# News Source Record

**L-Ne / Open-source news extract** — Original media coverage of unmanned aerial systems.

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Collection date | 17 December 2010 |
| Platform | Quiet Systems |
| Data label | Open-source news record // LRRK collection product |
| Handling | Public-source material. Image rights require separate verification before publication. |
| Scale | Local |
| Language | English |
| Terms matched | unmanned; drone; mini orbiter unmanned aerial; Orbiter Mini UAV |

## Bibliographic

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Outlet | El Paso Times (El Paso, Texas) |
| Title | Craft returned to Mexico before NTSB starts inquiry |
| Dateline | El Paso, Texas |
| First publisher | yes |
| Original URL | https://www.newspapers.com/image/978692147/?terms=%22unmanned%20aerial%22 |
| Archive URL | — |
| Dedup key | 2010-12-17|el-paso-times|mexican-orbiter-mini-crash-lower-valley |
| Source grade | A1 |

## Pictures

- page: 2010-12-17-el-paso-times-orbiter-crash-page.jpg — https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sZZKBrrsSSXdACfHQwBNRVecAEFSzQKD/view
- photo 1: 2010-12-17-el-paso-times-orbiter-crash-photo-1.jpg — https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jMknLkxAeFIdyQXlBN5uGP9JZ7Zn-LwC/view
- clips folder: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1On-WlTNnfFzvc6yhd46XSlX3I6Kuih_-


## Record

**Verified extract — [Fact — A1]** Diana Washington Valdez and Daniel Borunda of the El Paso Times reported that a Mexican drone crashed in El Paso's Lower Valley, sparking a federal investigation and raising questions about why the aircraft was in U.S. airspace. Keith Holloway, spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board, said: "We are collecting data about the crash. We don't have the aircraft because it was returned to its owner." The paper said that although the U.S. is known to use drones to patrol the border, this was thought to be the first time a Mexican drone had been reported operating at the border. The drone crashed Tuesday on Craddock Avenue, near the intersection with Yarbrough Drive. Holloway said the aircraft that crossed into U.S. airspace is a mini Orbiter unmanned aerial vehicle. A specs box described the Orbiter Mini as a compact, lightweight system designed for military and Homeland Security missions, touted for over-the-hill reconnaissance: max ceiling 500–2,000 feet, operational speed 30–70 knots, max speed 70 knots, max altitude 18,000 feet, endurance 4 hours. Jump to page 9A.

**Kinematic object.** Aeronautics Orbiter Mini UAV (Mexican-operated; crashed in El Paso).

**Coverage frame.** incident

## Source integrity

- Why original: El Paso Times staff double byline on a crash in the city's Lower Valley; local street intersection and NTSB quote.
- Wire reprint status: Not a wire reprint. Adjacent tax-cut brief is McClatchy and is excluded.
- OCR / clip caveats: Verified from Newspapers.com full-page scan OCR. Jump page 9A not extracted here. Specs box numbers as printed.

## LRRK relevance

Watch / Passport. A Watch desk would have logged a foreign UAV entering U.S. airspace, crashing on a city street, and being returned to Mexico before NTSB could hold the airframe.

*LRRK — security assurance for systems that sense, move, and act.*

L-Ne