Overview
- Marine One, which took off Tuesday afternoon from the White House Ellipse with President Trump onboard, departed while commercial traffic at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport continued instead of being paused as required.
- Air-traffic control audio reviewed by reporters shows Marine One pilots called their departure several times, a controller described a transmission as "broken and unreadable," and tower traffic appeared to keep moving.
- The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed it is investigating the incident and said it "didn’t appear to be a dangerous close call" while officials assess whether the 1.5-mile horizontal or 500-foot vertical separation was lost.
- The other aircraft was identified as Envoy Air flight 3742, an Embraer regional jet bound for Pensacola, and both aircraft landed safely with the White House saying the president was never in harm's way.
- The probe revives scrutiny of tight D.C. airspace rules put in place after the Jan. 29, 2025 midair collision and could lead to tighter or clearer procedures for coordinating helicopter departures and nearby commercial flights.