New Delhi, Aug. 30 -- Marine One, the US presidential helicopter, lost communication with air traffic controllers earlier this week at Reagan National Airport in Washington for the second time this month.

ABC News reported Saturday (local time) that the incident occurred on Thursday, shortly after federal officials released a statement saying the problem had been fixed.

President Donald Trump was preparing to depart from the White House Ellipse when Marine One pilots alerted air traffic controllers that they would be taking off in three minutes.

When controllers did not respond, another helicopter was heard passing the information on to the tower over the air traffic control radio. A nearby helicopter pilot told the tower, "Marine One ...