General aviation pilots continue to bust TFRs around Palm Beach, Florida, home to President Trump’s Mar-A-Lago resort.
According to officials at Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida, a North American Aerospace Defense Command F-16 fighter aircraft intercepted a civilian aircraft Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025, after it violated temporary flight restriction airspace over Palm Beach, Florida.
The aircraft entered the restricted airspace at about 4:20 p.m. EST and was escorted out of the area through standard procedures. During the intercept, the NORAD aircraft dispensed flares to communicate with the pilot and draw attention to the violation, officials reported.
“The flares, which may have been visible to the public, are used with the highest regard for safety, burn out quickly and completely, and pose no danger to people on the ground,” officials said.
This incident follows multiple general aviation aircraft violations of restricted airspace in the Palm Beach area earlier this week, they added.
General aviation pilots are reminded that checking Notices to Airmen, or NOTAMs, before each flight is required by the FAA and TFR procedures must be followed.
“If required, NORAD jets will respond to aircraft violating the TFR and take the necessary action to gain compliance, a scenario we encourage all pilots to avoid,” officials added.
Should NORAD aircraft intercept a general aviation aircraft, the pilot 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.
Since the January 2025 presidential inauguration, NORAD has responded to more than 40 TFRs violations in the West Palm Beach area.
Pilots can access the most up-to-date information published by the FAA at TFR.FAA.gov.
For more information about general aviation and TFRs, go to NORAD.mil/General-Aviation.
For flight is pretty quick to show the TFR’s! I saw them pop up while I was in the air
People should be aware, before insulting fellow pilots, that the TFRs around the President’s favorite weekend golf spot can happen on a very short notice. And, based on personal experience, can be turned on without ANY previous warnings to pilots.
AOPA actually confirms that getting a preflight briefing will not assure a TFR will not be turned on after takeoff. They recommend flight following but admit even that is not fool proof. It can still happen.
Without even getting into what each of these weekend outings cost the nation, the South Florida area is greatly affected by these TFRs both in terms of money as well as the impact to small aviation oriented business operating in this area (read closed).
If I had an airplane in that area (I used to) I would move it somewhere else until 2029.
Check the NOTAMS. But really these TFR need to be rethought. I don’t think they really work. Bad guys wanting to do bad things turn off the transponder and do other illegal things. If they really want to do bad stuff, the TFR is not going to stop them.
An F-16 with an M61 20mm cannon at 100 rounds/second of HE and a couple AMRAMS or Sidewinders would have no trouble stopping them. Transponder On or OFF.
There is a Dumb Ass born every minute!