{"id":642,"date":"2026-05-18T04:12:28","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T04:12:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=642"},"modified":"2026-05-18T04:12:28","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T04:12:28","slug":"trump-plans-to-build-helipad-at-white-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=642","title":{"rendered":"Trump plans to build helipad at White House"},"content":{"rendered":"

The longtime helicopter owner is addressing a persistent problem: The new Marine One helicopters have a history of burning grass.<\/strong><\/p>

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President Donald Trump walks from Marine One upon arrival on the South Lawn of the White House on May 15. (Alex Wroblewski\/AFP\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

For decades, U.S. presidents have stood, waved and boarded Marine One \u2014 the call sign of whichever helicopter is transporting the president \u2014 as they prepared to depart the South Lawn of the White House.<\/p>\n

Now President Donald Trump is planning to alter that iconic image by building a permanent helipad, perhaps as early as this summer, according to three people familiar with the issue, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal White House planning.<\/p>\n

Unlike some other Trump construction projects<\/a>, the helipad idea is one that has been under discussion for years. It\u2019s viewed by some internally as an overdue solution to a years-old problem: The new generation of Marine One helicopters runs the risk of burning the lawn.<\/p>\n

As a result, the Marine Corps, which operates the helicopters used to transport presidents, has been unable to deploy the VH-92A at the White House, although it is used to support Trump\u2019s travel elsewhere. The Marines, Sikorsky and Sikorsky\u2019s parent company, Lockheed Martin, have spent years trying to find a solution.<\/p>\n

The VH-92A has been envisioned for more than a decade as the full-time presidential helicopter. The Marine Corps received<\/a> the final VH-92A in its 23-aircraft presidential fleet nearly two years ago at a cost of about $4.95 billion, or about $215 million each, according to a 2019 report<\/a> by the independent Government Accountability Office. But they have yet to ferry a president to and from the South Lawn.<\/p>\n

Officials instead continue to rely for that duty on older Marine One models, the VH-3D Sea King and the VH-60N White Hawk, that were originally set to be phased out three years ago. A Marine Corps aviation plan<\/a> released in February said that the Sea King is now expected to remain in service through at least 2026, with the White Hawk expected to remain in service through 2030.<\/p>\n

Asked about the status of the new helicopters, the Marine Corps said in a statement that the VH-92A \u201ccontinues to support administrative lifts of the President outside the National Capital Region.\u201d The service also said it will ensure that its Marine One squadron is \u201cappropriately resourced to fly all required missions.\u201d It referred all questions about the possibility of a helipad to the White House.<\/p>\n

Spokespeople for Lockheed Martin and Sikorsky did not respond to questions about the possibility of a White House helipad, and instead touted the new helicopters\u2019 capabilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe VH\u201192A Patriot is a recognizable patriotic asset known around the globe for safety, security and reliability,” Sikorsky said in a statement.<\/p>\n

The people with knowledge of White House plans cautioned that \u2014 like other Trump ideas \u2014 the plans to build a helipad could change before a formal announcement.<\/p>\n

Current and former officials said there have been long-running discussions about adding a helipad to the White House grounds.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not a Trump wild idea,\u201d said one retired military officer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe White House and military planning. The retired officer added that past officials were dissuaded from pursuing a helipad given the historic resistance to making changes to the White House campus \u2014 a situation upended by Trump, who has torn down the White House\u2019s East Wing, torn up the West Wing\u2019s colonnade<\/a> and made numerous other alterations to the historic building and its grounds.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one wanted to invest the political capital and time in this until they had ruled out other technical mitigation options,\u201d the retired officer said.<\/p>\n

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Current and former officials said there have been long-running discussions about adding a helipad to the White House grounds. (Kevin Dietsch\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Not everyone is convinced.<\/p>\n

Ray L\u2019Heureux, a retired colonel who oversaw Marine One missions as commander of Marine Helicopter Squadron One, said he remains opposed to building a helipad.<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand the conversation coming up again. It always comes up,\u201d said L\u2019Heureux, who retired in 2011. But he argued that it would be \u201cstupid from an aesthetic standpoint\u201d to install a helipad on the South Lawn because it is \u201chistoric\u201d and the \u201cback yard of the White House.\u201d<\/p>

