Airport disruption
Newark arrivals paused after nearby suspected drone reports
Newark, United States22 Jan 2019 · event dateapproximate location You are viewing revision 1 as published on 16 Oct 2026. The dossier text, evidence states, claims and sources of this revision are fixed; catalogue context such as cost estimates is not shown here. View the current version
Arrivals at Newark Liberty International Airport were briefly paused on 22 January 2019 after pilots reported an object thought to be a drone near Teterboro. Drone presence was not independently established.
AttributionNot established
Claims and evidence
2 sources · 3 original statements
Sources that repeat the same original statement count once: a number of articles is not a number of independent confirmations.
| Claim | Original source | Assessment |
|---|
| Impact AOPA records a ground stop at the affected Newark airport. Source passage [1]“prompting a ground stop at nearby Newark Liberty International Airport” Passage checked word for word against the source on 16 Oct 2026. | AOPA reporting / airport operations via AOPA | supports Short literal passage read on the public source page; reported drone presence is not technical identification. |
| Impact United described the impact as minimal at the time of its statement. Source passage [2]“The impact to our operations has been minimal so far.” Passage checked word for word against the source on 16 Oct 2026. | United Airlines via TIME | supports Short literal passage read on the public source page; reported drone presence is not technical identification. |
| Drone The object was described as resembling a drone, not technically identified. Source passage [1]“looks like a drone” Passage checked word for word against the source on 16 Oct 2026. | Pilot report relayed by AOPA via AOPA | supports Short literal passage read on the public source page; reported drone presence is not technical identification. |
Source genealogy
Grouped by recorded original statement, not by publisher. Unmapped sources have unknown dependency; linked statements may also share an earlier origin. This is not an independence score.
- AOPA reporting / airport operations
- AOPA: pilot reports and identification uncertainty [1] · Relayed statement
- United Airlines
- TIME: FAA and United Airlines statements [2] · Relayed statement
- Pilot report relayed by AOPA
- AOPA: pilot reports and identification uncertainty [1] · Relayed statement
Show source graph
Left: publishers; right: recorded original statement. Converging lines show shared origin, not publication order. Dashed nodes have unknown dependency.
What we know
The FAA reported an arrival pause and delays to some departures for Newark. United Airlines described its operational impact as minimal. No full-airport closure duration is established here.
TIME relays separate FAA and airline statements. AOPA reports the operational response and its own aviation-security specialist’s doubts about visual identification. These are distinct reporting and operational origins, with shared pilot reports rather than two technical detections.
What remains unknown
The reported sighting was near Teterboro; Newark is the affected airport, not a proven drone position. AOPA describes takeoff disruption as well, while TIME specifically describes arrivals: no claim that every operation stopped. Source publication on 23 January UTC is consistent with the 22 January local-evening event. No device count, type, operator or physical damage established.
Operator attribution: Not established. No operator or responsible organisation established by the reviewed sources.
How the story changed
Arrivals at Newark Liberty International Airport were briefly paused on 22 January 2019 after pilots reported an object thought to be a drone near Teterboro. Drone presence was not independently established. [1]
Editorial changes
- Revision 1 · 16 Oct 2026Curated dossier created after checking the cited sources line by line.
Cite this dossier
Permanent page · Revision 1
Chicago
DroneLedger. “Newark arrivals paused after nearby suspected drone reports.” Dossier newark-airport-drone-report-2019-01-22, revision 1, updated 16 Oct 2026. https://droneincidents.com/incident/newark-airport-drone-report-2019-01-22/v1/
APA
DroneLedger. (16 Oct 2026). Newark arrivals paused after nearby suspected drone reports (Dossier newark-airport-drone-report-2019-01-22, revision 1). https://droneincidents.com/incident/newark-airport-drone-report-2019-01-22/v1/
Dataset DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.23345422
Cite the revision you used: later revisions may change evidence states.
Curated dossier · sources checked line by line on 15 Oct 2026
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