U.S. fighter jets have been deployed repeatedly in recent weeks to intercept civilian aircraft violating restricted airspace around President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, with the latest incident occurring Sunday afternoon in Palm Beach, Florida.
According to the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), F-16 fighter aircraft responded to “a general aviation aircraft” that violated the Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) at approximately 1:15 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Sunday.
Military jets used flares to get the pilot’s attention before escorting the aircraft out of the restricted zone.
“The flares were used to draw attention from or communicate with the pilot,” NORAD stated in a news release. “Flares are employed with the highest regard for safety, burn out quickly and completely, and pose no danger to people on the ground.”
It was the second fighter jet interception over the weekend alone.
A similar incident occurred Saturday morning shortly after Trump arrived at his West Palm Beach golf course from his private Mar-a-Lago club and residence. Officials said the president’s schedule was not affected by either incident.
The airspace over Trump’s property has a permanent flight restriction that expands to a radius of 30 nautical miles when the president is in residence. Despite these established restrictions, NORAD reported that it has responded to “over 20 tracks of interest” near Mar-a-Lago since Trump took office on January 20, including three interceptions just last week.
Air Force Gen. Gregory Guillot, Commander of NORAD and U.S. Northern Command, expressed concern about the frequency of these violations.
“Adherence to TFR procedures is essential to ensure flight safety, national security, and the security of the President,” Guillot said. “The procedures are not optional, and the excessive number of recent TFR violations indicates many civil aviators are not reading Notice to Airmen, or NOTAMs, before each flight as required by the FAA, and has resulted in multiple responses by NORAD fighter aircraft to guide offending aircraft out of the TFR.”
NORAD, a joint U.S.-Canadian military alliance responsible for aerospace warning and control for North America, reminded pilots to review Notice to Airmen (NOTAMs) issued by the federal government before flying. These notices detail Temporary Flight Restrictions that pilots are legally required to observe.
For pilots who do find themselves intercepted by military aircraft, NORAD advised they should “immediately come up on frequency 121.5 or 243.0 and turn around to reverse course until receiving additional instructions on one of those frequencies.”
Sunday’s incident took place as Trump was finishing a round of golf at his West Palm Beach course, though officials confirmed that presidential security and scheduling were not compromised.