The FAA abruptly closed the airspace around El Paso airport overnight on Tuesday, giving little explanation. The airport was expected to be closed for 10 days, but it was re-opened Wednesday morning.
The administration offered the explanation that Mexican cartels had been flying drones into U.S. airspace. However it now appears that it was the Defense Department “operating unmanned aircraft, or drones, against drug cartel operations from a base near El Paso’s airport without sharing information with the FAA.”
Military activity to monitor cartels was endangering commercial aircraft. The FAA and military were in a grudge match over it, and the FAA escalated.
“It has to do with the FAA’s inability to predict where [unmanned aircraft systems] might be flying,” the official told the Tribune. “They have been operating outside the normal flight paths.”
Shutting down the airspace did two things.
- It protected flights from a dangerous activity
- It quickly got attention in the administration to tamp down on reckless military activity
The military has also sought to block reforms around D.C.’s National airport that would make flying safe in the aftermath of the American Airlines tragedy there a year ago. Limiting helicopter flights in the approach path of commercial planes is inconvenient. They’ve sought to preserve helicopter training flights around passenger flights.
Respect for Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford on this one.
What a shit show
Sounds about right. Deflect, blame others, gaslight. This administration could tell me the sky is blue and I’d insist on verifying it myself.
From the Tribune article you link to:
“The FAA and DOW acted swiftly to address a cartel drone incursion,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy posted on X, referring to the Department of War. “The threat has been neutralized, and there is no danger to commercial travel in the region.”
I’m glad the escalation got resolved, but It’s hard to share your respect for Duffy when he parrots this misinformation.
Any White House is supposed to call balls and strikes between the various departments. If this is true, the fact that the FAA did something like closing airspace for 10 days to get another part of the government to back down is absurd. This never should have played out in public.
Reluctantly, I have to agree..
@Mike, @Parker, @swag – So as retired military I can tell you that I am impressed the administration took swift action to correct an issue. Since it was between 2 separate executive branch departments it is possible that proper procedure was not followed or confirmed between departments. I know I am a drone or bot. Oh and “orange man bad”, felonies etc. You guys are brainwashed.
Michael,
Don’t bother…1990 and his ilk have spread across the travel blogs like a virus and it’s just not worth it countering their emotional red meat arguments anymore.
Poor @Michael Minnelli and @Steve, they still believe and support the orange idiots and his minions. Is there any line that can be crossed that the light switch will turn on?
Liberals are grasping at any straw to blame the current administration and distract from their own gross mismanagement of our cities and states.
Take my home, Los Angeles: We have around 75,000 homeless people—and the numbers keep growing—along with rampant crime and massive fraud. Restaurants are closing left and right. A year after the Westside (Pacific Palisades area) burned down in that devastating fire, there’s still very little rebuilding or new construction happening. Local leadership refuses to seriously address any of these crises, yet they’ll pile on about an issue like this.
@Michael Mainello if proper procedure was not followed between two departments whose mistake could cause hundreds of lives that is a huge problem…regardless of which administration is overseeing said departments. This could have been an AA5342 all over again.
This could happen in any administration. The issue is the credibility of THIS administration. Somehow we went from Mexican drug cartels to our own military. One is a boogie man and the other is, as you put it, possible failed processes. We both know which narrative this administration would prefer to choose. No brainwashing, just observation.
“Restaurants are closing left and right”
Definitely a reason to send the National Guard.
so, at worst, we had cross border drone activity with the DOD not informing the FAA of what it was doing.
While this doesn’t look good for the DOD, I still would rather they err on the side of protecting the US and the FAA protecting aviation and the two can sort it all out after their both essential first steps.
That’s the very same border the lunatics of the left want to be wide open. Check the situation in Tijuana. That’s what they wish for America.
@Steve & @Dave – Thanks, these guys (probably 1 or 2 bots) will never find anything positive to say about our current president because they have been thoroughly indoctrinated.
