The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating a safety incident Tuesday involving a military helicopter carrying President Donald Trump, the agency said.
Trump’s Marine One helicopter took off from the White House Tuesday afternoon, but air-traffic controllers had not halted commercial flights at nearby Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport as required under a policy set last year following a fatal collision.
The Wall Street Journal first reported the incident.
“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 FAA said.
What Happened
Trump’s helicopter lifted off from the Ellipse near the White House around 2:33 p.m., on his way to Joint Base Andrews for a trip to Los Angeles.
A source told Reuters that Envoy Air 3742 — a regional E170 jet bound for Pensacola, Florida — departed at 2:34 p.m. and was involved in the apparent loss of separation incident with Marine One. Envoy is a wholly owned subsidiary of American Airlines.
FAA rules require aircraft to remain separated by at least 1.5 miles horizontally and 500 feet vertically around airports. It appears Marine One and the plane did not maintain separation. One source said they were not converging during the incident.
Both Trump’s helicopter and the jet landed without incident.
The Post-Crash Rules
The FAA imposed permanent restrictions on helicopter operations around Washington’s Reagan National Airport after a fatal January 2025 mid-air collision killed 67 people.
The National Transportation Safety Board said in January that a series of systemic failures by the FAA led to the collision, citing the agency’s decision to allow helicopters to travel close to the airport with no safeguards to separate them from airplanes.
After the crash, the FAA barred mixed helicopter and jet traffic around the airport. When Marine One is in flight around the airport, commercial traffic is typically halted.
FAA air traffic control is typically given at least three minutes’ notice before Marine One departs to halt traffic from Reagan.
What’s Next
Two sources told Reuters the FAA is planning to convene a Safety Review Team into the incident. The White House did not immediately comment.
Another regional flight — Republic 4700 — was 3 miles from Reagan at the time and was sent around out of caution. The Republic Embraer 175, operating on behalf of American, had departed from Raleigh-Durham and looped around the airport before landing.
The Bottom Line
The FAA is investigating a safety incident involving President Trump’s Marine One helicopter near Reagan National Airport. A commercial jet departed as Trump’s helicopter took off, violating post-crash rules that require halting commercial traffic when Marine One is in flight. Both aircraft landed safely. The FAA is convening a Safety Review Team to investigate.
