{"id":168214,"date":"2026-02-17T15:12:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T15:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/168214\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T15:12:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T15:12:08","slug":"faa-shut-down-el-paso-airspace-to-fire-laser-at-party-balloons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/168214\/","title":{"rendered":"FAA Shut Down El Paso Airspace To Fire Laser At Party Balloons"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"USSource: Anadolu \/ Getty<\/p>\n

There\u2019s been confusion as to why the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced and quickly reversed a 10-day closure of El Paso airspace last Wednesday<\/a>. The answer initially given was that there was cartel drone activity in the area, an explanation that El Paso officials weren\u2019t buying. Turns out their skepticism was correct, and the real answer is stupider than any of us thought, as the closure came after Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) fired a laser at a couple of party balloons.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Folks. We truly live in the wildest timeline.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to NBC News<\/a>, CBP used the anti-drone laser without coordinating with the FAA beforehand, despite the test taking place near the El Paso International Airport. The FAA responded to the laser\u2019s use by declaring a \u201ctemporary flight restriction notice,\u201d which closes the surrounding airspace for 10-days. While TFRs have been issued for large-scale events like the Super Bowl or presidential travel, a citywide airspace closure hasn\u2019t occurred since 9\/11<\/a>, when flights were grounded nationwide.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The closure didn\u2019t just affect commercial travel, but also grounded helicopters used for medical transport and emergency response. All that. For some balloons. I just want you to know that I\u2019m currently looking like Bad Bunny at the Grammys<\/a> while writing this.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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What we have here is a failure to communicate across the board. The CBP gave no notice to the FAA that it was using the anti-drone laser, and the FAA gave no advance notice to El Paso officials that it was closing the airspace. El Paso Mayor Renard Johnson has been critical of the FAA\u2019s response and has said the flight restriction \u201cshould have never happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis unnecessary decision has caused chaos and confusion in the El Paso community,\u201d Johnson said at a news conference. \u201cYou cannot restrict airspace over a major city without coordinating with the city, the airport, the hospitals, the community leadership. That failure to communicate is unacceptable.\u201d Johnson added that medical evacuation flights had to be redirected to Las Cruces, which is 45 miles away. \u201cThis was a major and unnecessary disruption, one that has not occurred since 9\/11,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

There has been quite a bit of finger-pointing over who authorized the use of the laser. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has given authorization for CBP to use the anti-drone laser, but it\u2019s still unclear who ordered it to be fired on Wednesday. The use of the weapon requires coordination with the FAA, so someone clearly wasn\u2019t on their job.\u00a0<\/p>\n

FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford refused to answer questions about the closure on Wednesday, but a FAA meeting is set for Feb. 20, which may provide answers about the use of the laser and why the FAA responded with a 10-day closure.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since this is the Trump administration we\u2019re talking about, they\u2019ve yet to be forthcoming about the reason behind the closure. Despite sources familiar with the incident telling NBC News what happened, and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum saying there was no record<\/a> of drone activity near the border on Wednesday, the Trump administration is still standing by the narrative that the laser was used to take down cartel drones.\u00a0<\/p>\n

These are the people in charge of keeping the country safe, and this incident shows that either they can\u2019t effectively communicate what they\u2019re doing with one another, or that they can\u2019t tell the difference between party balloons and drones.\u00a0<\/p>\n

No, neither option is comforting. Yes, I\u2019m still sitting here looking like Bad Bunny at the Grammys.<\/p>\n

SEE ALSO:<\/p>\n

Questions Arise After FAA Abruptly Closes Then Reopens El Paso Airport<\/a><\/p>\n

FAA To Cut Air Traffic If Government Shutdown Continues<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Source: Anadolu \/ Getty There\u2019s been confusion as to why the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced and quickly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":168215,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[68255,138,140,1110,139,2399,504],"class_list":["post-168214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-el-paso","tag-customs-and-border-patrol","tag-el-paso","tag-el-paso-headlines","tag-el-paso-international-airport","tag-el-paso-news","tag-faa","tag-federal-aviation-administration"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168214\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}