Palm Beach Residents Complain of Needless Noise, Medevac Delays

Palm Beach residents aren’t too happy with the Federal Aviation Administration’s unexpected imposition of a 24/7 no-fly zone around President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, recently filing a formal complaint and setting up an emergency meeting. They claim that protecting the airspace even when Trump is not there betrays FAA values by creating needless noise and delays.

“This blanket restriction has resulted in significant and measurable disruption to our community,” the filing read. “We respectfully request that the FAA reevaluate the necessity and scope of this TFR, particularly its duration and geographic footprint.”

The FAA’s order went into effect Monday, October 20, 2025, at 8 am and is set to expire in exactly one year. It applies to a one-nautical-mile radius around the President’s Mar-a-Lago property, though additional 10 and 30-nautical-mile rings of flight restrictions will be imposed when Trump is actually in town.

As a result, all eastbound departures from Palm Beach International (PBI) are being rerouted northward to avoid the protected airspace. Local leaders claim that the change was dropped with little notice and has pushed steady jet noise over neighborhoods that were never meant to be under a flight path.

The letter, backed by the town and county, outlines several problems: increased aircraft noise, longer taxi and idle times, and even delayed medevac clearances. According to the complaint, rerouting traffic has compromised both quality of life and emergency response efficiency.

Officials also argue that the permanent protection of Mar-a-Lago’s airspace contradicts the FAA’s own stated mission to balance safety, efficiency, and community impact. The current arrangement, they say, is neither efficient nor justified when the former president is thousands of miles away.

An emergency session of the Citizens’ Committee on Airport Noise is scheduled for November 6, where town, county, and federal representatives will discuss the restrictions’ future. Residents are expected to demand either a rollback or time-based limits tied to Trump’s actual visits.

FMI: www.faa.gov