{"id":6687,"date":"2026-08-05T13:30:06","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T13:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/?p=6687"},"modified":"2026-08-05T13:30:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T13:30:07","slug":"faa-investigates-air-safety-incident-involving-trumps-marine-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/?p=6687","title":{"rendered":"FAA investigates air \u2018safety incident\u2019 involving Trump\u2019s Marine One"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-gu-name=\"media\" class=\"dcr-14sl0e4\">\n<div class=\"dcr-17l77cs\">\n<figure id=\"23ff7821-4163-42ea-b91b-7dcc0c91701d\" class=\"dcr-191xnya\">\n<div id=\"img-1\" class=\"dcr-1t7hdmw\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Helicopter flying in sky over grassy lawn with a building, trees and another helicopter in the background\" src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/93172ad9d7c92945d55c1d0850b64163bc2dc05f\/243_0_3600_2880\/master\/3600.jpg?width=465&amp;dpr=1&amp;s=none&amp;crop=none\" width=\"465\" height=\"372\" loading=\"eager\" class=\"dcr-up96pv\"><span class=\"dcr-kogzpx\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-18mnkpm\">\n<div class=\"dcr-1294qmb\"><label for=\"the-checkbox\" class=\"dcr-4sl2vt\"><\/label> <\/p>\n<div id=\"the-caption\"><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-1mfxiaj\"><span class=\"dcr-13i4yc9\"><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1cipnsy\">Marine One carrying Donald Trump departs from the White House on 4 August 2026.<\/span> Photograph: Eric Lee\/Reuters<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/span><a href=\"#img-1\" data-ignore=\"global-link-styling\" class=\"open-lightbox dcr-zwabc0\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><button data-element-id=\"23ff7821-4163-42ea-b91b-7dcc0c91701d\" type=\"button\" class=\"open-lightbox dcr-1bitgpn\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><span class=\"dcr-1shbixy\">View image in fullscreen<\/span><\/button><\/a><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"dcr-qda0hp\"><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-1e9iiy9\"><span class=\"dcr-13i4yc9\"><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1cipnsy\">Marine One carrying Donald Trump departs from the White House on 4 August 2026.<\/span> Photograph: Eric Lee\/Reuters<\/figcaption><\/span><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-gu-name=\"headline\" class=\"dcr-ql9l8l\">\n<div class=\"dcr-6mja0y\">\n<h1 class=\"dcr-l0wuod\">FAA investigates air \u2018safety incident\u2019 involving Trump\u2019s Marine One<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-gu-name=\"standfirst\" class=\"dcr-1xpojbf\">\n<div class=\"dcr-1gm5ptv\">\n<p>Controllers allegedly failed to halt flights, leading to a \u2018loss of separation\u2019 with a departing passenger jet<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-gu-name=\"body\" class=\"dcr-x1al2c\">\n<div class=\"dcr-11gq2tx\">\n<div id=\"maincontent\" class=\"dcr-1w2vkyc\">\n<div class=\"article-body-commercial-selector article-body-viewer-selector dcr-ogvvui\">\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">An air \u201csafety incident\u201d in which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/donaldtrump\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s Marine One helicopter came closer than permitted to another aircraft over Washington DC is under investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Air traffic controllers are believed to have mistakenly failed to halt commercial flights at Ronald Reagan national airport in northern <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/virginia\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\">Virginia<\/a> on Tuesday afternoon when the military helicopter lifted off from the White House with the president on board.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">A \u201closs of separation\u201d incident occurred in which the helicopter and a recently departed passenger jet bound for Florida came closer to each other than regulations allow, a source told Reuters. The aircraft are not believed to have been on a collision course.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The FAA said in a statement that it was \u201cinvestigating a safety incident involving Marine One but it didn\u2019t appear to be a dangerous close call and the aircraft weren\u2019t apparently converging\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The episode followed a tightening of proximity rules in the wake of a January 2025 collision between a commercial airliner and an army Black Hawk helicopter over the nation\u2019s capital that killed 67 people. The government eventually <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2025\/dec\/17\/us-government-helicopter-crash-washington-dc\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">admitted negligence<\/a> in what was the deadliest crash on US soil in more than two decades.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The aircraft involved in Tuesday\u2019s incident was an Embraer E170 jet operated by Envoy \u200bAir, a wholly owned subsidiary of American Airlines, as flight 3742 to Pensacola. Tracking website <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flightaware.com\/live\/flight\/ENY3742\/history\/20260804\/1754Z\/KDCA\/KPNS\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Flightaware<\/a> showed it left its gate at Reagan national at 2.18pm on Tuesday, 34 minutes later than scheduled, and was in the air 16 minutes later at 2.34pm.