Today the jobs report came out – 130,000+ – and all in the private sector. Even the size of government is shrinking. I am sure they were all low paying and can’t live on the wages. There responses are standard boiler plate negative.
It takes time to fix all of the programs (really payoffs) from the last joker.
Deport illegal aliens — Save environment.
(Ominous music) So, the speculation about cartels with Venezuelan-supplied Chinese MANPADS was unfounded? Or is the new explanation a cover-up to avoid panic?
@ Tim Dunn
Frankly, using “patriotism” as an argument is pure B.S. I believe that this Administration is getting way out of hand. Too many lies and too much misinformation. Truth leads to respect. Sorting it out later can wind up being an NTSB investigation of another AA and helicopter. The Administration has not earned the respect that would lead to what you suggest.
Jobs report has already been revised down and unfavorable job reporters have been fired. Sorry if I am indoctrinated or a bot but if you believe these numbers I have a Canadian-owned bridge in to sell you.
@Winston – The large downward jobs report was released by the last party during their convention. It was almost 1 million jobs use to make the autopen president look good prior to the convention he never got to. The person fired, but our current president, was because of these lies to the American people. But, you knew that, but want to find a way to make the autopen president look good. You failed. Today’s report has not been revised downward, though revisions are common under both administrations.
Mainello, does your tongue get tired being up Mango Mussolini’s butthole all the time? You’re the type of person that I would have arrested and imprisoned in my wonderful plan for an all-Republican concentration camp. Showers included.
The DOD lost control over AI drones and were worried that a civilian aircraft would be mistaken for a Venezuelan “drug” boat and be targeted for a missle strike.
@Total: The National Guard was sent in because rioters were destroying federal property, and LAPD was not allowed to do their job to protect it. In fact, LAPD allowed rioters to completely destroy and loot Little Tokyo, one of the oldest immigrant communities in LA. Let that sink in.
How sad, but not unexpected, to see Gary pretend this was a ‘success.’
@Parker, @AlanZ — I’m surprised these fascists didn’t go full-DARVO and start blaming their opposition for their own ineptitude… oh, wait, they are… see, @Michael Mainello, @Dave, @Steve…
None of this helps with cost of living, jobs, healthcare… 264 days until the midterms.
@Parker
That’s because you’re a TDS clown.
My enemies aren’t in Moscow, Beijing or Tehran. They are on my own cities and streets. People like you.
@1990, happy for you to step up and defend my points. Give it a shot. And if you think you have me figured out politically, I can guarantee you that you are wrong.
@1990
God I really wish they would. I wish there was a phone number I could inform the government on my neighbors to. I have so many names I wish to submit.
@Total
National guard should be sent in to deal with the sedition from the left.
DhS however has been a Pretti Goode shot so far so I think they can handle the scum in the streets
@Michael is the same guy who claims that Jan 6th was totally peaceful and of course instigated by undercover FBI. And he also seems to think that anyone who does not share TWS (Trump Worship Syndrome) is a bot.
Sure … keep genuflecting to your Orange MESSIAH
@1990 – Your party actively blocks everything when they are in the minority and does nothing when in charge? Obamacare was a spectacular failure. I wish your party was as good at fixing things as they are at indoctrination.
The current administration has done a lot with the drug companies and with transparent pricing. Illegals are not flooding the ERs as much so that should help access, but I doubt it will help prices.
Taxes are down (I know @1990 you don’t feel it). Unemployment is down and private sector jobs are up. Inflation is down, mortgage rates are lower. For being in office only 13 months, there have been gigantic strides forward.
The key is an honest election, but your party is too afraid to require IDs to vote even though approximately 80% of the electorate support it. But that is not enough to make the dead vote switch parties.
@Dave – Sorry about lumping you in with @Parker.
Again, my apologies.
