Give FAA your opinion on Mar-a-Lago flight-path plan | Editorial
Many Palm Beach residents and officials were taken aback this month to learn that a no-fly zone over President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club could become a permanent fixture, if a proposal by the Federal Aviation Administration is put into place.
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Such a plan would send jets and other aircraft from the newly rechristened President Donald J. Trump International Airport over neighborhoods that traditionally have not had to deal with noise, soot and vibrations from planes. Thousands of residents would be affected, mostly in West Palm Beach but also in Palm Beach.
The FAA, backed by the U.S. Secret Service, says the flight-path changes are needed to ensure the security of the president and his family.
The plan would keep aircraft from flying over Mr. Trump’s private club and residence even after he leaves office, for an indefinite period of time.
Many of those affected by the new flight paths are sounding off about the plan, leaving comments on a federal website designed to allow the public to express opinions on government proposals. The comment period opened Sept. 3 and is expected to end Oct. 2.
One resident of West Palm Beach’s Flamingo Park neighborhood no doubt summed up the feelings of many: “A federal aviation policy intended to provide security around a single property occupied only part of the year should not permanently transfer the resulting noise and quality-of-life burden onto a large population of year-round residents without a thorough examination of alternatives and their environmental consequences.”
On the island, residents in the neighborhoods on the north end of the Estate Section and parts of Midtown have already learned how disruptive the redirected planes can be. Flight-path changes billed as “temporary” have sent aircraft their way since last October. At the time those changes were put in place, the FAA said they were expected to expire in October of this year.
Those who live close to Mar-a-Lago or under the traditional flight paths likely understood when they moved into those neighborhoods that they would have to deal with jet noise and related issues.
But the residents of neighborhoods more recently affected were caught off guard by the new flight paths. As one Palm Beacher commented on the federal website: “This plan would permanently change our lives.”
While local officials and others work toward a solution, the website offers a chance for those affected – and, perhaps, their empathetic neighbors – to weigh in on the matter.
Palm Beach Mayor Danielle Moore also has called for extending the deadline for commenting beyond Oct. 2, to provide more time to gather “substantial expert technical support to prepare a comment that offers a legal and fact-based modification” of the proposed flight-path changes,” she wrote in a Sept. 9 letter to the FAA.
If the issue is important to you, make your voice heard. Comments can be submitted online by visiting Regulations.gov and searching the docket for FAA-2026-10827.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Give FAA your opinion on Mar-a-Lago flight-path plan | Editorial
Reporting by Palm Beach Daily News / Palm Beach Daily News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
Copyright Reuters or USA Today Network via Reuters Connect
This story was originally published September 20, 2026 at 7:09 AM.
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