FAA investigating 'safety incident' involving Trump's Marine One helicopter and passenger plane in Washington DC

Published: 23:25, 5 August 2026 | Updated: 23:57, 5 August 2026 A safety incident involving President Donald Trump's Marine One helicopter is being investigated after the aircraft took off alongside commercial flights in Washington DC.  Trump boarded Marine One around 2.33pm on Tuesday en route to Joint Base Andrews for a flight on Air Force One to Los Angeles.  He departed from the White House Grounds on the helicopter as commercial flights took off nearby from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.  The Federal Aviation Administration said on Wednesday that Marine One briefly flew too close to a passenger plane.  Flight tracking data revealed that an American Airlines flight en route to Pensacola, Florida, took off from Reagan National Airport around the same time as Marine One departed the White House.  The FAA previously said that it 'didn’t appear to be a dangerous close call and the aircraft weren’t apparently converging.' The National Transportation Safety Board has also launched a probe into whether Trump's helicopter flew too close to the commercial jet, calling the incident a 'loss of separation.  Federal regulations require aircraft to be at least 1.5 miles horizontally and 500 feet vertically apart from one another around airports.   Marine One took off out of Washington DC on Tuesday carrying Donald Trump. The NTSB and FAA are now investigating whether the helicopter flew too close to a commercial flight President Donald Trump boarded the helicopter at Joint Base Andrews, pictured above  A commercial jet took off from Reagan National Airport around the same time Marine One departed from the White House grounds (file photo)  '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.  Sources told the Wall Street Journal that air traffic controllers failed to halt flights at the nearby airport, a departure from traditional practices.  People familiar with the protocol told the publication that controllers expect Marine One to give them at least a three-minute warning before takeoff to keep the airspace clear.  The FAA imposed stricter regulations on helicopter operations around Reagan National Airport after an American Airlines regional jet crashed into an Army Black Hawk helicopter in January 2025.  The shocking mid-air collision claimed the lives of 67 people. Helicopter flights have also been limited since the crash, and the Transportation Department shut down the route Black Hawk traveled.  Captain Jacob Sugg, a spokesperson for the Marine Corps, said there were no 'close calls' on Tuesday, and air traffic controllers directed Marine One to Joint Base Andrews.  This is a breaking news story...