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Military jet intercepts single-engine plane in restricted NYC airspace

FILE PHOTO -- United States Air Force aircraft maintenance technicians from the 140th Wing, Colorado Air National Guard, prepare a United States Air Force F-16 fighter jet, for a joint mission during NORAD Exercise Amalgam Dart at 5 Wing Goose Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador, June 15, 2021. Photo: Master Corporal Krista Blizzard, 5 Wing Imaging

NEW YORK (WPIX) – A military fighter aircraft intercepted a single-engine plane flying in temporarily restricted airspace in New York City Tuesday afternoon, according to officials. FAA officials said the Cessna 182 entered restricted airspace—part of a Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR)—over New York City at around 2 p.m. Tuesday.

Security in the city was elevated Tuesday, with President Joe Biden addressing the United Nations General Assembly on the city’s east side. A spokesperson for the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said one of its F-16 fighter jets intercepted the plane and escorted it out of the area “without incident,” and that the plane landed safely at 2:30 p.m.

“The FAA sets up the TFRs relative to where the POTUS is at a given time,” a NORAD spokesperson told NEWS10’s sister station in New York.

Video posted to social media highlighted the loud noise the intercept created in New York City, with car alarms heard blaring after the jet and Cessna were no longer heard.

NORAD is a binational command focused on the defense of the U.S and Canada, and said this type of identification and monitoring of airspace shows “how NORAD executes its aerospace warning and aerospace control missions for the United States and Canada,” according to its spokesperson.

NORAD said violations in TFR areas like the one that occurred with the Cessna Tuesday are normal and occur from time to time, and the response is a normal part of NORAD operations. Missions like this one, a part of NORAD’s Operation Noble Eagle, were initiated following the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, the group said. The FAA said it will investigate the situation further.