On August 4, 2026, a military helicopter carrying President Donald Trump, known as Marine One, came briefly too close to a departing passenger jet at Reagan Washington National Airport, federal officials reported [1, 2, 3, 4].

The passenger jet involved was Envoy Air flight 3742, an Embraer E170 regional jet bound for Pensacola, Florida, operating for American Airlines [1, 3]. The jet departed around 2:34 p.m. EDT, just one minute after Marine One took off from the Ellipse near the White House at about 2:33 p.m., en route to Joint Base Andrews before a presidential trip to Los Angeles [1, 3].

During the incident, another flight, Republic 4700, an Embraer 175 also flying for American Airlines, was rerouted as a precaution near the airport at around 2:52 p.m. [1, 3].

The FAA requires a minimum of 1.5 miles (2.4 km) horizontal and 500 feet (150 meters) vertical separation between aircraft around airports to prevent collisions [1, 2]. Despite these rules, the FAA reported a momentary loss of separation between Marine One and the passenger jet but said both aircraft continued moving away from each other and that President Trump was never in danger [1, 2, 3, 4]. The air traffic controller stayed in contact with both the Marine One pilot and the commercial pilot throughout the event [1, 3, 4].

Both Marine One and the passenger jet landed safely without incident [1, 3]. The FAA stated, "Based on our preliminary safety review, there was momentary loss of separation after which the aircraft continued to move away from one another" and added, "As the White House has said, the President was never in danger" [1, 4].

The incident follows a January 29, 2025, collision near Reagan National between a military Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines regional jet that killed 67 people [1, 2, 3, 4]. After that crash, the FAA barred mixed helicopter and jet traffic around the airport and tightened rules, including a 2026 ban on visual-only separation for helicopters near major U.S. airports [1, 2, 3].

The FAA announced it will conduct a safety review into the August 4 incident, and the National Transportation Safety Board is considering or launching its own investigation [1, 3, 4]. NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy stated, “We’re in the process of col” as the investigation proceeds [1].