Air traffic controllers in Washington and the pilots of President Donald Trump’s helicopter met to discuss communication issues one week before a jet and the chopper were allowed to take off at the same time, according to a preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released on Thursday. The meeting addressed failures in communications and proposed an alternative for such occasions, but that method was also unsuccessful during the incident on August 4 at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
The simultaneous takeoff of both aircraft appeared to violate safety procedures established after a midair collision last year near the airport that resulted in 67 fatalities; however, officials emphasized that the president was never in danger. The Pentagon has a longstanding agreement with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to provide controllers with a three-minute warning before the president’s helicopter departs, a protocol that predates last year’s crash.
Following an airliner collision with an Army Black Hawk helicopter on January 29, 2025, the FAA mandated that all takeoffs and landings at the airport be halted whenever a helicopter is on a conflicting route. The airspace around the White House and Reagan is heavily congested with military and commercial aircraft.
The FAA acknowledged that the helicopter and airliner briefly came too close before both aircraft began to separate. The airplane ascended rapidly above the helicopter after the pilots of Marine One observed the plane and paused until it safely exited the area.
Investigators are examining why a plane was permitted to take off as President Trump’s helicopter approached. A recording from ATC.com revealed that the Marine One pilot informed the tower that the helicopter was “three minutes to life,” in accordance with the 2013 agreement between the FAA and the military. However, the air traffic controller reported that the transmission was broken and unreadable, leading to surprise when the helicopter took off shortly after.
The controller asked, “Uh, Marine One, you said, uh, you’re proceeding as briefed?” before providing directions and noting, “OK, no three minutes, roger, proceed as briefed.” After being warned about the plane taking off, the Marine One pilot acknowledged seeing the traffic and stated, “We’ll be doing a momentary delay.”
The incident highlighted ongoing communication issues between air traffic controllers and the military, which were previously noted during a congressional hearing. It was revealed that a hotline connecting the Pentagon to the tower at Reagan had not been operational for over three years, a fact that the FAA had not recognized.