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A party balloon shut down El Paso International Airport; estimated cost –$573k

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121–130 of 147 posts

Re: A party balloon shut down El Paso International Airport; estimated cost –$573k

#121

Thinking more practically though. Why wouldn't there be "narco drones", with drone technology becoming so ubiquitous and cheap? And what would their operators care about airspace restrictions? The practical ones, as in "not get sucked into a jet engine or damage a wing and cause a plane crash"?

According to the CBP they seize about 50,000 lbs of drugs at the border each month which is about 22 tonnes of drugs, and that's what gets seized, not the amount that makes it through. So Drones today probably don't carry enough weight for far enough to make a big impact on the amount of drugs you can bring into the country. So it probably happens, but to do it at a scale where it's genuinely contributing to the total volume you'd need dozens of drones doing dozens of trips a day to be getting up to volumes that people would notice, and people would probably notice the drones first, and the drones are probably much more expensive than desperate people.

Re: A party balloon shut down El Paso International Airport; estimated cost –$573k

#122
post #59

More alarmingly, the laser weapon was deployed before the FAA actually shut down the airspace: https://apnews.com/article/faa-el-paso-texas-air-space-close... I'd say these trigger-happy clowns chasing tough-guy optics are going to get innocent people killed, but then they already have -- multiple times.

Even more alarmingly, a US cabinet secretary came out with a public statement about the incident that was a complete fabrication (labelling it a "cartel drone incursion"), has issued no retraction, and no one seems to care. (Less alarmingly but more personal: my personal prediction to this effect, expressing distrust about statements like this in real time, got flagged right here on HN because apparently our leaders…

You didn't expect Kegsbreath to actually tell the truth?

Re: A party balloon shut down El Paso International Airport; estimated cost –$573k

#123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

'saner govt official because moron firing giant lasers into the air' - lasers just go everywhere at once and hit everything in the air, into the stratosphere? it's a big sky and gets bigger the higher you go.

lol, this is a great imply-but-don't-make-a-point from an account called gunapologist99. Is the implication here that someone firing laser weapons at things flying near the airport has no realistic danger for planes flying near the airport and therefore this was an overreaction?

Yes, because the danger didn’t merit a panicked 10 day ground stop with no info and a shoot down warning, but a NOTAM about the risk and routing.

Re: A party balloon shut down El Paso International Airport; estimated cost –$573k

#124
To be more clear than the headline:

It was NOT the party balloon, it was the CBP's [0] massively irresponsible use of the laser weapon as a response to a threat it failed to identify properly, inside commercial airspace with zero coordination with the FAA or other air operators.

Any significant competence or even communication would have turned this into a literal non-event.

But this so-called 'administration' values only loyalty to a leader and find competence an impediment to implementing authoritarianism. So, here we are, squandering a half-billion dollars on a horde of idiots with a laser and a party balloon.

[0] https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/cbp-shot-...

[0a] "Defense Department has a working relationship with Homeland Security, where CBP is headquartered, that allows its personnel to use certain military equipment for its objectives, testing, evaluation and use along the southern border.". Seems the laser was on-loan from the DoD, and the yahoos at CBP just decided to go wild.

Re: A party balloon shut down El Paso International Airport; estimated cost –$573k

#126

> Who among us hasn’t, at some point, mistaken a party balloon for a cartel drone? Let him cast the first stone.

Firstly, how is the world's most powerful military afraid of "cartel drones"? Don't they already have some sci-fi laser/EW gizmos to take care of those considering how much taxpayer dollars go to the defense sector? Secondly, contrary to popular belief, cartel leaders are smart enough to know not to directly mess with and attract the wrath of the US military when that's not good for their core business.

> Firstly, how is the world's most powerful military afraid of "cartel drones"?

They sent an aircraft carrier to fight "cartels". /s

Re: A party balloon shut down El Paso International Airport; estimated cost –$573k

#127
post #122
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even more alarmingly, a US cabinet secretary came out with a public statement about the incident that was a complete fabrication (labelling it a "cartel drone incursion"), has issued no retraction, and no one seems to care. (Less alarmingly but more personal: my personal prediction to this effect, expressing distrust about statements like this in real time, got flagged right here on HN because apparently our leaders…

You didn't expect Kegsbreath to actually tell the truth?

Is he even capable of telling the truth?

Re: A party balloon shut down El Paso International Airport; estimated cost –$573k

#128
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

wow maybe we should stop giving the law enforcement orgs weapons of war

All cops should have a nuke.

This sounds like the start of a really good beat poem...

Re: A party balloon shut down El Paso International Airport; estimated cost –$573k

#129
post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never said otherwise.

so why are you defending instead of condemning them?

I'm not defending anything? Replying to someone doesn't mean I hold an opposite viewpoint. You don't have any clue what my opinion is because I haven't posted it.

Re: A party balloon shut down El Paso International Airport; estimated cost –$573k

#130
post #122
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even more alarmingly, a US cabinet secretary came out with a public statement about the incident that was a complete fabrication (labelling it a "cartel drone incursion"), has issued no retraction, and no one seems to care. (Less alarmingly but more personal: my personal prediction to this effect, expressing distrust about statements like this in real time, got flagged right here on HN because apparently our leaders…

You didn't expect Kegsbreath to actually tell the truth?

The problem with that attitude is it normalizes it, which is extra scary for military
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