The Secret Service asked McHenry County deputies to rush to a private airport near Marengo Sunday afternoon after a small plane flew into airspace restricted for President Donald Trump’s Presidents Cup visit.
The McHenry County Sheriff’s Office responded around 2:10 p.m. Sunday to Hilbert Airport, 408 Busse Road in unincorporated Marengo, for an assist-other-agency call.
The Secret Service contacted the Chicago Rockford International Airport and asked that deputies get there immediately, according to sheriff’s radio traffic.
A dispatcher said the Secret Service reported the aircraft had flown into restricted airspace without authorization and described it as a small white civilian plane with a red stripe.
The dispatcher said the Secret Service may want the pilot apprehended and would call the sheriff’s office back with what it wanted done.
Around 1:40 p.m., an air traffic controller had radioed for any aircraft flying at low altitude north of Casa de Aero Park, a private airfield near Hampshire, without a transponder code to make contact, according to air traffic control radio traffic.
A fighter jet pilot had warned an aircraft with a red stripe on its fuselage flying at about 1,000 feet some 30 miles northwest of O’Hare International Airport that it was in restricted airspace around 1:50 p.m., according to emergency radio traffic.
The fighter pilot told an aircraft about 10 miles east of Poplar Grove around 1:54 p.m. that it had been intercepted and ordered it to continue north, the radio traffic indicated.
It was not immediately known whether the aircraft in those transmissions was the plane the Secret Service reported.
A deputy reported over the radio around 3:35 p.m. that units were back in service and the Secret Service did not need anything further from the sheriff’s office.
It was not immediately known whether the plane had landed at the airstrip, where it took off from or whether the Secret Service questioned the pilot.
Hilbert Airport is a privately owned airfield with a single 1,900-foot grass runway about five miles north of Marengo where pilots need permission before landing, according to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) records.
Trump attended the final day of the Presidents Cup golf tournament at Medinah Country Club in DuPage County as the event’s honorary chairman.
He arrived with an Air Force One flyover of the course, greeted players and briefly addressed the crowd before the U.S. team went on to win the competition.
The FAA’s temporary flight restriction for the visit covered the airspace from the ground up to 17,999 feet within 30 nautical miles of Medinah and O’Hare International Airport, with tighter 10-nautical-mile inner rings, beginning at 9:15 a.m. Sunday, according to the FAA.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), which enforces the restrictions, said in an announcement Friday that pilots who violate them could be met by federal authorities when they land and face interviews or further enforcement action.
NORAD said at least 15 general aviation aircraft violated the restricted airspace over the Chicago area Sunday and fighter jets intercepted 10 of them to get the pilots’ attention.
Fighter jets dispensed flares during two of those intercepts, NORAD said.
“Flares are employed with the highest regard for safety, burn out quickly and completely, and pose no danger to people on the ground,” NORAD said.
NORAD said all of the situations were safely resolved.
The McHenry County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Lake and McHenry County Scanner.
It was not immediately known whether the pilot was taken into custody or would face enforcement action.