Since president’s inauguration, more than 20 airspace violations in Palm Beach area
By Joe Kovacs – WND.com
PALM BEACH, Florida – U.S. fighter jets were again forced to scramble near President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home over the weekend as two violations by civilian pilots took place in what has become a disturbing pattern.
The first occurred at about 8:50 a.m. Saturday as a general aviation aircraft violated the TFR zone, or temporary flight restriction.
F-16 fighter jets intercepted the plane to escort it out of the area.
“NORAD and the FAA work closely together to keep the skies over America safe, with close attention paid to areas with Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFR),” said Gen. Gregory Guillot, Commander, NORAD and U.S. Northern Command.
“Adherence to TFR procedures is essential to ensure flight safety, national security, and the security of the President. 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. Should the pilot of an aircraft happen to find itself intercepted by one of fighters or helicopters, 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.”