WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — When President Donald Trump is in town, the FAA establishes an expanded no-fly zone over Mar-a-Lago. This past weekend, two more private planes violated restricted airspace.
Federal officials maintain a permanent flight restriction over Trump's club that expands to a radius of 30 nautical miles when the president is at his residence.
WATCH BELOW: What are the repercussions of pilots violating airspace?
Since Trump took office in January, the military has deployed fighter jets 24 times in Palm Beach County because of civilian aircraft flying into temporarily restricted airspace, according to the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).
In eight cases, Air Force jets flew right up to the pilots and escorted them away from the restricted area.
WPTV asked Tommy Bueno, a local flight instructor, if there any good excuse for flying into restricted airspace
"No, not at all," he replied.
Bueno said pilots have access to maps that show when and where flights are restricted, like when the president is in town. But he said some pilots aren't checking the maps.
"They're getting complacent," Bueno said. "That is single-handedly the biggest challenge in everything."
Pilots who violate airspace face fines, license suspension and could potentially be arrested or even get shot down.
"We do our absolute best to make sure we have a positive outcome," Steven Armstrong, who is the vice director of NORAD's operations, said.
Armstrong told WPTV that most pilots are unaware they're in restricted airspace.
However, he added that in some cases, wayward pilots on tracks of interest (TOIs) are subject to an aerial maneuver known as a "head butt."
Armstrong emphasized that protecting the president is paramount, adding that every time fighter jets have to scramble when a pilot violates airspace, it costs taxpayers a minimum of $50,000.
The airspace intrusions in the heavily congested South Florida airspace have prompted the fighter jet intercepts but have not altered Trump's schedule or impacted his security, officials said. NORAD said flares used to warn pilots violating the temporary flight restrictions (TFRs) are visible from the ground, but they burn out quickly and don't pose a danger.
NORAD blames civilian pilots for not following regulations requiring them to check for airspace restrictions before taking off.
"Adherence to TFR procedures is essential to ensure flight safety, national security, and the security of the President," Gen. Gregory Guillot, the commander of NORAD and US Northern Command said in a statement. "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."
