NORAD Says Fighter Jets Have Intercepted More Than 60 Planes Near Mar-a-Lago Since 2025

Military fighter pilots have intercepted more than 60 aircraft that strayed into restricted airspace around President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach since January 2025, the North American Aerospace Defense Command said at a media briefing Tuesday, Oct. 6, at President Donald J. Trump International Airport, according to WPTV and WFLX.

"Since January of 2025, there have been over 60 intercepts that we've had to accomplish," said Maj. Anthony Olive, an F-15 pilot and senior operations duty officer with NORAD. He said the overwhelming majority involved pilots who made mistakes, most often in small single-engine planes, rather than anyone with hostile intent.

The figure underscores how much Trump's frequent stays in Palm Beach have reshaped the skies over one of Florida's busiest general aviation corridors, and it arrives as county leaders fight a federal proposal that would make a separate, smaller set of restrictions around Mar-a-Lago permanent.

How the restrictions work

The limits are Temporary Flight Restrictions, or TFRs, published by the Federal Aviation Administration in notices to pilots. NORAD officials told WPTV they do not create the restrictions. The FAA and the U.S. Secret Service establish them, and NORAD enforces them.

When the president is in residence, the restricted area has two layers, a pilot explained at the briefing: a 10-mile inner ring that functions essentially as a no-fly zone for most aircraft, and an outer ring that extends to 30 nautical miles. Inside the outer ring, pilots must be on a flight plan, squawk a discrete transponder code assigned by air traffic control and stay in radio contact with controllers.

The 30-mile ring reaches well beyond Palm Beach. A Lantana flight instructor told WFLX in early 2025 that the zone stretches "really down to Pompano," covering much of Palm Beach County and northern Broward County.

What happens during an intercept

Olive said the fighters do not wait on the ground. "When the TFR goes active, we're already airborne, and we're there," he said. When an aircraft enters the restricted area without authorization, air traffic control alerts NORAD, and the fighters locate it on radar and move in to determine the pilot's intentions.

"If they're just a person who doesn't know they're not supposed to be there, then we'll help escort them out of the TFR safely," Olive said.

A large share of cases, he said, involve pilots who actually had clearance but forgot to dial the assigned code into their transponder before departure. Because the fighters cannot know the pilot's intent when the code is wrong, they still have to respond. Asked whether any intercept he handled involved bad intentions, Olive said not in his experience. "The majority would be smaller Cessnas, single-engine planes for sure," he said.

In a demonstration for WFLX in March 2025, F-15 pilots with the Florida Air National Guard's 125th Fighter Wing, operating from Homestead Air Reserve Base, showed how they scramble within about 10 minutes, pull alongside a stray plane and try to establish radio contact. If a pilot does not respond, the fighter can make a close pass in front of the aircraft, a maneuver Lt. Col. Alex Papp called a "head butt." At that time, NORAD said it had scrambled jets 24 times since Trump's inauguration and intercepted eight aircraft, which shows how the count has climbed since.

Why Palm Beach is different

NORAD pilots said South Florida's general aviation traffic makes the Mar-a-Lago mission unusual. One pilot cited the region's good weather, its many flight schools, pilots cruising up and down the coast and banner-towing planes. "There's more general aviation down here," the pilot said.

That traffic is concentrated at a few airports close to the island. Palm Beach County Park Airport, known as Lantana Airport, sits inside the inner ring, and planes there have been barred from taking off or landing during presidential weekends. During Trump's first term, operators at Lantana estimated losses of up to $30,000 per weekend, according to aviation outlet AvWeb, and flight schools have since shifted lessons to weekdays. North Palm Beach County General Aviation Airport and other airfields within the 30-mile ring can operate only under the stricter procedures.

Penalties for violators

NORAD does not punish pilots. "We're not there to hand down the judgment or the punishment," Olive said. Fighters escort the aircraft out of the area or to a landing and monitor it until it is on the ground, where the pilot is given a phone number that connects to the FAA.

The FAA then decides on any enforcement. Depending on the case, that can range from warning letters or remedial training to suspension or revocation of a pilot certificate and civil fines, and FAA notices for presidential restrictions warn that violators may be intercepted, detained and interviewed by law enforcement or security personnel.

NORAD's advice to pilots was simple: check notices to air missions, or NOTAMs, before every flight. "If you're an avid flyer, check your NOTAMs before you fly, just so everybody's safe, and you're not where you're not supposed to be," a pilot said. Federal flight guidance also tells pilots who are intercepted to follow the interceptor's instructions, notify air traffic control and try to make contact on the emergency frequency, 121.5 MHz.

The neighborhood fight over a permanent zone

Separate from the presidential TFRs, the FAA put a year-round restriction in place around Mar-a-Lago on Oct. 20, 2025, barring aircraft from a one-nautical-mile radius around the estate whether or not Trump is in town. To comply, planes departing the airport now turn north of Southern Boulevard, over West Palm Beach neighborhoods such as El Cid and Flamingo Park and parts of the Town of Palm Beach.

In May, Palm Beach County Commissioner Gregg Weiss told WPTV the rerouted flight paths had affected about 20,000 residents. U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, a West Palm Beach Democrat, said at a September news conference that the old path affected about 2,200 homes and 5,000 residents, compared with more than 11,000 homes and 21,000 residents now. "The planes are overhead as much as every 90 seconds," she said.

The year-round restriction is set to expire Oct. 20, 2026. In September, the FAA proposed replacing it with a permanent Special Flight Rules Area, one nautical mile around Mar-a-Lago from the surface to 2,000 feet, which the agency said the Secret Service requested. Airport traffic could still pass through on approved procedures in contact with controllers. Local leaders objected that the Secret Service had asked for 1,000 feet, which Weiss said would let most flights use their normal paths.

The key dates in the dispute are below.

On Sept. 15, county commissioners voted to put their lawsuit against the FAA on hold rather than drop it, after spending about $254,000, WFLX reported. The suit argues the FAA changed flight paths without required environmental and noise review.

What's next

The FAA must review public comments before deciding whether to finalize the permanent zone, and it has not said what will happen when the current restriction lapses on Oct. 20. Presidential TFRs, and the fighter patrols that enforce them, will continue whenever Trump is at Mar-a-Lago. For South Florida pilots, NORAD's message is that the count of more than 60 intercepts is avoidable with a NOTAM check before takeoff.