Hello and welcome to the details of White House construction played role in Trump helicopter’s close call, says US transport safety board and now with the details
Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - Marine One with US President Donald Trump on board departs from the Ellipse near the White House in Washington, DC, on August 4, 2026. US National Transportation Safety Board investigators later said construction work at the White House contributed to the presidential helicopter passing too close to a passenger plane over Washington. — AFP pic
WASHINGTON, Aug 28 — Construction work at the White House was a factor in the US presidential helicopter passing too close to a passenger plane in the skies over Washington earlier this month, investigators said Thursday.
The close pass happened on August 4 after President Donald Trump took off on Marine One from a temporary site on the Ellipse, outside the grounds of the White House, during the construction of a permanent helipad inside the grounds.
The White House and the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) have both said that Trump was never in danger.
In their preliminary report, investigators at the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) cited FAA estimates that the presidential helicopter and an Envoy Air passenger plane were separated by 0.82 miles (1.3 kilometers) horizontally and 700 feet (213 meters) vertically when the incident happened – less than the required minimum separation of 1.5 miles and 500 feet.
The NTSB is working to “calculate and confirm” those distances and is continuing its investigation.
Investigators found that air traffic controllers at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport did not receive the first radio transmission signalling the presidential helicopter’s imminent departure and “the second attempt was broken and completely unreadable.”
“There was not adequate line-of-sight to ensure communications between the radio transmitter/receiver sight and The Ellipse, where (Marine One) was temporarily operating from while construction was ongoing at the White House,” the report said.
In January, a collision between a passenger plane approaching the same airport and a US Army Black Hawk helicopter killed 67 people. – AFP
These were the details of the news White House construction played role in Trump helicopter’s close call, says US transport safety board for this day. We hope that we have succeeded by giving you the full details and information. To follow all our news, you can subscribe to the alerts system or to one of our different systems to provide you with all that is new.
It is also worth noting that the original news has been published and is available at Malay Mail and the editorial team at AlKhaleej Today has confirmed it and it has been modified, and it may have been completely transferred or quoted from it and you can read and follow this news from its main source.
