President Trump announced that construction of the White House’s helipad has been completed.
“Dwight Eisenhower didn’t need a Helipad at the White House for those little Choppers, but America needs one now — Just completed, and MAGNIFICENT!” he wrote on Truth Social on Sunday. Accompanying his statement was an image of Eisenhower captioned, “On the White House South Lawn in 1957 Eisenhower becomes the first President to use helicopter while in office.”
President Trump announced the project earlier this year. In July, he told reporters, “So now we’re building a helipad, beautiful helipad, and it’s got the seal of the White House on it — in granite, carved granite, it’s… really a beautiful thing.”
The landing site seeks to solve problems linked to a new fleet of presidential helicopters, which the president said destroys the grass. “So they landed the helicopter, and half of the grass was sitting in front of the Oval Office front door. The rest of it was scattered all over,” he said.
“It’s about $5 or $6 million — they’re paying the full cost, and when I heard they were paying the cost, I went out and said, ‘let’s do a beauty, let’s not just do a piece of concrete and paint it white,’” he added.
The Wall Street Journal previously reported that the new helipad would protect the historic lawn from damage caused by the upgraded VH-92A Patriot helicopter. The exhaust from the new Lockheed Martin Sikorsky helicopter can burn up the grass, particularly during hot and dry conditions, sources familiar with the project told the Journal. The VH-92A Patriot can carry 6,200 pounds more than the VH-3D Sea King it succeeded, making it a significantly more powerful machine.
