How do we know it was a "single" drone, or that they knew for sure that it was?

margalabargala · 2026-02-12T03:04:34 1770865474

New updates are in.

The single drone was in fact a mylar party balloon.

jazzyjackson · 2026-02-12T06:10:31 1770876631

Who's to say that balloon wasn't transporting a kilo of cocaine?

lysace · 2026-02-16T05:27:55 1771219675

https://science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/everyday-m...

That means a normal amusement park balloon can lift about 14 grams, assuming that the weight of the balloon itself and the string is negligible.

About 99 of them could probably do the job, though.

ssl-3 · 2026-02-11T19:39:33 1770838773

Indeed.

So with this lack of information: Why 10 days? Why not 3, or 12, or some other number instead?

Or: Why must there be a number?

Is the officious equivalent of "We've got some shit to deal with, so El Paso's airspace is closed for now" insufficient?

dunham · 2026-02-12T03:24:54 1770866694

CNN is now reporting that the FAA had a meeting scheduled with the DoD on the 20th to discuss use of the system, but someone decided to use the system earlier. (The 20th is one day short of 10 days.) They also report that CBP was operating it.

https://lite.cnn.com/2026/02/11/us/faa-el-paso-texas-flight-...

mh- · 2026-02-12T02:11:47 1770862307

> Or: Why must there be a number?

NOTAMs require a range of timestamps for which they're in effect.