They investigate the approach of a commercial plane to the helicopter in which Trump was
The White House and the FAA agreed that the American president "was at no time in danger"
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) began an investigation on Wednesday after a helicopter carrying President Donald Trump and a commercial airliner came closer than they should have in the air on Tuesday.
The NTSB is investigating “the reported loss of separation event between Marine One and a commercial aircraft” that took off from Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington, the agency said in a post on X on Wednesday, without providing further details.
The Board thus referred to the code name adopted by a helicopter when the president of the United States is on board.
White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement to AFP that “Marine One flights are piloted by some of the best pilots in the world.” “At no time was the president in danger,” he said.
For its part, the US aviation regulator, the FAA, explained that according to its “preliminary safety analysis, there was a momentary loss of separation after which each aircraft moved away from each other.”
Loss of separation
“The air traffic controller was in contact with both the commercial pilot and the pilot of Marine One during the loss of separation,” the FAA added. He reiterated the White House's claim that “the president was never in danger.”
According to the Wall Street Journal, security protocols require a separation of at least 2.40 kilometers horizontally and 150 meters vertically.
The media noted that the incident occurred around 2:30 p.m. (6:30 p.m. GMT), and that an American Airlines Embraer E-170, operated by its subsidiary Envoy Air, took off at that time.
For its part, the helicopter was headed to Andrews Air Force Base, where the president boarded his plane to travel to California.
Neither American Airlines nor the US Marine Corps immediately responded to AFP requests for comment.
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