A Boeing 737 carrying Senator J.D. Vance, former President Donald Trump’s running mate for Vice President, and others, inadvertently intruded into the heart of one of the most restricted pieces of sky on the planet earlier this week as it left Washington, D.C.’s Reagan National Airport. The jet passed over the World War II Memorial across from the Washington Monument along a route that also took it between the White House and the Lincoln Memorial, all of which is decidedly off-limits to commercial air traffic.

Vance and the rest of his entourage left Reagan National Airport on board the Boeing 737, which carries the civil registration number N917XA and is owned and operated by Eastern Air Express, on Wednesday. The aircraft, which is currently wrapped in Trump-Vance campaign livery and is also sometimes referred to as “Trump Force Two,” was using the callsign BBQ917 at the time. That a potentially serious flight error had occurred during the departure first came to our attention thanks to @thenewarea51 on X, a friend of The War Zone, who shared flight tracking data and a brief recording of air traffic control audio online.

“Eastern Express 917, I have a phone number I need you to take down… I need you to call when you get down on the ground in reference to a possible pilot deviation,” the air traffic controller can be heard telling the crew of Vance’s jet in the audio clip @thenewarea51 posted. Additional air traffic control audio subsequently surfaced where the instruction “make a left” can also be heard...