Security scare at Palm Beach International Airport on Sunday, March 30, prompts Air Force scramble F-16 fighter and deploy flares. This happened just hours before Air Force One was scheduled to carry the president Donald Trump Back to Washington.
A ground stop was made at the airport as authorities confronted the civilian aircraft.
according to White Housethe safety scare occurred after authorities lost contact with a general aviation aircraft.
“At approximately 1:15 p.m. EDT, the civilian aircraft violated a Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR). The aircraft was safely escorted out of the area by NORAD aircraft,” the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service explained in a statement shared by the North American Aerospace Defense Command, which controls skies over the United States and Canada, The New York Times reported.
The statement also said, “The purpose of flares is to attract the attention of pilots or communicate with pilots. The use of flares is out of a high regard for safety, burns quickly and completely, and does not pose a danger to personnel on the ground.”
How is Donald Trump?
The White House and Secret Service have confirmed that Trump and Air Force One are not in danger.
“A general aviation aircraft briefly lost contact with the air traffic control tower at Palm Beach International Airport, but contact was eventually established and the ground stop was lifted,” a White House official told the outlet. “There was no drone intrusion and there were no concerns about Air Force One, which was not expected to take off until tonight.”
The President of the United States was at the Trump International Golf Course when the incident occurred.
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Some reports initially suggested that some kind of drone incursion into the airport caused the ground stop. Video circulating online showed a Delta pilot informing passengers of the safety scare, claiming “they had to scramble some helicopters to investigate” the situation.
The helicopter that took off may not have been related to the security scare, according to a Secret Service spokesman. “While airspace violations are relatively common, especially outside of Washington, D.C., the helicopter referenced in the tweet was actually authorized for that specific area and had nothing to do with drones or violations of temporary flight restrictions (TFR),” the spokesperson said.
The FAA confirmed to the New York Post that “operations are normal after the FAA slowed traffic at Palm Beach International Airport due to traffic issues.”
