About the Coalition

Neighbors in Palm Beach and West Palm Beach. Our mission: to restore the peace and quiet of our neighborhoods while still protecting the President's security.

Who we are

Our mission is to restore the peace and quiet of our neighborhoods while still protecting the President’s security.

Palm Beach Quiet Skies Coalition began in late 2025 as an informal group of residents of Palm Beach island and the West Palm Beach neighborhoods along the Intracoastal. We had one thing in common: after October 20, 2025, our lives were dramatically disrupted. Aircraft that used to pass well away from our homes began passing much closer, throughout the day and night.

More than 2,000 people signed our first petition. We installed our own network of noise monitors and publish what they record at pbinoise.com; we have briefed local officials, the County, the Town of Palm Beach and the press. We are now organizing as a formal nonprofit, a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization, so that we can retain experts and counsel and see this through.

How we work

The Coalition is run by volunteers and funded by residents. We are advised by an aviation lawyer, a former Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) airspace specialist and an acoustics engineer (who they are), and we work with professional advisors for public outreach. Our positions are our own; we are not affiliated with any political party, candidate or campaign. We do not dispute that a restriction around Mar-a-Lago should exist, or the Secret Service’s judgment about protection; our questions are about the size the FAA chose and the environmental assessment we believe the rule should have. We are residents, not lawyers or aviation engineers; we work with professionals in both, and we would rather find answers with the FAA than argue with it.

For press inquiries, contact media@palmbeachquietskies.org.

Sources appear at the foot of each page. We share the underlying data and methods with the FAA, researchers and reporters on request.

Get involved

  • Sign up for updates. Comments to the FAA closed on October 2, 2026; we will tell you when the FAA acts. Stay Involved has the form and other ways to help.
  • Tell your neighbors. Many affected residents may not know what the FAA has proposed.
  • Support the work with a contribution of any size.

Join the Coalition

Sign up to be counted as a supporter of our mission: peace and quiet for our neighborhoods, and security for the President. We count supporters, not names: your name is never published. We'll also email you when there is news that matters, such as the FAA's decision or a public meeting. Email is all we need; texts are optional.

What we're asking the FAA to do

  1. Study the noise before anything becomes permanent, looking at both the flight paths and the restriction together.
  2. Explain why the full restriction must apply every day of the year, and review it at least every two years and when this presidency ends.
  3. Explain why the restricted zone is 2,000 feet high when the Secret Service originally requested 1,000 feet, and evaluate a 1,000-foot zone. The Secret Service originally requested 1,000 feet in writing at both Mar-a-Lago and Trump Tower in New York. The FAA granted 1,000 feet in New York but chose 2,000 here. Before the restriction, nearly all departures crossed this area above 1,000 feet, so a lower zone could help bring back the old route over the ocean.
  4. Hold a public meeting in Palm Beach County.

Our goal: departures back over the ocean, where they flew until October 2025, for as many flights as security allows. Palm Beach County, which runs the airport, has asked the FAA for the same.1

What we've done so far

We filed a formal comment with the FAA. Our lawyer prepared it for the Coalition, backed by our aviation and acoustics experts, signed statements from residents and data from our noise monitors. It raises key questions about the proposed rule, proposes specific changes to it, and asks the FAA to answer each of its 12 numbered requests.2

We helped neighbors be heard. We reached residents who hadn't heard about the FAA's proposal, explained why commenting mattered, and helped them write to the FAA.

2,100+

signatures on our petition to the FAA.3

505

comments to the FAA were sent through this website by the October 2 deadline.4

12

residents gave the FAA signed statements on how the flights have changed their lives.5

Sources and details

  1. Secret Service letter of September 16, 2025 (docket item FAA-2026-10827-0003): one nautical mile, from the surface to 1,000 feet above the ground, at both Trump Tower and Mar-a-Lago. The proposal says the two agencies later "agreed to a 2,000 feet AGL altitude ceiling" (91 Fed. Reg. at 56,381); we ask the FAA to explain the extra height. For Trump Tower the FAA adopted a permanent restriction to 1,000 feet, Prohibited Area P-75 (91 Fed. Reg. 48255, July 31, 2026, effective October 29, 2026); the two sites differ, so the comparison supports asking for an explanation, not assuming one height must fit both. Before the restriction, 2,166 of the 2,181 tracked departures that crossed the restricted circle (99.3%), October 1–19, 2025, stayed above 1,000 feet (The 2,000-Foot Question). Restoring former routes would be a separate FAA decision; the rule does not set the flight paths. The study we ask for is a focused Environmental Assessment comparing realistic alternatives (the Coalition's comment, Objections IV, V and VII). Our comment of October 2, 2026 (Objections IX and X) asks the FAA to explain why the band between 1,000 and 2,000 feet must apply continuously, and proposes rule text requiring review "at least every two years and upon a material change in … presidential status." The FAA revoked earlier presidential restrictions after Presidents Nixon, Carter and Reagan left office (the proposal's own history, Section III). Public meeting: the Coalition's comment, Conclusion, joins the requests of local officials for "a public meeting in Palm Beach County." Ocean departures: Palm Beach County's Department of Airports asks whether the rule "or associated flight procedures can be configured to retain runway-heading departures over the ocean to the greatest extent practicable" (comment FAA-2026-10827-1196, pp. 3–4). The Coalition's comment is FAA-2026-10827-1315. ↩
  2. The Coalition's comment, filed October 2, 2026 in docket FAA-2026-10827 (63 pages, with exhibits), prepared by counsel, Steven M. Taber. It is supported by an aviation-procedure assessment reviewed by a former FAA airspace specialist (Exhibit A), an acoustics report by John C. Freytag, P.E. (Exhibit B), noise records from the Coalition's monitors (Exhibit D) and twelve resident declarations (Exhibit G). It proposes rule text for the FAA to evaluate: a 1,000-foot alternative to the 2,000-foot height, and a provision for periodic review. Each objection ends with a numbered request, I.1 through XI.1 (with two under VIII), twelve in all, and the comment asks the FAA to "respond separately to each numbered Request." ↩
  3. "Restore Safe and Livable Skies Over Palm Beach," with 2,176 signatures recorded by Change.org as of September 28, 2026, filed as comment FAA-2026-10827-0792. ↩
  4. Count from the submission log of the comment tool on this site (Speak4): 505 comments. Submissions received in docket FAA-2026-10827, as shown on regulations.gov on October 3, 2026: 1,316. Of those, 1,228 had been posted to the public file; the FAA reviews each comment before posting it, so that number will rise. Anyone may comment, so the count is not a tally of residents or of positions. The proposal: "Before finalizing this proposed rule, FAA will consider all comments it receives on or before the closing date for comments." Our petition, with 2,176 signatures recorded by Change.org as of September 28, 2026, is in the file as comment FAA-2026-10827-0792. ↩
  5. Twelve declarations, from residents of the Estate Section, Historic El Cid, Poinciana Park, Flamingo Park and Grandview Heights, filed as Exhibit G to the Coalition's comment of October 2, 2026 in docket FAA-2026-10827. The comment also includes our measured noise records, an acoustics report (Exhibit B) and an aviation-procedure assessment (Exhibit A). ↩