President Donald Trump is taking a weekend trip to Camp David in Maryland, a White House official confirmed to Insider on Thursday, January 7, 2021.
The Federal Aviation Administration on Thursday said it would implement ” temporary flight restrictions for VIP movement ” over the presidential retreat. Similar flight restrictions are implemented when the president leaves Washington, DC, as a security measure against an aerial attack.
The flight restrictions are scheduled to take effect on Friday at 3:30 p.m., hinting that the president may depart the White House in the late afternoon, and are scheduled to end at 2 p.m. on Sunday.
Under the restrictions, aircraft cannot fly under 18,000 feet within a 10-nautical-mile radius of Camp David; doing so would initiate a military response. Pilots who violate a temporary flight restriction could be fined and/or lose their pilot licenses.
Flight restrictions were implemented for the airspace around President-elect Joe Biden’s home in Delaware after the election. But those restrictions are less stringent: Aircraft are forbidden to fly under 3,000 feet within a 3-nautical-mile radius of the home.
On Wednesday, pro-Trump rioters invaded and vandalized the US Capitol , seeking to disrupt the certification of the election result and prevent a Biden presidency. Both chambers of Congress were breached as US Capitol Police failed to hold back the interlopers.
Trump has largely shunned Camp David, officially a US Navy installation known as Naval Support Facility Thurmont , in favor of his private Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida. Trump was last at Camp David over Thanksgiving . He has called the site ” rustic .”
The compound has been used for summits with world leaders, including the negotiations that led to the Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel in 1978. Trump was criticized in 2019 after suggesting he would host the Taliban at the retreat for peace talks .
Marine One has frequently been used to make the 70-mile journey from the White House to Camp David since President Dwight Eisenhower made the first helicopter journey there in 1957, according to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum . It was the first time a sitting president flew in a helicopter.
Source: Business Insider
