President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, were hastily moved from their Delaware beach house on Saturday after a small plane crossed the restricted airspace above it.
No warning was given before the plane flew over the town of Rehoboth Beach “after mistakenly entering a secured area,” a statement from Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi detailed.
“The aircraft was immediately escorted out of the restricted air space,” Guglielmi said, according to UPI. He further outlined:
Preliminary investigation reveals the pilot was not on the proper radio channel, was not following the NOTAMS (Notice to Airmen) that had been filed and was not following published flight guidance.
The United States Secret Service will be interviewing the pilot.
The president was taken by his motorcade to the Rehoboth Fire Station and his SUV entered the building as Secret Service cleared the area.
As Breitbart News reported, Biden left Washington, DC, on Thursday for his beachfront retreat.
This is the president’s second trip to the beach in 2022 after spending a weekend there in March prior to his trip to Europe. He visited his beach house on four other occasions in his first year as president.
Bad news for President Joe Biden piled up right after he left the White House early on Friday for a long weekend at the beach. https://t.co/4GHD3zFoy5
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) September 17, 2021
Federal regulations require pilots to check for flight restrictions along their route before taking off, according to AP. Even so accidental airspace breaches are not uncommon, particularly around temporary restricted zones.
The restrictions include a 10-mile radius no-fly zone contained with a 30-mile restricted zone.
U.S. military jets and Coast Guard helicopters are often used to intercept any planes that violate the flight restrictions around the president.
Intercepted planes are diverted to a nearby airfield where aircrews are interviewed by law enforcement and face potential criminal or civil penalties.
The Biden family purchased their beach home for $2.74 million in 2017 but have already made plans to modify the property for security reasons.
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