@Michael Mainello, @Walter Barry, @Dave (I’m assuming you’re the Dave that got kicked off LALF), fellas, please, say whatever you wanna say here; call everyone you disagree with a ‘traitor’ if it makes you feel better; fortunately, Gary is the closest thing I’ve found in this space to an actual free-speech absolutist. But, understand, your team is not doing well. And, the midterms are gonna be brutal. Mentally prepare yourselves.
@1990 I think I’ve been pretty respectful, but it does prove a point. You like to call people names but can’t defend the policies that have ruined some of our great cities and states, which have been put in place entirely by a supermajority party. All you have left is name calling (it’s the old Godwin’s law in effect).
All of our politicians here in Los Angeles are currently using their voices to denounce the current administration, without taking any responsibility for the things that have devolved which are all in their direct control. But you won’t address any of that, and just want to blame someone else for everything.
Look at this dingus ranting about LA when this is stuff happening between federal agencies in Texas
@Dave — What do you want me to defend? All is see you guys setting up strawmen on here. Blue states and cities are doing just fine; other than oil-country, most of our economic output comes for said states and cities. Did you skip watching the Super Bowl? Probably. Well, the Bay Area was looking nice again. People still want to live in LA; if you’re done with it, you don’t have to stay there. NYC hasn’t fallen to ‘communism!’ either. Even Minnesota, which your team has viciously tried to attack lately, is coming together as a community in ways that are truly heartening. America will heal. As long as it takes.
@Dave – 1990 never responds to facts, he will switch the subject or just go into a do loop. They are his kryptonite. Notice how he never addressed your facts about the homeless, etc.
@1990 – please cite where I have called anyone a “traitor”.
@1990 – you make my point. You are all hot and bothered about an airport temporarily closing down but can’t intellectually be honest about the other party’s failings. BTW, I’m not on a “team”, but keep the personal attacks and assumptions coming.
If you’re trying to make the point that it’s actually DEMOCRATS that are the party that can’t recognize their own failures than you have well and truly been brainwashed by right-wing media.
@Winston – thanks for posting again. I almost forgot, please show me your source of today’s job report being revised downward or are you one of 1990’s aliases or protégés?
I can’t show you in any way other than words and since it’s clear that you can’t read I will respectfully refuse. I give you permission to tell your mom upstairs that you won a debate against a fearsome liberal.
@Winston – As a retired military veteran who has fought to preserve your right to free speech, I will honor your response no matter how moronic. It is something I expect from a liberal, because they traffic on half-truths and outright falsehoods to their ignorant base of followers.
I will now return to my duties as a caregiver to my 90+ year old father who is also a retired military veteran. Those folks reading this will either praise your intellectual acumen or see you for a fraud.
AlanZ
it is precisely because the FAA doesn’t want a repeat of DC that this all happened. I have no idea why they asked for a 10 day TFR but if there are unknowns about activity in the air, the appropriate response is to protect aviation first and then sort it out later.
I am sorry for you that you see everything through the lens of us vs. them; I can only hope that “your team” would have protected the US if their DoD detected foreign drones coming across the border.
Michael M.
thank you for your service to our country
Release ALL the Unredacted Epstein files NOW
@ Tim Dunn – Thanks, it was an honor.
@ WestCoast Flyer – I don’t know why the last administration didn’t do it, wink. But it can’t be completely redacted due to victims of these peoples abuse might not want their names released. How much of what has been released ?
@Michael thank you for your service and best to your father.
I rarely ever post in the comments on this blog but I can t help call out low information people like 1990. Thanks for the heads up about them
The Texas Tribune article you referenced had two conflicting explanations for the closure, neither with attribution. Has a credable source come forward since?
@. O’Hare Is My Second Home
As a fellow Chicagoan, you’re welcome to come & try to get me.
@1990– nothing to say about liberals for gas chambers?
@Tim Dunn
God forbid, but when it happens again at National because of politics, tell me again why I am playing politics.
Don’t be so obtuse. Why was the military flying drones? Because the cartel was flying drones into the US.
