White House construction played part in Trump helicopter incident, safety officials say

Helipad relocation led in part to incident where Marine One, carrying the president, had close call with passenger jet

Safety officials say the relocation of a helipad amid Donald Trump’s multi-project White House reconstruction led in part to an incident earlier this month in which a military helicopter carrying the president came too close to a passenger jet.

A preliminary report published Thursday by the National Transportation ⁠Safety Board (NTSB) blamed “communication issues” for the failure of the crew of Marine One, the presidential helicopter, to give the required three minutes’ notice to air traffic controllers that they were about to take off from the White House.