Air traffic controllers at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport will receive an additional alert when Marine One departs the White House, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said on Wednesday. The new notice follows a breach of the helicopter’s buffer zone two months ago when President Donald Trump was aboard.
The National Capital Region Coordination Center, which includes the FAA and military and security agencies that monitor the capital’s airspace around the clock, will now notify the tower before Marine One leaves the White House. This adds to the existing three‑minute warning that allows controllers to suspend flights at Reagan so the chopper can clear a safe route to Joint Base Andrews, where Air Force One is based.
The safety measure was prompted by an August 4 incident in which Marine One and an Envoy Air jet leaving Reagan came within about 0.8 miles horizontally and 700 feet vertically of each other, violating FAA rules that require a 1.5‑mile horizontal and 500‑foot vertical separation near airports. The FAA also banned takeoffs and landings at Reagan when a helicopter passed nearby after the January 2025 midair collision that killed 67 people.
Trump was traveling on Marine One before an Air Force One trip to Los Angeles. An FAA investigation found the Envoy jet’s collision‑avoidance system issued a warning after takeoff, and the helicopter crew hovered until the jet cleared the area. Trump also unveiled a 100‑foot granite helipad on the South Lawn last month, a move that received limited media coverage due to his ban of CNN, which had been scheduled to provide pool coverage.
