FAA investigating air safety incident involving Trump’s Marine One helicopter

By Hanna Park, Aaron Cooper, CNN

(CNN) — Federal aviation officials are investigating an air-traffic safety incident Tuesday involving the military helicopter carrying President Donald Trump and another aircraft, according to Reuters news agency and air-traffic control audio reviewed by CNN.

“The FAA is investigating a safety incident involving Marine One but it didn’t appear to be a dangerous close call and the aircraft weren’t apparently converging,” the FAA said, according to Reuters.

The Marine One helicopter took off from the Ellipse just south of the White House on Tuesday afternoon, but air traffic at nearby Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport continued for a couple of minutes afterward, according to a CNN review of air-traffic control audio captured by ATC.com.

There has been growing scrutiny of the extremely crowded airspace around Reagan National Airport, roughly 4 miles from the Ellipse, in the wake of a collision last year of a US Army Blackhawk helicopter and an American Airlines regional jet, killing all 67 people on board.

Following that incident, the FAA imposed heavy restrictions on helicopters operating near the airport.

Commercial flights at the Reagan National Airport were not halted as they are required to under a policy set last year following that fatal collision, two sources told Reuters on Tuesday.

A review of air-traffic control audio indicates the pilots of Marine One told a Reagan National tower controller they were preparing to take off at least three times. The controller didn’t appear to acknowledge the transmission, and traffic at the airport continued.

“Tower, do you copy. Marine One, three minutes to lift,” a pilot said at 2:31 p.m., the audio shows. The pilot called again, but the controller answered that the transmission was “broken and unreadable.”

Minutes later, the pilots said they were departing on their planned route. “Uh …” the controller replied, according to the audio. “Marine One, you said you are proceeding as briefed?”

He then warned the helicopter about a regional jet already taking off. The pilots said they saw the plane and held their position before flying on to Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, where Trump boarded an Air Force One flight to Los Angeles.

Marine One lifted off from the White House Ellipse, near the South Lawn, around 2:33 p.m., according to a pool report.

The other aircraft involved was an Envoy Air commercial plane, according to Reuters and the Wall Street Journal, which was first to report the story. Envoy Air 3742, a regional E170 jet bound for Pensacola, Florida, departed at 2:34 p.m. and was involved in the apparent loss of separation incident with Marine One, a source told Reuters. Envoy is a wholly owned subsidiary of American Airlines.

The commercial jet passed within 1.5 miles of the Ellipse, according to tracking to Flightradar24. Both aircraft landed safely.

“Marine One’s flight on Aug. 4 was routine,” a spokesperson for the US Marine Corps told CNN in a statement. “Washington National Tower did not delay the helicopter crew, ask them to hold, or otherwise alter their flight profile.”

CNN has reached out to Envoy Air, American Airlines, the FAA and the White House for comment.

“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,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai told the Journal.

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CNN’s Diego Mendoza contributed to this report.