Separation fell to 1.06 miles laterally; minimum requires 1.5 miles
A preliminary FAA review found that an unintelligible transmission reached an air-traffic controller shortly before Marine One’s Aug. 4 departure from the White House, bound for Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. The helicopter and an American Airlines regional jet taking off from Reagan fell below the minimum separation distances required by federal safety rules — the aircraft came as close as 1.06 miles laterally and 300 feet vertically, rather than the required 1.5 miles and 500 feet.
The agency is planning to relocate antennas and boost radio signal frequencies to reduce communications interference, according to people familiar with the matter. The FAA is also reviewing backup communications methods for presidential helicopter crews and controllers, and is planning additional training for controllers. The planned changes are intended to ensure controllers clear the airspace of commercial traffic before Marine One takes off.
The FAA’s review found that an air-traffic controller alerted Marine One about the American regional jet, bound for Pensacola, Florida, but did not notify the plane’s pilots of the helicopter. Current and former FAA officials said controllers should alert both aircraft involved in a potential conflict. An arriving American Airlines regional flight from Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, was ordered to go around and redo its approach. American Airlines said both regional jets’ crews followed controller clearances and that the flights landed safely.
Procedures before the Aug. 4 episode did not require Marine One crews to get confirmation that Reagan National’s tower heard the three-minute warning typically given before presidential helicopter departures, according to people familiar with the matter. The FAA review said it was not clear whether the garbled transmission on Aug. 4 was Marine One’s three-minute notification.
The FAA has sharply limited the mixing of helicopter and commercial airplane traffic at Reagan National since the January 2025 midair collision between an Army helicopter and an American Airlines regional jet preparing to land that killed 67 people. The National Transportation Safety Board in part attributed the earlier crash to incomplete and garbled radio communication and found that a controller failed to notify the commercial jet’s crew of the helicopter.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said this week that the FAA and Marine One crews are working to address telecommunications issues. “We are not going to have cross traffic again in these complicated airspaces like DCA,” he said, using the airport’s code. “It was a good flag for us.”
An FAA spokeswoman said agency leadership met with the White House Military Office’s helicopter unit after the incident and is working to enhance coordination and boost radio signal frequencies. She declined to comment on the agency’s initial review, citing the NTSB investigation. The Marine Corps and White House declined to comment.