A Marine One carrying President Donald Trump was involved in an apparent air-safety lapse near Washington this week. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed it is now reviewing the Tuesday incident. However, the agency stressed it did not appear to be a dangerous close call.
FAA is reportedly investigating safety incident involving Marine One but it wasn’t dangerous
The FAA is investigating whether proper separation was maintained between Marine One and a commercial aircraft after the presidential helicopter left the White House grounds. The incident was first reported by The Wall Street Journal. It has drawn scrutiny because it happened near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Here, strict helicopter restrictions were imposed following a fatal mid-air collision last year.
“The FAA is investigating a safety incident involving Marine One but it didn’t appear to be a dangerous close call and the aircraft weren’t apparently converging,” the agency said in a statement. Donald Trump’s helicopter lifted off from the Ellipse near the White House around 2:33 p.m. on Tuesday. It was heading to Joint Base Andrews for a trip to Los Angeles.
At nearly the same moment, a regional jet operated by Envoy Air departed from Reagan National. Envoy Flight 3742, an Embraer E170 bound for Pensacola, Florida, took off at 2:34 p.m. Two sources told Reuters that air-traffic controllers had not halted commercial flights at the nearby airport as required under a policy established last year.
FAA rules mandate aircraft maintain at least 1.5 miles of horizontal separation and 500 feet of vertical separation around airports. The sources indicated Marine One and the commercial plane did not maintain the required separation. However, one source noted the aircraft were not converging during the incident.
Typically, FAA air traffic control receives at least three minutes’ notice before Marine One leaves, allowing time to halt traffic from Reagan National. Following the January 2025 crash that killed 67 people, the FAA imposed permanent restrictions on helicopter operations around the airport and barred mixed helicopter and jet traffic.
The White House and American Airlines, parent company of Envoy Air, haven’t yet made an official comment.
Originally reported by Devanshi Basu on Mandatory.
This story originally appeared on Realitytea
