The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) are investigating why there was no pause in airport traffic when Marine One took off from the White House on Tuesday afternoon with President Trump aboard.
This inquiry follows a tragic midair collision in January 2025 at Washington’s Reagan National Airport involving an Army Blackhawk helicopter and an American Airlines aircraft. In response, the Transportation Department had implemented a ban on non-essential helicopter flights in the vicinity of the airport. While Marine One and emergency flights are exempt from this restriction, any such flights crossing the Potomac River necessitate a ground stop at Reagan National Airport.
On the day of the incident, as the president was preparing to depart for the West Coast, the pilot of Marine One attempted to reach the control tower at DCA three times to notify air traffic controllers of the helicopter’s imminent departure. At one point, the tower acknowledged the pilot’s communication but requested that the message be repeated due to poor clarity.
As Marine One took off, it seemingly caught the control tower off guard. It was then that air traffic control informed the helicopter that other flights were still active at National Airport, with another plane already airborne.
“Marine One, you’ve got traffic rotating off runway one,” the air traffic controller communicated. Marine One acknowledged this and held its position, subsequently informing the tower, “National Tower, Marine One — we’re going to be doing a delay.”
The Wall Street Journal was the first to report on this occurrence. The FAA confirmed that President Trump was never at risk during the incident.
In a statement to CBS News, the FAA noted that there was a brief loss of separation between the aircraft, but they continued to move away from each other safely. The FAA will continue to assess the situation further.
The Marine Corps described the flight as “routine,” asserting that air traffic controllers granted the necessary route approval and provided appropriate traffic updates in a timely manner.
Sarah Ploss contributed to this report.
