Associated Press
Air Force fighter jets intercepted a civilian aircraft flying in the temporarily restricted airspace near Donald Trump’s Florida home Sunday, bringing the number of violations to more than 20 since the president took office on Jan. 20.
North American Aerospace Defense Command said in a statement that Sunday’s incident, which took place as Trump finished a round of golf at his West Palm Beach golf course, saw F-16s deploy flares to get the attention of the civilian pilot. Jets also conducted an intercept on Saturday morning shortly after Trump arrived at the course from his private Mar-a-Lago club and residence.
Officials said the airspace intrusions in the heavily congested South Florida airspace prompted fighter jet intercepts but did not alter Trump’s schedule or impact his security. NORAD says the flares may have been visible from the ground but burn out quickly and don’t pose a danger.
Federal officials maintain a permanent flight restriction over Trump’s club that expands to a radius of 30 nautical miles when the president is in residence.
Violations and intercepts are relatively routine, but NORAD is raising alarm over the frequency of intrusions since Trump’s inauguration. It says it has responded to more than 20 incidents and blames civilian pilots for not following regulations requiring them to check for airspace restrictions before taking off.
5 comments
Peachy
March 9, 2025 at 5:38 pm
Rick Whitaker get his pilot’s license?
Tjb
March 9, 2025 at 6:18 pm
It was not a plane, it was Elon’s SpaceX explosing
Peachy
March 9, 2025 at 7:48 pm
Watching Trump take questions enroute back to DC on AF1. Did Slo ever do that? Nope. Now who was running the government with Biden’s electronic signature? The liberal media is a complete clown show.
MarvinM
March 9, 2025 at 9:10 pm
Yes, Biden took questions en route back to DC on AF1, maybe not as often as you’d like.
Speaking of often, Trump is sure using AF1 a lot, to fly down to Florida I think it’s every weekend so far since he was inaugurated. Where is Elon Musk on this waste of money?
Skeptic
March 9, 2025 at 10:11 pm
Wow. The Carnival Barker gets out to fleece the chumps at every opportunity. Doesn’t matter if he ever truthfully answers a question as long as he regularly spouts nonsense for the consumption of the MAGA mental midgets. Wish we had a President.