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Marine One took off from the Ellipse near the White House at 2.33pm to take Trump to Joint Base Andrews and a flight to Los Angeles, according to a pool report.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">FAA rules implemented after last year\u2019s tragedy require aircraft to remain separated by at least \u200b1.5 miles horizontally and 500ft vertically around airports, and the sources told Reuters that it appeared Marine One and the plane did \u200bnot maintain separation. One said it appears they were not converging during the incident.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Marine One and the Envoy jet continued their journeys without incident, with the Embraer landing in Pensacola at 3.33pm CT after a flight of 2hr 16min.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The Guardian has contacted the White House and American Airlines for comment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Reuters \u200clearned from its sources, who were speaking under the condition of anonymity, that the FAA planned to convene a safety review team to investigate the incident.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">A third aircraft, regional flight Republic 4700 from North Carolina\u2019s Raleigh-Durham international airport to Washington DC, was three miles (5 km) from Reagan national at the time of the incident and was ordered to fly around before landing at 2.52pm, one of the sources said, confirmed by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flightaware.com\/live\/flight\/RPA4700\/history\/20260804\/1724Z\/KRDU\/KDCA\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Flightaware tracking<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The FAA \u2060imposed permanent restrictions on helicopter operations around Reagan national following last year\u2019s mid-air collision. The US government conceded in December in a response to a lawsuit filed by one of the victims\u2019 families that failures of the FAA and army played a role in the crash.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u201cThe United States admits that it owed a duty of care to plaintiffs, which it breached, thereby proximately causing the tragic accident,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The \u200bNational Transportation Safety Board said in January that a series of systemic failures by the FAA led \u200bto the collision, \u2060citing its decision to allow helicopters to travel close to the airport with no safeguards to separate them from airplanes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The FAA has since banned mixed helicopter and jet traffic around the airport, and commercial traffic is typically halted when Marine One is in flight around \u2060the airport.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-print-layout=\"hide\" class=\"dcr-swayiu\"><span class=\"dcr-1xhbmzr\">Explore more on these topics<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-2c03t5\">\n<ul class=\"dcr-p7nd18\">\n<li class=\"dcr-r721ee\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/donaldtrump\" class=\"dcr-856iwi\">Donald Trump<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-r721ee\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/virginia\" class=\"dcr-856iwi\">Virginia<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-r721ee\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/washington-dc\" class=\"dcr-856iwi\">Washington DC<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-r721ee\"><a href=\"\/tone\/news\" class=\"dcr-856iwi\">news<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dcr-313bdz\"><a href=\"mailto:?subject=FAA%20investigates%20air%20%E2%80%98safety%20incident%E2%80%99%20involving%20Trump%E2%80%99s%20Marine%20One&amp;body=https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/aug\/05\/trump-faa-marine-one-air-safety-incident?CMP=share_btn_url\" class=\"dcr-ncybeu\">Share<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-19bkree\"><a data-link-name=\"meta-syndication-article\" href=\"https:\/\/syndication.theguardian.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fus-news%2F2026%2Faug%2F05%2Ftrump-faa-marine-one-air-safety-incident&amp;type=article&amp;internalpagecode=us-news\/2026\/aug\/05\/trump-faa-marine-one-air-safety-incident\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"Reuse this content\" class=\"dcr-1c41onw\">Reuse this content<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-gu-name=\"right-column\" class=\"dcr-1kq7f60\"><span class=\"dcr-1ryr20k\"><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Marine One carrying Donald Trump departs from the White House on 4 August 2026. Photograph: Eric Lee\/Reuters View<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":6689,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6687"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6687\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6690,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6687\/revisions\/6690"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}