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\u201cI do think that nothing there is broken \u2014 so don\u2019t mess with it,\u201d he said. There are other ways to mitigate the new helicopters\u2019 scorching problem, L\u2019Heureux suggested, including rolling a temporary pad in place as needed.<\/p>\n

Trump has long been an avid user of helicopters, relying on them during his long business career and bragging about his personal helicopter on \u201cThe Howard Stern Show\u201d and in other outlets. The opening credits of Trump\u2019s NBC reality show, \u201cThe Apprentice,\u201d featured his Trump-branded helicopter flying through the skies above New York City. Trump is currently pushing<\/a> to build a helipad at his Mar-a-Lago resort that would remain beyond his presidential term.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, I\u2019m very spoiled; I\u2019ve had helicopters,\u201d Trump said in remarks<\/a> to Marine Helicopter Squadron One in 2017, before touting the purchase of the new VH-92A models. \u201cAnd we ordered a couple of big, beautiful new ones.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump has also used Marine One to render judgment on Washington\u2019s landmarks, recently circling<\/a> East Potomac Park as he plans to overhaul the golf course there.<\/p>\n

The VH-92A was selected for the presidential helicopter squadron in May 2014, during the Obama administration. An earlier effort to replace the helicopters was canceled in 2009 by Defense Secretary Robert Gates after cost overruns.<\/p>\n

The VH-92A\u2019s scorching risks became public during Trump\u2019s first term. A 2018 GAO report said the new VH-92A was \u201cnot meeting a key system capability requirement to land the aircraft without adversely affecting the landing zone\u201d on the South Lawn.<\/p>\n

Biden administration officials were surprised to learn when President Joe Biden took office in 2021 that the issue had not been resolved, said one person familiar with the issue. Administration officials at the time raised concerns not only about damage to the South Lawn, but about the problems the helicopters could cause when the president travels overseas, where the president also sometimes lands on grass.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t just that the issue wasn\u2019t resolved,\u201d this person said. \u201cIt was that the issue wasn\u2019t on a path to be resolved.\u201d<\/p>\n

If a helipad is adopted now, it appears that Sikorsky and Lockheed will have effectively waited out the U.S. government on the issue, raising questions whether they should pay for the helipad\u2019s installation, this person said.<\/p>\n

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Trump returns to the White House after his recent trip to China. (Alex Wroblewski\/AFP\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

The Marine Corps, in a response to written questions, said a \u201cphased transition plan\u201d is underway to shift to the new VH-92A that will be \u201cevent-driven, not time-driven.\u201d Military and White House officials are working to \u201censure the conditions are set\u201d for a full transition to the new helicopter, Marine officials said in their written response.<\/p>\n

To the south of the South Lawn is the Ellipse, another open space that is part of the White House grounds. L\u2019Heureux said installing a helipad there instead of the South Lawn would create other problems, including a likely security requirement for the Secret Service to assemble a motorcade each time the president needs to fly.<\/p>\n

The president also can fly into Washington and land in other locations, including Fort McNair, but it\u2019s not as fluid, convenient or fast, L\u2019Heureux said.<\/p>\n

In his remarks to the Marine One squadron in 2017, Trump acknowledged that the helicopter flights had long \u201cserved as one of the most visible symbols of the presidency\u201d and mused on their significance.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, there are few sights more awe-inspiring than Marine One flying up the Potomac \u2014 true, incredible \u2014 past the Washington Monument and landing on the South Lawn of the White House,” Trump told the squadron in 2017. \u201cIt\u2019s an incredible privilege to take that flight.\u201d<\/p>

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The longtime helicopter owner is addressing a persistent problem: The new Marine One helicopters have a history of burning grass.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":637,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nTrump plans to build helipad at White House - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=642\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump plans to build helipad at White House - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The longtime helicopter owner is addressing a persistent problem: The new Marine One helicopters have a history of burning grass.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=642\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-18T04:12:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/aaf8771b83730a481dec7ae5d4f4b1dc-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=642#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=642\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"headline\":\"Trump plans to build helipad at White House\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-18T04:12:28+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=642\"},\"wordCount\":1411,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=642#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/aaf8771b83730a481dec7ae5d4f4b1dc-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=642#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=642\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=642\",\"name\":\"Trump plans to build helipad at White House - 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