The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has launched an investigation into an air traffic safety incident involving President Donald Trump’s Marine One helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
The incident occurred on Tuesday as the presidential helicopter departed the White House for Joint Base Andrews ahead of President Trump’s trip to Los Angeles.
In a statement, the FAA said the event did not appear to be a dangerous near miss, noting that the aircraft involved were not on converging flight paths.
According to sources familiar with the matter, commercial flight operations at Reagan National Airport had not yet been suspended before Marine One took off, despite safety procedures introduced following the fatal mid-air collision near the airport in 2025.
Officials said there was an apparent breach of the minimum separation distance between Marine One and Envoy Air Flight 3742, a regional passenger aircraft bound for Pensacola, Florida, which departed shortly after the presidential helicopter.
FAA regulations require aircraft operating near airports to maintain at least 1.5 miles of horizontal separation and 500 feet of vertical separation. Although preliminary information suggests the required separation may not have been fully maintained, authorities stressed that the aircraft were not on a collision course.
Both Marine One and the passenger aircraft completed their flights safely without further incident.
The FAA said it will convene a Safety Review Team to examine the circumstances surrounding the occurrence and determine whether existing procedures were followed.
A second commercial aircraft, Republic Flight 4700, was also diverted as a precaution before later landing safely.
Following the deadly mid-air collision near Reagan National Airport in January 2025, the FAA introduced permanent restrictions on helicopter operations in the airport’s vicinity. A subsequent investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) found that systemic shortcomings in air traffic management contributed to the crash, prompting enhanced safety measures, including the routine suspension of commercial flight operations whenever Marine One is operating near the airport.
The FAA said its investigation into Tuesday’s incident is ongoing.
