General aviation is in NORAD’s sites.
Since the Jan. 20, 2025, presidential inauguration, NORAD officials report they have responded to more than 20 “tracks of interest” entering skies above President Trump’s Mar-A-Lago resort near Palm Beach, Florida.
The sheer number of general aviation TFR violations led NORAD officials to issue a letter to GA pilots to “check their NOTAMs.”
“General aviation pilots must diligently check Notices to Airmen (NOTAMs) before they fly. Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFRs) in the Palm Beach, Florida, and Bedminster, New Jersey, areas will continue to be a regular occurrence, and it is every pilot’s responsibility to check NOTAMs and fly informed,” the letter begins.
“Lately, there has been a noticeable uptick in TFR violations, which suggests some folks might be skipping that crucial pre-flight step — checking NOTAMS — leading to NORAD having to respond unnecessarily,” it continues. “These recent airspace incursions could have, and should have, been prevented with proper pre-flight planning.”
“Checking NOTAMs is an FAA requirement — it is not optional,” officials continued.
NORAD officials then remind pilots that during an interception, NORAD F-16 fighters are armed.
During the latest incident, on March 9, 2025, F-16s were dispatched from Tyndall Air Force Base near Panama City, Florida, then set off flares to alert the pilot before escorting the GA aircraft out of the area.
“Adherence to TFR procedures is essential to ensure flight safety, national security, and the security of the president,” said Gen. Gregory Guillot, Commander, NORAD and US Northern Command. “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.”
Pilots who find themselves busting a TFR and seeing a jet on their wing “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,” Guillot said.
In its letter to GA pilots, NORAD officials state that “violating a TFR, even unintentionally, can have serious consequences. Follow-on actions may include a visit by law enforcement, a pilot deviation notification known as a ‘Brasher Notification’ issued for risk reduction and safety enhancement, significant fines, or even suspension and/or loss of your certificate.”
NORAD officials add that the “onus is on pilots to be aware of, and avoid, TFRs.”
“Ignorance is not an excuse,” they continue.
They add that it’s all about staying proactive.
Officials tell GA pilots to always check NOTAMs before heading out, use all tools available to avoid TFRs, and “remain vigilant.”
Tools NORAD officials specifically mention in the letter include the FAA TFR website, which provides up-to-date information on TFRs, free resources such as SkyVector.com, and for those pilots flying with ForeFlight, to ensure that “TFR” is selected.
NORAD officials add that the president’s “frequent and often last-minute travel plans mean TFRs can change rapidly, making it even more critical for pilots to stay informed.”
“Normally these TFRs are from (the) surface to 17,999 feet with a 30 nm radius and will always have armed fighter aircraft, and sometimes helicopters, within close reach to respond to any offending pilot,” they continued. “In the Palm Beach, Florida, and Bedminster, New Jersey, areas you can expect these TFRs to show up fairly often.”
The letter to GA pilots ends with this “bottom line.”
“We urge all aviators to stay informed, review NOTAMs before every flight, and comply with all airspace restrictions to maintain a safe and secure flying environment. Checking NOTAMs takes just a few minutes and can save everyone time, money, and potential danger. Do not risk a costly and unnecessary encounter with NORAD.”
For more information about General Aviation and TFRs, visit NORAD.mil/General-Aviation
Read about one general aviation pilot’s encounter when he busted a presidential TFR here.
Perhaps it is time to overhaul or even do away with the TFR system altogether. Let’s face it, it was a knee jerk reaction by the government, enabled by some unfortunate events, and a frightened and anxious public. The real risk of an event caused by a GA aircraft is pretty small, both in occurrence and in severity. One need only look at the accident data. A light aircraft hits a tall building, kills the pilot, and breaks glass/minor structural damage to the building. GA aircraft aren’t the problem, never have been. The current use of TFRs is excessive, and provides dubious security enhancement, for the level of effort and impact it has on the local population, shutting down operations at smaller fields that are easily running on the edge is unfair to those operators. Take TFRs over sporting venues for example, TFRs are issued only for major events, other events at the same venues filled to near capacity for non-major league organizations are completely unrestricted. Those TFRs are purely to control advertising at those events- a banner tower isn’t providing revenue to the NFL or NASCAR for example, so they happily support the restrictions..
NOTAMs in written English would be a great help rather than the FAA hieroglyphics we attempt to decipher currently. Lat/lon’s and obscure contractions that are a relic of the “saving ink” era DO NOT enhance safety!