Trump’s Marine One Involved in Air Traffic Safety Incident Near White House

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration is investigating an air-traffic safety incident involving Marine One, the military helicopter carrying President Donald Trump, that occurred Tuesday afternoon near the White House.

Marine One lifted off from the Ellipse around 2:33 p.m. local time, heading to Joint Base Andrews for a trip to Los Angeles. At nearly the same time (2:34 p.m.), a regional commercial jet—Envoy Air 3742, an Embraer E170 bound for Pensacola, Florida, departed from nearby Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

Sources said air-traffic controllers had not halted commercial flights at Reagan National as required under a policy established after a prior fatal collision in the area. This led to an apparent loss of required separation (aircraft must maintain at least 1.5 miles horizontally and 500 feet vertically near airports). One source indicated the aircraft did not appear to be converging.

The FAA stated: “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.” Both the helicopter and the jet landed safely without further incident. Another regional flight was sent around as a precaution.

The agency plans to convene a Safety Review Team. The White House had not immediately commented on the matter in initial reports. The Wall Street Journal first reported the incident, followed by confirmation from Reuters and other outlets.