Trump’s Marine One flies too close to passenger airplane, FAA says U.S. President was not in danger
The FAA is investigating a near-miss incident involving President Donald Trump's Marine One helicopter and a commercial passenger jet near Reagan Washington National Airport. Despite strict safety protocols implemented after a fatal 2025 collision, air traffic controllers failed to halt commercial departures during the President's flight.
Why it matters
The incident highlights critical failures in air traffic control safety protocols and raises concerns about the effectiveness of post-2025 aviation regulations designed to prevent mid-air collisions in busy airspace.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said a military helicopter carrying President Donald Trump on Tuesday (August 4, 2026) was briefly too close to a passenger jet departing from Reagan Washington National Airport, but said the U.S. president was not in danger.
The incident raises serious questions about why the passenger airplane was allowed to depart while Marine One was nearby, a time when commercial traffic is typically halted. Following a January 2025 crash between a military helicopter and a commercial jet that killed 67 people, the FAA barred mixed helicopter and jet traffic around the airport.
“Based on our preliminary safety review, there was momentary loss of separation after which the aircraft continued to move away from one another,” the FAA said on Wednesday (August 5).
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