The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is investigating an air traffic safety incident involving President Donald Trump’s Marine One helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

The FAA said the event occurred on Tuesday but stressed that it did not appear to be a dangerous near miss, noting that the aircraft involved were not on converging flight paths.

Trump’s Marine One helicopter departed the White House on Tuesday afternoon for Joint Base Andrews ahead of his trip to Los Angeles.

According to sources familiar with the matter, commercial flights at nearby Reagan National Airport had not yet been halted before the presidential helicopter took off, despite procedures introduced after a fatal mid-air collision in 2025.

Officials said an apparent loss of the required separation distance occurred between Marine One and a regional passenger jet, Envoy Air Flight 3742, which departed for Pensacola, Florida, shortly after the presidential helicopter.

FAA regulations require aircraft operating near airports to maintain at least 1.5 miles of horizontal separation and 500 feet of vertical separation.

Sources said the required separation may not have been maintained, although the aircraft were not flying directly toward one another.

Both Marine One and the passenger aircraft completed their flights safely without incident.

The FAA is expected to convene a Safety Review Team to examine the circumstances surrounding the event.

Another regional flight, Republic Flight 4700, was also diverted as a precaution before later landing safely.

Following the fatal collision near Reagan National Airport in January 2025, the FAA imposed permanent restrictions on helicopter operations around the airport.

The National Transportation Safety Board later concluded that a series of systemic failures by the FAA contributed to the crash, citing inadequate safeguards separating helicopters from commercial aircraft.

Since then, commercial air traffic has typically been suspended whenever Marine One operates in the vicinity of the airport. (Arise News)

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