Marine One helicopter suffers technical fault en route to Air Force One forcing President Trump to switch aircraft
September 19, 2025
With President Trump’s state visit to the UK already complete, a “minor technical issue” with the presidential helicopter threatened to cast a shadow over the whole trip.
As the aircraft took Trump back to London Stansted Airport, where Air Force One was standing by to take the president home, the helicopter was forced to make a precautionary landing at an alternative airfield. The unscheduled landing forced Trump and his wife to switch to a backup helicopter to complete their journey.
Marine One suffers a technical issue
After a busy 40-hour state visit to the UK, US President Donald Trump has already returned to the White House in Washington, DC. With many observers hailing the visit as a success, both from a security and diplomatic standpoint, the meticulously orchestrated visit went without a hiccup – almost.
In the late afternoon of 18 September, talks with the UK Prime Minister Sir Kier Starmer were concluded.
With the conversations over, President Trump was then due to fly by his own presidential helicopter, ‘Marine One’, from Chequers, the official country residence of the sitting UK Prime Minister in Buckinghamshire, back to London Stansted Airport, a distance of around 65 miles (104km).
At Stansted, awaiting his arrival was Air Force One to transport the president back to Andrews Air Force Base just outside the US capital. Marine One had been used by the president to shuttle between various engagements while in the UK, largely to avoid ground-based congestion and also as a security measure.
The aircraft’s departure from the lawn at Chequers was uneventful. Marine One was accompanied on the relatively short journey to Stansted by an identical aircraft, often used as a decoy and to act as a backup aircraft to provide redundancy in case of any technical issue with Marine One.
The rotary-wing convoy also consisted of several CH-47 Chinooks operated by the US Army, as well as a single UK police helicopter.
Reaching around the halfway point of the flight to Stansted, Marine One was reported to have suffered a “minor hydraulic issue,” forcing it to seek a precautionary diversion to the nearest airfield.
With London Luton Airport close by, the crew made the decision to divert to Luton, where the president and his wife would transfer the backup aircraft to continue their journey.
We've added footage of Trump’s Marine One emergency landing at Luton Airport https://t.co/BXMuDhgZI0 pic.twitter.com/8hAV8z133p
— AIRLIVE (@airlivenet) September 19, 2025
According to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, “due to a minor hydraulic issue, the aircraft landed at a local airfield before later reaching Stansted around 20 minutes behind schedule. The decision was taken out of an abundance of caution, and the president and first lady safely boarded the support helicopter”.
An unplanned switch of aircraft
Photos posted on social media show the two dark green helicopters parked alongside one another on a remote stand adjacent to the single runway at Luton Airport. The helicopters are surrounded by emergency vehicles.
Donald Trump's Marine One helicopter made an emergency landing at #Luton airport with the US President and his wife Melania on board.https://t.co/sUiubES8xG pic.twitter.com/2tTvJxUoxY
— David Richardson (@Davidmetroland) September 18, 2025
With the unplanned switch swiftly and successfully completed, the replacement Marine One was airborne to complete the last leg of the journey to Stansted Airport, a distance of just 56 miles (90km) and an airborne time of around 15 minutes.
Once the helicopter had landed at its destination, the president quickly boarded Air Force One (VC-25 with tail number 92-9000) for the seven-hour flight back to Washington.
The aircraft departed at 18:20 local time, just 40 minutes after its planned departure time.
What type of helicopter transports the US president?
Known as ‘White Tops’ due to their distinctive US Marine Corps livery, the two VH-3D Sea King helicopters tasked with flying the president and his wife around the UK arrived at RAF Northolt (located just a few miles from London Heathrow Airport) on Thursday, 11 September.
The two aircraft had arrived in the UK on two Boeing C-17 Globemaster heavy transport aircraft of the US Air Force and were rebuilt once on the ground in the UK, with their rotors and tails being reattached.
The two VH-3Ds always travel as a pair. The one tasked with carrying the president always uses the callsign ‘Marine One.’ The other is used purely as a backup aircraft should the primary aircraft suffer a technical issue, as was the case here.
News footage showed the President boarding aircraft with tail 159357 at Chequers, with a second VH-3D departing in formation, as is usual practice. The helicopters are fitted with missile defence systems and radar jamming equipment to protect the president while they are on board.
As a security measure, Marine One often flies in a group of identical helicopters acting as decoys. On this trip, it was six US Army CH-47 Chinook twin-rotor helicopters.
Operated by the First Armoured Division ‘Old Ironsides’ of the US Army, the aircraft had arrived in the UK in a six-ship formation from their base in Germany on 13 September.
Accompanying helicopters to Marine One are believed to carry White House support staff, US special forces, and other US Secret Service agents, who are tasked with dealing with any mid-flight emergency.
Only one VH-3D subsequently arrived at Stansted. At the time of writing, 159357 is believed to still be on the ground at Luton, awaiting attention by US military engineers.
The second aircraft would have immediately assumed the callsign ‘Marine One’ as soon as the President boarded at Luton.
The current VH-3D aircraft are set to retire
According to The Aviationist, the VH-3D Sea Kings are the only remaining Sea Kings in US military service. The type has served with countless divisions of the US military and the US Coast Guard over the years. The type’s first flight was completed in 1959.
According to the 2025 US Marine Aviation Plan, the VH-3D fleet is set to be withdrawn by 2026 to be replaced by the VH-60N Whitehawk helicopters, which are then expected to be in presidential service until 2030, subject to any further US military changes.
