President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden had to be temporarily evacuated from their Rehoboth Beach, Delaware vacation home on Saturday after a pilot mistakenly entered restricted airspace and was forced to land at Cape May Airport on Saturday, authorities said.
The private pilot was not using a proper radio channel and was unable to respond to commands before being escorted out of the airspace by the North American Aerospace Defense Command, the U.S. Secret Service said.
After being forced to land at Cape May Airport in Lower Township shortly before 1 p.m., township police detained the pilot for the Secret Service while a Delaware River and Bay Authority police K-9 unit searched the plane for explosives, the DRBA said in a statement. Nothing was found.
The Secret Service interviewed the pilot and released him. He was not charged, though the incident remains under investigation.
“We believe this was done mistakenly,” Anthony Guglielmi, chief of communications for the U.S. Secret Service told NJ Advance Media on Tuesday. “He didn’t download the most current flight guidance.”
Temporary flight restrictions are implemented when a president is in an area. The flight restrictions when Biden is in Delaware include a 10-mile radius no-fly zone contained with a 30-mile restricted zone.
The spokesman didn’t name the pilot or have information on the type of plane.
The Bidens were moved to an undisclosed location until the Secret Service investigated the pilot, the spokesman said.
CBS News said the Bidens were seen being brought to a firehouse in Rehoboth Beach, which is across the Delaware Bay from Cape May County.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com