All these leftist posters are so disingenuous, it doesn’t matter what this admin does, they are reflexively against it. When you corner yourself by opposing anything that Trump is in favor of, you end up on the short side of yet another 80/20 issue.
Oh, by the way, Tim, laser weapons in the hands of government “expert” who couldn’t tell the difference between a party balloon and drone really inspires my confidence in the government. Sort of murdering unarmed civilians.
@jack the ladd — I’m still shocked that we use basically the equivalent of gas chambers in some US states to execute prisoners. Thought we’d’ve learned that’s not a ‘great’ way to handle things… I suppose it’s slightly better than honor-killings via stoning *cough*
@L3 — That’s the thing… We’re not going to get a ‘credible’ source from these guys anytime soon. It’ll just be their false or misleading narrative vs. our reactions and opinions for a while, until a critical mass of people have finally had enough, likely when the economics of this regime no longer work for them personally. Now, 263 days until midterms.
So, in this case, if say a whistleblower were to come out and say, ‘hey, guys, umm, like, we just wasted $1 million of taxpayer money on testing out our new military laser on shooting down a balloon from a gender-reveal party that was floating around Juarez,’ they’d be immediately discredited by this regime and called a traitor, that stance would be reinforced by their media, then parroted by right-wingers online (see above), and then the plausible deniability sets in.
I wish we could return to an era of relative objectivity, and I do think it’ll eventually happen, but it’s going to take real work. We got ourselves out of the first Gilded Age through independent journalism, and courageous leadership. Ironically, it was President Teddy Roosevelt, a Republican, then Bull-Moose party (though, honestly, his anti-corporate stance would be more fitting of a progressive, non-corporate-shill Democrat these days), who ushered in the first progressive era. Time to bust some trusts, friends.
@AlanZ — You follow enough of these ‘travel’ blogs and the commentary of the often extreme right-wingers to know they’re mostly full-of-it. Regurgitating nonsense. So, I wouldn’t stress too much over @Tim Dunn, @Dave, @Michael Mainello, or any of the rest. Please, do keep goading them, for fun, if you wish. But, more imporantly, you, sir, are already living the good life, and I can’t blame you. Those of us back ‘home’ are doing our best; and, our resolve has never been stronger. The other ‘side’ is flailing. Note how excessive their retorts have become…
Hey, Obama got Bin Laden and now Trump successfully defeated a party balloon. Both are heroes.
Good point. A person’s stripes do not change over a short exchange. I will not bother with exchanging backgrounds. And besides, it would distract Tim from his primary role.
Yes, we are living the good life. While my neighbors have no understanding why normally sane and rational Americans are foaming at the mouth like rabid animals, they wish Americans well and hope for a healthy recovery.
Just booked my meals on LH and and SQ. Thinking of penguins and wine in NZ. Will have some more clothes made in Singapore. I think distance can give better a better perspective.
To those still reading these comments I will point out again, the “progressives” aka communist commentators have not listed 1 fact to support their comments. When asked to support their slander, they change the subject or throw more mud (or other brown stuff) on the wall. So @1990, etc, I believe they are either bots or paid agitators. Either way, they are empty vessels just here to stir the boiling pot and create doubt about this great country and political system.
@1990 @Parker and other true believers. You wanted Kamala to win? Early in her career, she fu..d and su..d Willie Brown — a powerful, much older, and married political figure — who later appointed her to state boards. Even if legal, the situation raises serious questions about political favoritism and insider advancement.Is this the kind of route into public office we want to consider acceptable? Would you want your daughters to follow Kamala’s example? Oh, boy how right was Trump when he said that rich and powerful can grab them by the pus.y. Kamalas enable this kind of behavior and exploit benefits. How disgusting it is!
No surprise she wanted transgenders to beat up women. No respect for women rights and identity.
Walter Barry–your “Pretti Goode” comment crossed a very serious line.
Totally uncalled for. If it were my blog I’d ban you.
SHAME!