WASHINGTON — The Marine One presidential helicopter carrying U.S. President Donald Trump flew less than a mile from a commercial passenger plane in Washington airspace on Tuesday, in an incident that once again put security around Ronald Reagan National Airport under scrutiny.
The episode occurred when the presidential ship coincided near the airport with a flight from the local airline Envoy, according to local media reported this Wednesday.
The proximity between both aircraft triggered a review by aviation authorities to determine the circumstances of the encounter.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed that there was a temporary reduction in the separation between aircraft, while authorities analyze the coordination of air traffic in the area, where commercial flights, military aircraft and movements linked to presidential transportation converge.
Security
The incident occurs in an area that has been the subject of special attention following other air security episodes around Ronald Reagan Airport, located near downtown Washington and restricted airspace.
This metropolitan area’s airspace has been a source of safety concern since an Army Black Hawk helicopter crashed into an American Airlines passenger flight on January 29, 2025, killing all 67 people aboard both aircraft.
The Sikorsky Black Hawk military helicopter and a Bombardier CRJ700 operated by a subsidiary of the company American Airlines They fell into the icy waters of the Potomac River, which borders the Ronald Reagan airport in the US capital after crashing.
was never in danger
According to the New York Times, which cited two sources familiar with the matter, the Marine One helicopter was less than a mile (1.60 kilometers) from the plane on Tuesday after confusing communications with air traffic controllers.
The White House has insisted that the president was never in danger.
The NTSB is investigating “the reported loss of separation event between Marine One and a commercial aircraft” that took off from Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington, the agency said in a post on X on Wednesday, without providing further details.
The Board thus referred to the code name adopted by a helicopter when the president of the United States is on board.
White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement that “Marine One flights are piloted by some of the best aviators in the world.”
“At no time was the president in danger,” he said.
Failure in security protocol?
For its part, the US aviation regulator, the FAA, explained that according to its “preliminary safety analysis, there was a momentary loss of separation after which each aircraft moved away from each other.”
“The air traffic controller was in contact with both the commercial pilot and the pilot of Marine One during the loss of separation,” the FAA added. He reiterated the White House’s claim that “the president was never in danger.”
According to the Wall Street Journal, security protocols require a separation of at least 2.40 kilometers horizontally and 150 meters vertically.
The media noted that the incident occurred around 2:30 p.m. (6:30 p.m. GMT) and that an American Airlines Embraer E-170, operated by its subsidiary Envoy Air, took off at that time.
For its part, the helicopter was headed to Andrews Air Force Base, where the president boarded his plane to travel to California.
Neither American Airlines nor the US Marine Corps immediately responded to AFP requests for comment.
The FAA has dramatically tightened security measures at Washington National Airport after the deadly collision between a landing plane and an Army Black Hawk helicopter that killed 67 people in January 2025.
