Landing Zone Shift Led to Marine One Loss of Separation

Controllers at Reagan National Airport couldn’t hear the “three-minute warning” that Marine One pilots transmitted and cleared a regional airliner for takeoff as the helicopter, carrying the President, rose from the White House lawn on Aug. 4. A preliminary report from the NTSB said the Envoy Air flight to Pensacola came within 0.8 nm of the Sikorsky helicopter and within 700 feet of altitude. The TCAS on the Embraer lit up. but they never saw the helicopter. The helicopter crew spotted the climbing aircraft and held their position briefly as it headed south to Florida.

The prelim says there had been discussions before the incident about radio issues after the landing zone for the executive transport helicopters was shifted to make way for construction of the new ballroom adjacent to the White House. The three-minute warning has been standard operating procedure for decades. The report says an ATC recording app did pick up the warning calls but ATC tapes showed they never got to the controllers. When the helicopter pilots didn’t get the accustomed response from the tower, they tried to relay a message through a helicopter facility at Joint Base but that didn’t work, either.

As the helicopter climbed, a startled controller called the crew. “Uh, Marine One, you said, uh, you’re proceeding as briefed?” the controller said. “OK, no three minutes, roger, proceed as briefed.” The controller then warned the Marine One crew about the airliner just as they spotted it and called a “momentary delay.” In response to the incident, the FAA moved the receiver to the roof of the tower and that solved the technical issue.