two peer-reviewed papers by Beatriz Villarroel, Stephen Bruehl and colleagues reported that brief star-like flashes on 1950s Palomar survey plates clustered around nuclear test dates and UFO reports. Other astronomers argued the flashes are plate or copying artifacts.
Photo: Palomar Observatory (scan by Michael Vergara), CC BY-SA 3.0
Sightings26 Sep 2025
Amid Denmark's wave of drone alarms, Billund, the country's second-largest airport, was briefly closed early on September 26, 2025 after a report of illegal drone activity. Police later said the object behind that report was a shining star in the sky.
Photo: Nico-dk, CC BY-SA 3.0
Sightings22 Sep 2025
Oslo's main airport closed for several hours overnight after drones were reported in its airspace, on the same night drone sightings shut Copenhagen Airport. It reopened early on Sept. 23; Norway's security service PST said it was involved in the investigation.
Photo: Avinor Oslo lufthavn/Espen Solli, CC BY 3.0
Sightings24 Mar 2025
A large glowing spiral was seen and filmed across the UK and much of Europe on the evening of March 24, 2025, prompting UFO speculation. The Met Office and astronomers attributed it to the frozen exhaust plume of a Falcon 9 launched from Florida that day.
Sightings6 Mar 2025
SpaceX lost its Starship upper stage minutes into its eighth test flight. Glowing debris was filmed from Florida, the Bahamas, Jamaica and the Turks and Caicos, and the FAA briefly halted departures at several Florida airports, citing space launch debris.
Photo: NASA/JSC/Don Pettit, Public domain
Sightings19 Feb 2025
Early on February 19, 2025, bright flashes were seen over parts of Poland. The Polish Space Agency said a Falcon 9 rocket stage from a SpaceX Starlink launch had made an uncontrolled reentry, and fragments were later confirmed at four sites near Poznan.
Photo: NASA Headquarters / NASA/Aubrey Gemignani, Public domain
Sightings9 Jan 2025
A drone flown from a Santa Monica parking structure into a flight restriction zone hit a Quebec-owned Super Scooper fighting the Palisades Fire, leaving a hole in its left wing and taking it out of service. After an FBI investigation the operator agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor.
Photo: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Public domain
Sightings30 Dec 2024
A red-hot metal ring about 2.5 m across and roughly 500 kg fell into Mukuku village in Makueni County. The Kenya Space Agency recovered it and said preliminary findings showed it was a rocket separation ring; the exact launch was not named.
Photo: Smilymecy, CC BY-SA 4.0
Sightings14 Dec 2024
During the Northeast drone flap, Boston police responding to reports of a drone flying dangerously close to Logan Airport found two men on closed Long Island in Boston Harbor with a drone in a backpack. They were charged with trespassing; a third man was not caught.
Photo: David Wilson, CC BY 2.0
Sightings13 Dec 2024
Runways at Stewart International Airport in New York were shut for about an hour after the FAA reported drone activity during the Northeast drone flap. Gov. Kathy Hochul said 'This has gone too far' and sought federal help; the Port Authority said flights were not affected.
Photo: Acroterion, CC BY-SA 4.0
SightingsNov 2024
From mid-November 2024 residents across New Jersey and nearby states reported thousands of suspected drones at night. In joint statements the FBI, DHS, FAA and DoD said they found no national security threat and attributed sightings to lawful drones, manned aircraft and stars.
Photo: Chetsford, Public domain
SightingsAug 2024
In August 2024 police in Schleswig-Holstein reported repeated night drone flights over Brunsbuttel's chemical park and LNG terminal, up to five per night. Flensburg prosecutors opened an inquiry on suspicion of sabotage-related espionage; no operator was publicly identified.
Photo: Steffen Papenbroock, CC BY-SA 3.0
Sightings21 Jan 2024
Krisztian Sarneczky in Hungary discovered a meter-scale asteroid hours before it entered the atmosphere about 50 km west of Berlin at 00:32 UTC. Searchers recovered dozens of fragments near Ribbeck, a rare aubrite meteorite.
Photo: Andreas Moller, CC BY-SA 4.0
Sightings1 Jan 2024
A heavy police response to a New Year's Day brawl among teenagers at Miami's Bayside Marketplace set off viral posts claiming tall 'shadow aliens' were there. Miami police said there were no aliens, UFOs or power outages, and that the response was to the fight.
Photo: Phillip Pessar, CC BY 2.0
Sightings19 Nov 2023
Flights at Imphal's Bir Tikendrajit International Airport were disrupted for several hours after an unidentified object was reported hovering over the airport. The airport director said two flights were diverted and three departures delayed.
Photo: Haoreima, CC BY-SA 4.0
