FAA Probes 'Safety Incident' Involving Trump's Marine One

The federal agency that polices US airspace is now looking into how President Trump's helicopter ended up sharing sky near Reagan National with a commercial jet. The FAA says it's probing a "safety incident" involving Marine One on Tuesday, though the agency stressed it didn't appear to be a perilous near-collision and that the aircraft didn't seem to be on intersecting paths, Reuters reports. Marine One lifted off near the White House around 2:33pm ET en route to Joint Base Andrews, with Envoy Air Flight 3742 departing Reagan for Florida's Pensacola a minute later, as indicated by sources and pool reports.

Investigators are examining whether required spacing rules—a separation of at least 1.5 miles horizontally and 500 feet vertically—were violated, and why commercial traffic wasn't paused as policy now dictates after a 2025 fatal midair crash. A CNN review shows that Marine One's pilots informed air traffic control at Reagan at least three times that they were prepping for takeoff, with no response. Both aircraft landed safely. "Marine One flights are piloted by some of the best aviators in the world, and at no point was the president in harm's way," says a White House spokesperson, per the Wall Street Journal.