FAA investigating why a plane was allowed to take off as Trump’s helicopter approached

WASHINGTON — It’s not clear why a plane was allowed to take off as President Trump’s helicopter was approaching Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Tuesday afternoon in an apparent violation of safety procedures put in place after last year’s midair collision near the busy airport.

The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration both said Wednesday that they were investigating what happened when a commercial jet took off just as Marine One left the White House for Andrews Air Force Base with the president aboard for the first leg of a West Coast trip.

After 67 people died on Jan. 29, 2025, when an airliner collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter, the FAA decided that all takeoffs and landings at the Washington, D.C., airport would be halted anytime a helicopter passes by on a conflicting route.

The airplane that took off Tuesday was climbing above Marine One as the helicopter approached, so the two aircraft were not on a collision course.

The FAA said in a statement that the preliminary investigation showed “there was a momentary loss of separation after which the aircraft continued to move away from one another.”

“The air traffic controller was in contact with both the commercial pilot and Marine One pilot during the loss of separation,” the FAA said.

The White House emphasized that Trump was not in danger during the incident.

“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,” said White House spokesperson Kush Desai.

The Marine Corps defended the actions of their helicopter pilots.

“There were no ‘close calls’ with the routine Marine One movement” Tuesday, Marine Corps spokesman Capt. Jacob Sugg wrote in an email. “Washington National Tower did not delay the helicopter crew, ask them to hold, or otherwise alter their flight profile..”

The Wall Street Journal first reported the incident.

The airspace near the White House and Reagan is heavily congested with military and commercial aircraft.

Poor communication between the military and the civilian air traffic controllers at Reagan has been an issue in the past. It came out last spring after one of the hearings on the midair collision that a hotline connecting the Pentagon to the tower at Reagan hadn’t been working for more than three years, and the FAA hadn’t even realized it.

The FAA took steps to ensure that helicopters and airplanes would no longer share the same airspace around the airport shortly after the investigation into last year’s collision began. The rules also require air traffic controllers to use radar — and not rely on pilots’ eyes — to maintain separation and require all military aircraft to broadcast their locations.

The main group of family members of crash victims questioned why the government hasn’t done more to prevent collisions in the crowded airspace in a post on X on Wednesday morning. The family members have been urging Congress to reach a compromise and pass the package of aviation safety reforms that the NTSB recommended.

Funk and Fields write for the Associated Press. Funk reported from Omaha