President Donald Trump's White House construction project set off a communication breakdown and an air safety incident, federal investigators found.
According to a Thursday report by The Washington Post, the president's Marine One helicopter started the cascade of events when it took off from a temporary location on August 4 due to White House construction, and controllers never got the required heads-up.
The miscommunication led to "a loss of separation" between Marine One and a commercial airliner, according to a preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board released on Thursday.
Air traffic controllers at the Reagan National Airport didn't get a message from Marine One notifying it about the president's takeoff from the temporary location as Trump was on his way to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, The Post reported.
According to The Post, Marine One is supposed to give air traffic controllers at the Reagan National Airport at least a three-minute warning before taking off. The notice is supposed to allow air traffic controllers to clear the airspace and give Marine One an unimpeded route.
Recordings from the Reagan National Airport's air traffic control showed that the first attempt to contact the tower about Marine One's takeoff was not received at all, according to the preliminary report. Marine One then tried to contact the air traffic control tower again, only for the message to be "broken and completely unreadable," which was cited as part of the problem when news of the near-collision first broke.
The report also revealed that Marine One was taking off from the Ellipse, adjacent to the White House, "while construction was ongoing at the White House," it read. Technicians later concluded that the temporary location was in a position that did not have a direct line of sight necessary for radio communications, according to the report.
Marine One and a commercial jet came within 700 feet of each other vertically and .82 nautical miles laterally, according to the report, which noted the margin met the minimum separation standard for that airspace.