Controllers Warned Marine One Pilots About Communication Issues Week Before Dual Takeoff, NTSB Says
Investigators said White House construction left Marine One’s warning call unheard, forcing a jet takeoff and creating a brief separation of 0.82 miles.
- On August 4, Marine One and a commercial jet took off simultaneously from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, violating safety procedures established after a previous fatal collision.
- A hotline connecting the Pentagon to the tower at Reagan had been broken for more than three years, a failure the FAA did not identify until a recent congressional hearing.
- Air traffic controllers in Washington and pilots of President Donald Trump's helicopter met one week before the incident to discuss communication issues but failed to reach a solution.
- Citing a 2013 agreement requiring a three-minute warning, the Marine One pilot delayed the helicopter during the Aug 4 incident while the jet climbed to safety.
- The FAA acknowledged the aircraft briefly neared each other, violating protocols implemented after a midair collision last year that killed 67 people, though officials stressed the president was never endangered.
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The incident took place earlier this month.
NTSB: Controllers warned pilots about communication issues
Air traffic controllers in Washington and the pilots of President Donald Trump’s helicopter met to discuss communication issues one week before a jet was allowed to take off just as Marine One left the White House, federal investigators said Thursday.
The preliminary report of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) revealed on Thursday that the Marine One crew made several failed attempts to alert Ronald Reagan National Airport that President Donald Trump's helicopter was about to take off on August 4, before the aircraft flew near a commercial passenger plane, detailing that the first call was not received before Marine One took off and that the second one was cut off.
Air traffic controllers in Washington's Ronald Reagan National Airport again encountered difficulties in communicating by radio with President Donald Trump's helicopter while he was preparing to leave the White House on Thursday. They had to rely on other helicopters in flight to send messages to Marine One, according to the audio recordings of the air traffic control analyzed by CNN.
Communication Failure Blamed for Marine One Safety Incident: NTSB
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released a preliminary report on Aug. 27 citing a communication failure as the cause behind a Marine One helicopter carrying President Donald Trump coming too close to a commercial aircraft earlier this month. NTSB’s preliminary report showed that the Marine One helicopter crew tried contacting air traffic controllers at the Reagan Washington National Airport twice to give them the standard three-m…
White House construction played role in Trump helicopter’s close call, says US transport safety board
WASHINGTON, Aug 28 — Construction work at the White House was a factor in the US presidential helicopter passing too close to a passenger plane in the skies over Washington earlier this month, investigators said Thursday.The close pass happened on August 4 after President Donald Trump took off on Marine One from a temporary site on the Ellipse, outside the grounds of the White House, during the construction of a permanent helipad inside the grou…
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