Federal aviation officials and the National Transportation Safety Board are examining an air traffic safety incident involving Marine One, the presidential helicopter, that took place this week while President Donald Trump was aboard, authorities said Wednesday.
The episode happened at about 2:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday, when Marine One departed from the Ellipse near the White House with the president on board, according to a statement from the Federal Aviation Administration. The helicopter was headed to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, marking the first leg of Trump’s trip to the West Coast.
As the military helicopter lifted off, however, commercial flights at nearby Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport were not stopped as required under established safety procedures, officials said. Standard protocol calls for air traffic controllers to pause all other air traffic three minutes before Marine One is scheduled to depart.
An air traffic control recording provided by ATC.com indicates that Marine One issued the required three-minute notice before takeoff. But a controller apparently missed the transmission because another person was speaking on the same frequency at the same time.
“Marine One flights are piloted by some of the best aviators in the world, and at no point was the President in harm’s way,” the White House said in a statement Wednesday.
The FAA said preliminary information shows the incident led to what the agency described as a “momentary loss of separation” between Marine One and an American Airlines regional carrier flight that was departing from Reagan National Airport.
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Under FAA requirements, commercial aircraft operating near DCA must maintain at least 1.5 miles of horizontal separation and 500 feet of vertical separation from any helicopter in the area.
The FAA said the American Airlines regional flight was never dangerously close to Marine One.
The Wall Street Journal first reported the incident on Tuesday night.
“Based on our preliminary safety review, there was momentary loss of separation after which the aircraft continued to move away from one another,” the FAA statement said. “The air traffic controller was in contact with both the commercial pilot and Marine One pilot during the loss of separation.”
The FAA said it is continuing to review the incident and “will implement any appropriate corrective actions based on our findings.”
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