Trump has close shave as his chopper comes too close to passenger jet
The flight scare happened likely due to garbled communications between Trump's crew and the air traffic controllers in Ronald Reagan National Airport’s tower.
President Donald Trump steps off from Marine One upon his arrival at the Ellipse just outside of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
A military helicopter carrying US President Donald Trump came in close proximity to a passenger jet in Washington on Tuesday.
The flight scare happened likely due to garbled communications between Trump’s crew and the air traffic controllers in Ronald Reagan National Airport’s tower, The New York Times reported citing people aware of the matter.
The miscommunication between the chopper and the ATC delayed the controllers from clearing the air traffic, which resulted in Marine One coming within a proximity of 0.8 miles (1.2 kilometres).
NEW: STATter911 video showing a jet departing Runway 1 at DCA as the helicopter with President Trump was over East Potomac Park heading toward Joint Base Andrews. As @WSJ reports, the normal procedure of stopping commercial flights at Reagan National did not occur this afternoon… https://t.co/l3qGgDvXfapic.twitter.com/lj4K19818w
The incident occurred on Tuesday noon when Trump was flying to Joint Base Andrews from the White House during a planned trip of Los Angeles. The US aviation agency, Federal Aviation Administration, said it is reviewing the incident, while the National Transportation Safety Board is carrying out a probe.
What led to the incident?
The incident likely resulted due to garbled communications between the crew of Marine One helicopter and the air traffic controllers at the Washington Airport. Before taking off from the White House, Trump’s chopper made three attempts to communicate to the controllers that they were three minutes before taking off, The New York Times said.
However, the communication was not heard by the controller and the helicopter advanced, coming in close proximity of the path of an Envoy Air passenger jet. A video has surfaced on social media showed the passenger jet taking off seconds before Trump’s chopper is seen flying in an opposite direction.
According to The Times report, Marine One came around 1.2 kilometres of literal distance and 700 feet of vertical distance from the passenger jet at its closest point.
The near miss brought haunting memories of the tragic collision between a military helicopter and a passenger jet last year. In January 2025, American Airlines passenger jet and a US Army Black Hawk helicopter crashed near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, killing all 67 people aboard and making it the deadliest US air crash since 2001.
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