FAA Says Marine One Was Briefly Too Close to Passenger Airplane

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has confirmed a brief loss of required separation between Marine One, carrying President Donald Trump, and a passenger airplane near Washington's Reagan National Airport.

"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 said on Wednesday.

The agency added that "the air traffic controller was in contact with both the commercial pilot and Marine One pilot during the loss of separation".

Trump's helicopter lifted off from the Ellipse near the White House around 2.33pm EDT (1833 GMT) on Tuesday, bound for Joint Base Andrews for a trip to Los Angeles, according to a pool report.

Two sources told Reuters that air traffic controllers had not halted commercial flights at Reagan National as required under a policy set last year. FAA air traffic control is typically given at least three minutes' notice before Marine One departs so that traffic from Reagan can be stopped.

The first source said Envoy Air 3742, an Embraer E170 regional jet bound for Pensacola, Florida, departed at 2.34pm and was the aircraft involved. Envoy is a wholly owned subsidiary of American Airlines, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Both Trump's helicopter and the jet landed without incident.

Another regional flight, Republic 4700, was three miles from Reagan at the time and was rerouted out of caution, the first source said. The Republic E175, operating on behalf of American Airlines, had departed Raleigh-Durham and looped around the airport before landing at 2.52pm, according to FlightAware.

FAA rules require aircraft to remain separated by at least 1.5 miles (2.4km) horizontally and 500 feet (152m) vertically around airports.

The National Transportation Safety Board said it would investigate the incident, while both sources said the FAA was planning to convene a safety review team.

The incident raised serious questions about why the passenger airplane was allowed to depart while Marine One was nearby, a time when commercial traffic is typically halted. The FAA imposed permanent restrictions on helicopter operations around Reagan after the January 2025 midair collision between an American Airlines regional jet and an Army helicopter that killed 67 people. In March, the FAA also barred the use of visual separation to handle helicopter traffic near major airports.