Marine One lands on the South Lawn of The White House. (The White House)
Another project will be getting underway at the White House with President Trump confirming Monday that a helipad is being built on the south lawn.
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Dig deeper:
During an Oval Office press conference, Trump said the landing of the Marine One helicopter has roughed up the south lawn and the pilots have difficulty landing on the grass.
Trump said Sirkorsky, a Lockheed Martin subsidiary that manufactures commercial and military helicopters, will be funding the landing pad because their new helicopters are more powerful and are damaging the grass.
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What they’re saying:
“So for 50 years, we’ve been landing helicopters on grass. The grass is wet, soggy. The helicopters sometimes missed their little mark,” said Trump. “So now we’re building a helipad, beautiful helipad. And it’s got the seal of the White House on it in granite. In carved granite. It’s a really a beautiful thing. And I’ll tell you, Sikorsky is paying for it. You know why? Because they didn’t tell us how powerful these helicopters were, and they felt a little bit guilty.”
The backstory:
Marine One is the call sign for any Marine Corps aircraft carrying the President. The fleet of helicopters is operated by the HMX-1 “Nighthawks” are two unique aircraft types: the Sikorsky VH-3D Sea King and VH-60N Blackhawk, in support of Presidential missions.
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