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Officials Claim Drone Incursion Led to Shutdown of El Paso Airport

nytimes.com

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Re: Officials Claim Drone Incursion Led to Shutdown of El Paso Airport

#121

Post by Johnny555 »

RupertSalt wrote: post #106
viraptor wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The not-totally-crazy ideas from Reddit include: - it's related to the annouced GPS disruption test (although that's a really long time and doesn't seem urgent enough) - someone in Mexico is getting kidnapped by Gov - nuclear tests I wish those were crazy ideas, but here we are...

> GPS disruption Ah, a very plausible explanation! https://avbrief.com/overnight-gps-testing-affects-huge-area-... The map indicates it will be centered on Lampasas and the region of effect seems to be east of El Paso. So, if the GPS exercises are the cause, the TFRs would've been more likely to bring in Austin, Dallas, and San Antonio. Isn't it possible that a 10-day TFR could be lifted early once the concern is pas…

If it's just routine testing, then why couldn't they have announced it earlier to allow companies to plan and/or fly their planes out of the affected area?

Re: Officials Claim Drone Incursion Led to Shutdown of El Paso Airport

#123

Post by throw0101a »

viraptor wrote: post #77
fabian2k wrote: post #65

There is a circular restriction around the airport and a trapezoid one next to the city ( https://elpasomatters.org/2026/02/11/unexplained-faa-order-s... ). What are the plausible explanations here? I can't think of anything except military action against Mexico (or the cartels inside Mexico). But even that doesn't fit well. A suspected terror attack could explain the airspace around the airport, but not the weird tr…

The not-totally-crazy ideas from Reddit include: - it's related to the annouced GPS disruption test (although that's a really long time and doesn't seem urgent enough) - someone in Mexico is getting kidnapped by Gov - nuclear tests I wish those were crazy ideas, but here we are...

> - it's related to the annouced GPS disruption test (although that's a really long time and doesn't seem urgent enough)

Those are done regularly without TFRs. See recent example in Texas:

* https://avbrief.com/overnight-gps-testing-affects-huge-area-...

A link to a list of notices at:

* https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/gps-service-interruptions

Re: Officials Claim Drone Incursion Led to Shutdown of El Paso Airport

#124

Post by graemep »

baq wrote: post #71
codeduck wrote: post #68

Am I hallucinating? Wasn't there just an identical thread on the front page not even an hour ago?

You aren’t, probably was flagged down by not being hacker enough (or more likely for being an open invitation to runaway speculation without any grounding in reality and facts)

This also seems to be an open invitation to runaway speculation.

A lot of the speculation is ridiculous given only a small area has been closed. That is not a prelude to war, for example!

Re: Officials Claim Drone Incursion Led to Shutdown of El Paso Airport

#125

Post by kijin »

bdbdbdb wrote: post #97

To me the trapezoid suggests something traveling south fell in the area. Narrow at the top, wide at the bottom. Maybe they dropped a nuke by accident (again)

That looks like a rather flat trapezoid for something that fell from high above.

With a fast-moving object, we can usually tell its trajectory across the map much more accurately than we can tell where along that trajectory it impacted the ground. See: MH370.

Re: Officials Claim Drone Incursion Led to Shutdown of El Paso Airport

#126

Post by Johnny555 »

bluGill wrote: post #98
viraptor wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Without cutting off the roads first? That wouldn't make much sense, right?

People drive too much. Cut off ais travel and only a few care - who drive to Los Cruzes NM to fly. cut off roads and they will in mass break the barricades.

>People drive too much

That doesn't seem like a good argument for instituting a quarantine by blocking air travel but not ground travel. And why block everything including police, cargo and medivac flights for a quarantine?

Re: Officials Claim Drone Incursion Led to Shutdown of El Paso Airport

#127

Post by dathinab »

con wrote: post #102

FAA closed another airspace nearby: https://tfr.faa.gov/tfr3/?page=detail_6_2234 - From February 11, 2026 at 0630 UTC (February 10, 2026 at 2330 MST) - To February 21, 2026 at 0630 UTC (February 20, 2026 at 2330 MST) My guess is nuclear tests

it's too spontaneous for that

it it's "just" a training exercise or test they could have announced the closing weeks or month before it happening massively reducing the cost fallout from it

not that the current administration has in generally acted with care when it comes to causing huge financial damage to US cities, especially such they don't like

Re: Officials Claim Drone Incursion Led to Shutdown of El Paso Airport

#128

Post by JumpinJack_Cash »

RupertSalt wrote: post #106
viraptor wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The not-totally-crazy ideas from Reddit include: - it's related to the annouced GPS disruption test (although that's a really long time and doesn't seem urgent enough) - someone in Mexico is getting kidnapped by Gov - nuclear tests I wish those were crazy ideas, but here we are...

> GPS disruption Ah, a very plausible explanation! https://avbrief.com/overnight-gps-testing-affects-huge-area-... The map indicates it will be centered on Lampasas and the region of effect seems to be east of El Paso. So, if the GPS exercises are the cause, the TFRs would've been more likely to bring in Austin, Dallas, and San Antonio. Isn't it possible that a 10-day TFR could be lifted early once the concern is pas…

> > The map indicates it will be centered on Lampasas and the region of effect seems to be east of El Paso. So, if the GPS exercises are the cause, the TFRs would've been more likely to bring in Austin, Dallas, and San Antonio.

Wait so people in South Texas won't be able to use GPS on the ground either?

Also if the goal is to disrupt the cartels and the people using GPS to know where they are at in the process of crossing the border illegally why is the Army involved in this at all?

The Army has no business in taking part of operations to disrupt cartels and illegal immigration, it's the whole rational behind having 3 letters agency including the evil one that rose to prominence lately

Re: Officials Claim Drone Incursion Led to Shutdown of El Paso Airport

#130

Post by cucumber3732842 »

Havoc wrote: post #108

My money is on misplaced black budget project craft Maybe that new F-47 did a trump and fell asleep somewhere in the desert

That's kind of what I'm thinking too though my money would be on something like "super secret stealth cruise missile ripped off it's mounting pylon" or control software went crazy rather than an airframe loss.

It's likely be something small enough and with little/no fuel because if it left a big smoking hole they'd find it quick. And it's gotta be something with fairly questionable aerodynamic properties (i.e. damaged) or questionable guidance (i.e not an inadvertently released bomb) otherwise they'd have a very good idea of where it landed.

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