Marine One lost communication with air traffic control again on Thursday.
President Trump boarded Marine One en route to Texas to attend a fundraiser with GOP Senate candidate Ken Paxton on Thursday.
Marine One lost communication with air traffic control while Trump was inside of the helicopter before lift off to Joint Base Andrews.
After some time, communication was restored.
“Washington Tower, Marine One. How do you hear?” a traffic controller said.
“I can’t hear Marine One. If you hear a Marine One, can you let me know?” the controller said.
AUDIO:
CBS News reported:
President Trump’s helicopter had trouble communicating with air traffic controllers on Thursday, for the second time this month.
As Marine One was about to take off in Washington, D.C., on Thursday afternoon, its calls to controllers went unheard, and another pilot had to intervene.
The incident happened about an hour after the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released new details about a similar incident in early August. In that case, Marine One, with Mr. Trump on board, flew within a mile of a commercial jet that had taken off from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport outside of D.C. on Aug. 4.
The NTSB found Marine One’s first attempt to contact air traffic controllers that day “was not received at all,” and a second attempt “was broken and completely unreadable.”
FAA technicians said “there was not adequate line-of-sight to ensure communications” from the Ellipse, a large lawn near the White House that Marine One has been using to take off amid construction at the White House.
Earlier this month, it was reported that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was investigating an air traffic safety incident involving Marine One while President Trump was on board.
The incident happened on August 4th while President Trump was traveling to Joint Base Andrews for a trip to Southern California.
“The president’s Marine One helicopter took off from the White House Tuesday afternoon, but air-traffic controllers hadn’t halted commercial flights at nearby Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport as required under safety protocols, people familiar with the matter said,” The Wall Street Journal reported.
On Thursday, it was reported that Air traffic controllers warned of communication issues one week before an air traffic safety incident involving Marine One while Trump was on board earlier this month.
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