NTSB: Controllers, Marine One Crew Met on Comms a Week Before Close Call

Air traffic controllers and the pilots of President Donald Trump's helicopter discussed communication breakdowns just one week before a jet and the presidential chopper were permitted to move at the same time near Washington, D.C. The National Transportation Safety Board's preliminary report, released Thursday, reveals that both sides agreed on an alternative procedure during that meeting — but the fallback also failed on the day of the Aug. 4 incident at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

The simultaneous movements appeared to violate stricter safety rules introduced after last year's deadly midair collision near the airport, which killed 67 people. Officials, however, stressed that the president was never in danger. The Pentagon and the Federal Aviation Administration have a long-standing agreement, predating the January 2025 crash, requiring controllers to receive a three-minute warning before the president's helicopter departs.

Following the Jan. 29, 2025, collision between an airliner and an Army Black Hawk, the FAA decided to halt all takeoffs and landings at Reagan whenever a helicopter passes on a conflicting route. The airspace near the White House and the airport is heavily congested with both military and commercial traffic.

The FAA has acknowledged that the helicopter and the airliner briefly came too close before both aircraft moved away from each other. The airplane climbed above Marine One after the helicopter's pilots spotted the plane and paused until it had safely cleared the area.

Tower audio suggests the controller may not have realized Marine One was preparing to depart with the president aboard until the moment of takeoff. The pilot radioed a "three minutes to life" call, as required by the 2013 agreement, but the controller said the transmission came through broken and unreadable. Minutes later, the controller sounded surprised when the helicopter lifted off, asking, "Uh, Marine One, you said, uh, you're proceeding as briefed?" before adding, "OK, no three minutes, roger, proceed as briefed."

After the controller warned the helicopter about the departing jet, the Marine One pilot acknowledged seeing the traffic and said, "We'll be doing a momentary delay."

The incident highlights a longstanding issue of poor communication between air traffic controllers and the military. A congressional hearing after last year's crash revealed that a hotline connecting the Pentagon to the Reagan tower had been out of service for more than three years — a failure the FAA had not detected.