LEWISTON — A Casco pilot who strayed too close to the White House last week departed from Twitchell’s Airport in Turner where he’s housed his planes for more than a decade, the airport’s manager said Tuesday.

The Cessna 180 owned and flown by William Wales was escorted by jet fighters to a nearby airport in Maryland Friday after encroaching into a restricted 60-mile air zone around the president’s home.

Airport Manager Dale Twitchell said he talked to Wales Friday night after his harrowing encounter with two U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter jets and two U.S. Coast Guard helicopters. The military planes intercepted Wales’ small single-engine plane as he and his wife were enroute to North Carolina to visit their daughter, Twitchell said.

“He’s got a GPS that once in a while blanked out,” Twitchell said, explaining the errant flight.

The restricted zone around the White House was extended in February by roughly 20 miles, forcing air traffic near the ocean, Twitchell said.

Wales told Twitchell that Indian Head Airport personnel in Charles County, Maryland, where Wales made his emergency landing had seen two or three pilots a week made a similar navigational error.

“It happens a lot,” Twitchell said.

In an interview with the Associated Press, the owner of the Maryland airport said many innocent pilots have been caught in the zone, but never a terrorist.

Gil Bauserman said a shaken Wales was interviewed by the Secret Service in one of the airport’s hangers.

“When F-16s showed up on this guy’s wings, he was scared to death,” Bauserman said.

About 15 minutes after joining Wales, the military radioed the airport to say they would be making an unscheduled landing at 12:45 p.m. Wales landed about 15 minutes later, along with the jets and helicopters.

The White House said that President Barack Obama was “briefly relocated” during the incident.

The U.S. Senate, which had been in session, was briefly recessed.

Authorities have been on high alert for planes entering air space in and around major government buildings since the terror attacks on Sept., 11, 2001 that targeted the Pentagon, and reportedly, the White House, and the former World Trade Center’s twin towers.

Several other small aircraft flying too close to the White House have made headlines since 2001.

Wales, who has kept several small planes at the Turner airport for roughly 18 years, is expected to return to Maine next weekend, Twitchell said.