(See update below)
On Thursday's broadcast of the Fox News Channel's “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” Fox News National Correspondent Bill Melugin reported that the FAA has imposed a temporary flight restriction for the area around the bridge where thousands of migrants are congregating near Del Rio, TX, and as a result, Fox can't use its drone to capture aerial footage of the situation around the bridge. Melugin also said they've used the drone around the border for seven months and it hasn't been a problem until now.
Melugin said, “We've been using our drone to show everybody these remarkable pictures. … We just learned that the FAA has put out a temporary flight restriction, a TFR, in the area immediately around the port of entry where that bridge is. What does that mean? It means our drone can no longer fly and show those images. It's a two-week TFR, and according to the FAA, it's for special security reasons. We've reached out to the FAA to get a little clarification on what the heck that means. The timing on this, the location, a little bit curious. I just want to point out, Fox News has been at the border for the better part of seven months now. We've been using the drone the entire time. It's never been an issue. All of a sudden, the last 24 hours, we start showing these images at this bridge and a TFR goes up. We can no longer fly.”
NEW: We’ve learned that the FAA just implemented a two week TFR (Temporary Flight Restrictions) over the international bridge in Del Rio, TX, meaning we can no longer fly our FOX drone over it to show images of the thousands of migrants. FAA says “special security reason”. pic.twitter.com/aJrjAPO2Pz
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) September 17, 2021
UPDATE: Melugin tweeted that the FAA issued a statement, “The Border Patrol requested the temporary flight restriction due to drones interfering with law enforcement flights on the border. As with any temporary flight restriction, media is able to call the FAA to make requests to operate in the area.”
.@FoxNews has been covering the border nonstop for almost 7 months now, we use the drone constantly, and it has never been an issue. We have reached out to the FAA to ask for clarification on why this TFR was implemented. We haven’t heard back yet. Will update if/when we do.
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) September 17, 2021
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
