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Fighter jets intercepted at least three aircraft on Sunday, which violated temporary flight restriction (TFR) airspace over Bedminster, New Jersey, where President Trump was spending the holiday weekend, according to North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).
With one aircraft being intercepted in the morning, and two others being intercepted later in the day, NORAD said there were a total of 11 unauthorized aircraft incursions in the TFR airspace over the weekend.
At about 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, a civilian plane violated the TFR and was safely escorted out of the area by a NORAD aircraft.
“NORAD and the [Federal Aviation Administration] aim to keep the skies over America safe, with close attention paid to areas with Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFR) to ensure flight safety, national security, and the security of the President,” Gen. Gregory Guillot, Commander, NORAD and US Northern Command said. “TFR procedures are mandatory, and the excessive number of TFR violations this weekend indicates some civil aviators are not reading Notice to Airmen, or NOTAMs, before each flight as required by the FAA.”
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Guillot said the NORAD armed fighter jets intercept and guide offending aircraft out of the TFR.
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“Should the pilot of an aircraft happen to find itself intercepted by either 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,” Guillot added.
In another instance on Saturday, an aircraft was safely escorted out of the TFR airspace just before 2:40 p.m., after a standard “headbutt” maneuver was used to get the pilot’s attention.
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The maneuver involves a military jet flying directly in front of a civilian aircraft at a close but safe distance to visually signal the pilot to either follow or change course.
Officials warned private pilots to do their homework before takeoff.
“It is critically important for North American flight safety that Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) violations are avoided,” NORAD said in a message to pilots. “All pilots must familiarize themselves with updates to restricted airspace, including reviewing new and existing FAA NOTAMs [Notice to Airmen] that impact their flight plans and activities. Adhering to FAA restricted airspace protocols is mandatory, regardless of geographical region, airframe, or aircrew.”
Fox News Digital’s Jasmine Baehr contributed to this report.
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