US investigates proximity incident between passenger jet and Trump’s helicopter
Investigators look into why airliner was allowed to take off in Washington while Marine One was airborne nearby
The Federal Aviation Administration said a military helicopter carrying President Donald Trump on Tuesday was briefly too close to a passenger jet departing Reagan Washington National Airport, but the US leader was not in danger.
The incident raised serious questions about why the passenger plane was allowed to depart while Marine One was nearby, a time when commercial traffic is typically halted.
Following a January 2025 crash between a military helicopter and a commercial jet that killed 67 people, the FAA barred mixed helicopter and jet traffic around the 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.
Trump’s Marine One helicopter took off from the White House Tuesday afternoon, but air traffic controllers had not halted commercial flights at Reagan National as required under a policy set last year following the collision, two sources said.
FAA rules require aircraft to remain separated by at least 2.4km (1.5 miles) horizontally and 152 metres (500 feet) vertically around airports.