Posted on 08/05/2026 8:29:49 AM PDT by Red Badger
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is investigating a safety incident involving a commercial airplane and Marine One, the helicopter carrying President Donald Trump, according to multiple reports.
Trump departed the White House in Marine One yesterday at 2:33 pm on his way to Joint Base Andrews. The president often helicopters from the White House to JBA, where he boards Air Force One for trips. One minute later, a commercial airplane took off from Reagan National Airport, Reuters reported.
At the time of the president’s departure, air traffic control hadn’t halted flights at Reagan National Airport per policy, sources told Reuters. The policy was put in place following a fatal collision between a military helicopter and commercial airplane last year.
“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.” Kush Desai, a White House spokesman, told the Caller in a statement.
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 in a statement to outlets.
UPDATE: Here's a second STATter911 camera showing a much wider view. This one shows the jet, reported to be Envoy Air 3742, above and to the west of Marine One as it follows the Potomac River north on it's departure from DCA Runway 1. https://t.co/zb3yhPyZNE pic.twitter.com/GmgYvBpYMh
— Dave Statter (@STATter911) August 5, 2026
The FAA requires aircraft to be separated by at least 1.5 miles horizontally and 500 feet vertically around airports. Reuters reported sources believe Marine One and the plane did not maintain the required separation.
Both aircraft did land safely.
On Jan. 29, 2025, an American Airlines passenger jet collided with a military helicopter at Reagan National Airport. The commercial airplane was just moments away from landing. There were no survivors.
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating an air safety incident involving President Donald Trump's Marine One helicopter in D.C. on Tuesday, according to a Wall Street Journal report and air-traffic control audio reviewed by 7News.
Air traffic control audio captures… pic.twitter.com/ysItQ6dUeA
— 7News DC (@7NewsDC) August 5, 2026
According to a Daily Caller review of public documents, Washington’s Reagan National Airport has suffered countless near misses between aircraft over the last few decades, many reported by pilots themselves, and some involving presidential movement.
In May 2017, a helicopter and airplane pilot reported “an unsafe situation involving VIP movements,” the Caller previously reported. It is not confirmed if the vice president, then Mike Pence, was on the helicopter at the time of the incident, but the report notes that the craft was en route to the Naval Observatory.
In one incident, an air traffic controller for the Potomac Consolidated TRACON wrote that they were holding airplanes in the sky during a presidential movement, but despite that, controllers at Reagan National launched two departures at the presidential aircraft. The aircraft were “less than a mile and no altitude, converging,” the report reads, adding that the towers ought to coordinate better during VIP movements.
“How is it we on approach are not allowed to run arrivals yet they have the authority to release airplanes right at presidential aircraft?” the controller at Potomac Consolidated TRACON vents in his report.
The FAA did not respond to the Daily Caller’s request for comment.
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Aviation Ping!...................
DEI controllers?
TDS controllers?
I know I don’t have to say to all of us here, but I’m saying it: it looks that they’re trying to assassinate President Trump and anyone with him on during a flight. And make it look like ‘an unfortunate mishap or air traffic control or pilot error’.
"Your husband no coming home. Not see plane of Worshipful, Almighty, Beloved of the People Leader straining to lift all-merciful leader into sky."
May the good Lord keep protecting him.
Sounds like Reuters trying to GENERATE a story.
Reagan National ATC seems to be run by morons.
“At the time of the president’s departure, air traffic control hadn’t halted flights at Reagan National Airport per policy”
That’s where the investigation needs to start right there......and end with multiple terminations for incompetence.
“and end with multiple terminations for incompetence.”
and failure to follow written policy ...
They are already short staffed, remember the Army helicopter and jet collision last year?............
failure to follow written policy IS the incompetence.
Spent almost 40 years in the aviation industry, failure to follow written instructions is inexcusable.
That’s why the instructions are written in the first place....so there is no ambiguity or reason to rely on memory.
INEXCUSABLE
Whoever was supposed to make the call to stop flights ,but didn’t , needs to be fired immediately!
I dunno man, I get it takes a special kind of person to pull off the ATC gig but do you leave an incompetent in an ATC slot because your shorthanded?
Id have thought the Transportation secretary would’ve gotten the staffing thing sorted by now.
The qualifications for an ATC used to be pretty strict and difficult to pass. Unless they have DEI hiring for ATCs............
“DEI hiring for ATCs”.....don’t forget the TDS 😏
That occurred to me........
Had a supervisor that told me a story about going through ATC training in the 80s at the FAA Jacksonville Air Route Traffic Control Center Hilliard.
The class was full of professional types and college grads. And ONE dude that looked like total slacker that lived at home with his parents.
At the end they all failed to make the cut except for one.....guess which.
In the ATC job its all about stress management and executing performance under pressure.
Dude was laid back.....chill in all situations they through at him....so he was the one. 🤷♂️
FAA Jacksonville Air Route Traffic Control Center Hilliard.
That was where my step-dad worked for over 20 years.......
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