FAA says it is investigating Trump helicopter safety incident in Washington

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration is reviewing an air-traffic safety incident Tuesday involving a military helicopter carrying President Donald Trump, the agency said.



"The FAA is investigating a safety incident involving Marine One but it didn't appear to be a dangerous close call and the aircraft weren't apparently converging," the FAA said.



Trump's Marine One helicopter took off from the White House Tuesday afternoon, but air-traffic controllers had not halted commercial flights at nearby Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport as required under a policy set last year following a fatal collision, two sources told Reuters.



Trump's helicopter lifted off from the Ellipse near the White House around 2:33 p.m., on his way to Joint Base Andrews for a trip to Los Angeles, according to a pool report. A source told Reuters that Envoy Air 3742 departed at 2:34 p.m. and was involved in the apparent loss of separation incident with Marine One.



FAA rules require aircraft to remain separated by at least 1.5 miles horizontally and 500 feet vertically around airports. The sources said it appeared Marine One and the plane did not maintain separation. One said it appears they were not converging during the incident. Both Trump's helicopter and the jet landed without incident.