An Air Force pilot flying a private plane seemed baffled after a strange-looking aircraft mirrored his maneuvers. 

In recent years, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has seen a significant rise in drone incidents. At The War Zone, we've been digging into the details of these sightings, notably through our interactive database of over 10,000 FAA reports. In a previous investigation, we used these and other records to show how unidentified aircraft have caused safety issues within military training ranges. These FAA reports also added further incidents to The War Zone's exclusive reporting about drones operating over nuclear facilities and other highly sensitive locales. 

While many of the reports are highly concerning, some are outright strange. In one of the more peculiar reports, a pilot flying a Diamond DA40 light aircraft described a highly unusual object mirroring his aircraft's maneuvers while flying at more than 2,000 feet above Atlantic City, New Jersey on September 16th, 2018. We have received video, audio, and documents regarding the incident via the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). You can watch the puzzling video below:

An account of the incident was originally filed via the FAA's Mandatory Occurrence Report (MOR) process. By FAA regulations, MORs must be generated whenever a pilot reports unauthorized or otherwise unsafe unmanned aerial system (UAS) activity. Both the behavior and reported altitude of the object likely prompted the report. The FAA requires drone operators to fly below 400 feet and to not interfere with manned aircraft operations.