FAA extends restrictions over Biden’s home through Inauguration Day

An FAA flight advisory directing pilots to avoid the airspace near President-elect Joe Biden’s Wilmington, Del., home was extended Monday through Biden’s inauguration in January.

The new advisory will last through Jan. 20 and comes after Biden was projected to win the presidential election over the weekend by most major news networks.

Under the FAA’s guidelines, commercial and private pilots who are neither departing nor arriving from the nearby New Castle Airport are directed to avoid flying over an area encompassing most of Wilmington. Drone operators are also warned that unauthorized flights in the area could result in damage or destruction of their property.

FAA advisories are common around major political events and areas where the president stays for extended periods of time. Flight advisories were previously issued for Trump’s 2017 inauguration in Washington, D.C., as well as the 2016 Democratic and Republican conventions.

An FAA official directed questions about the flight advisories to the Secret Service, which has protected the Biden family since March when he was running for the Democratic Party’s nomination.

The news from the FAA comes as President Trump has refused to concede the election and has launched legal challenges in several battlegrounds despite trailing Biden by thousands of votes.

The General Services Administration also has yet to issue a letter of ascertainment to formally begin the transition of power.