March 10 (UPI) — U.S. fighter jets twice intercepted civilian aircraft flying in restricted airspace near President Donald Trump‘s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida over the weekend, military officials said.
North American Aerospace Defense Command said in a statement that a civilian aircraft violated the Temporary Flight Restriction over Palm Beach where Trump’s residence is located at about 1:15 p.m. EDT Sunday.
An F-16 fighter jet responded from the Continental U.S. NORAD region to intercept the unidentified aircraft.
The aircraft was “safely escorted out of the area” by the F-16, which had to deploy flares to get the civilian pilot’s attention — flares that may have been visible to the public, NORAD said.
The first interception occurred on Saturday at about 8:50 a.m. The first civilian aircraft was also escorted from the area by a NORAD-deployed F-16.
“Adherence to TFR procedures is essential to ensure flight safety, national security and the security of the president,” Gen. Gregory Guillot, commander of NORAD and U.S. Northern Command, said.
“The procedures are not optional, and the excessive number of recent TFR violations indicates many civil aviators are not reading Notices to Airmen, or NOTAMs, before each flight as required by the FAA, and has resulted in multiple responses by NORAD fighter aircraft to guid offending aircraft out of the TFR.”
According to U.S. military officials, since Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration, NORAD has responded to more than 20 TFR violations near the president’s Mar-a-Lago resort.
On March 1, three civilian aircraft were intercepted near the Florida estate.