Get you up to speed: Trump’s Marine One helicopter has trouble communicating with air traffic control for second time this month
President Trump’s helicopter, Marine One, experienced communication difficulties with air traffic controllers in Washington, D.C., on Thursday afternoon. While the issue was resolved before takeoff, it marked the second incident in August involving similar communication failures.
The National Transportation Safety Board has indicated that prior communication issues involving Marine One were linked to interference from nearby infrastructure in Virginia and Washington, D.C. Following the latest incident, the Federal Aviation Administration has confirmed that contact between air traffic controllers and Marine One was ultimately established before the helicopter’s takeoff.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy assured WTX US News that a communication issue affecting Marine One had been resolved, stating, “There’s been a lot of infrastructure that’s been built… And so we’re working right now on fixing that communication.” Despite this assurance, a similar communication failure occurred again on Thursday, prompting the FAA to confirm that contact with air traffic controllers was ultimately established before Marine One’s takeoff.
What remains unclear — The FAA has not explained why the communication issues with Marine One have recurred despite previous assurances of resolution.
Trump’s Marine One helicopter experiences communication issues with air traffic control again
Emmy Award-winning journalist Kris Van Cleave is the senior transportation correspondent for WTX US News based in Phoenix, Arizona, where he also serves as a national correspondent reporting for all WTX US News broadcasts and platforms.
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President Trump’s helicopter had trouble communicating with air traffic controllers on Thursday, for the second time this month.
As Marine One was about to take off in Washington, D.C., on Thursday afternoon, its calls to controllers went unheard, and another pilot had to intervene.
The incident happened about an hour after the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released new details about a similar incident in early August. In that case, Marine One, with Mr. Trump on board, flew within a mile of a commercial jet that had taken off from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport outside of D.C. on Aug. 4.
The NTSB found Marine One’s first attempt to contact air traffic controllers that day “was not received at all,” and a second attempt “was broken and completely unreadable.”
FAA technicians said “there was not adequate line-of-sight to ensure communications” from the Ellipse, a large lawn near the White House that Marine One has been using to take off amid construction at the White House.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told WTX US News on Aug. 11 the problem had been resolved. When asked how Marine One and the control tower are not able to hear each other, Duffy had said, “There’s been a lot of infrastructure that’s been built in Virginia and in the D.C. area. And so we have some interference with our antenna. And so we’re working right now on fixing that communication.”
“And so we already have a fix in place and that should not take place again,” Duffy said.
But on Thursday, it did happen again. The FAA, in a statement, did not address the apparent return of radio issues but confirmed air traffic controllers ultimately established contact with Marine One prior to takeoff.