Technologie · Marine One radio failureMarine One Radio Failure: President's Chopper Lost Contact With Controllers Twice in a MonthGeschreven 7 september 2026 om 21:22 UTCKijkenTranscript0:00The helicopter carrying the President could not reach air traffic control for the0:03second time in a month.0:05The transmission that failed is the one that stops every departing jet at Reagan0:08National Airport.0:10And the first time it went quiet, the President's helicopter came within under a0:13mile of a passenger airliner.0:15The FAA said it fixed this two days earlier, so what went wrong on August 27th?0:19On August 4th, Marine One lifted from a temporary pad on the White House ellipse0:24with the President aboard.0:25The required call to the tower never arrived.0:27The local controller cleared Anvoy Air Flight 3742 for takeoff at0:32143357, a regional jet bound for Pensacola.0:36Six seconds later, at 1434 and 03, Marine One finally established readable contact.0:42The FAA's estimate put the two aircraft about two miles north of the airport, 0.820:47nautical miles apart laterally and 700 feet apart vertically.0:51Standard Class B separation requires a mile and a half laterally or 500 feet0:55vertically.0:56By either standard, this was a loss of separation, not a collision.1:00With only a traffic advisory on the jet, and no injuries and no damage.1:04White House spokesman Kush Desai said the president was at no point in harm's way.1:08One call runs the whole system.1:11The crew radios the tower three minutes before liftoff.1:14The tower freezes every departure, and only then does the helicopter leave.1:18Helicopter control and local control use separate frequencies, so the pilot's call1:23is the only thing that stops the jets.1:25The arrangement is a long-standing FAA military practice typically traced to 2013,1:30predating the January 2025 mid-air collision at the same airport.1:34The pattern is a fix that could not survive the month.1:36Controllers and HMX-1 pilots met on July 30th at the pilot's request to address1:42failures to receive the call.1:43HMX-1 described communications from the ellipse as spotty, and both sides agreed on1:48alternative means, including an aircraft relay.1:50Five days later, the direct call failed, and the backup failed with it.1:53On August 27th, with the President aboard, both failed again.2:03The NTSB's preliminary report released this month traced the August 4 failure to2:08radio geometry.2:09The temporary ellipse landing zone sat out of line of sight of the helicopter2:13control transmitter, which was then in a nearby residential neighborhood.2:16The first warning call was never received at all.2:19The second was broken and completely unreadable.2:21A relay through the Joint Base Anacostia bowling facility failed too.2:25The FAA answered by moving the helicopter control radios from that neighborhood to2:30the top of the Reagan National Tower.2:32Radio checks with two Marine 1 aircraft at the ellipse showed no deficiencies, and2:36Administrator Brian Bedford said around August 25 he was confident the issue was2:40resolved.2:40Two days later, the recorded audio captured a controller saying she could not hear2:44the call at all.2:45Here is what is settled and what is not.2:47The August 4 cause is confirmed.2:50The distance figure is the FAA's estimate.2:53Whether the August 27 notification was properly received is disputed.2:57The FAA says it was.2:59The audio says the controller could not hear the call, the cause of the second3:02failure, and whether any aircraft came too close that day both remain unknown.3:07The president was aboard both flights.3:09The FAA administrator declared the problem resolved two days before the second3:13failure, and the White House spokesman said the president was at no point in harm's3:17way.3:18Neither flight changed because of the construction that put the helicopter on the3:21ellipse in the first place, ongoing White House work.3:24The East Wing and Ballroom Project and related South Lawn helipad work shifted the3:28presidential departure off the lawn around May.3:31A new granite helipad reported roughly 100 feet wide with the presidential seal is3:35being built so Marine One can return to the lawn.3:38Until then, the President motorcades to the ellipse.3:41The NTSB ties the radio problem to that temporary operating location, not to any3:45finding that construction itself jammed the frequency.3:48Military aviation and the Secret Service describe both flights as routine, and the3:53Marine Corps said the tower neither delayed the crew nor altered the flight profile,3:58but the mechanism meant to keep aircraft apart has now failed twice in a single4:02month in the region's most congested airspace with the president aboard.4:06The NTSB investigation remains open, including the question of why certified FAA4:11receivers never captured a transmission that third-party recordings did, and no4:15final probable cause has been assigned to either event.4:17Whether a fix that did not survive a second departure counts as a fix at all is the4:22question neither the FAA nor the NTSB has yet answered.Lees het artikelTijdlijn van het verhaalHeyDexDe korte video ↗
