The Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday that incidents of people pointing lasers at airplanes in New Jersey have soared since reports over the sightings of drones began.

The FAA said reports are up 269% to 59 in the first half of December, compared with eight in the same period last year.

Aiming a laser at an aircraft is a serious safety issue and a violation of federal law. U.S. agencies have said the spike in drone sightings do not pose national security risks and appear to be mostly aircraft, stars or hobbyist drones.