US agency to investigate aborted Obama plane landing

The US National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the aborted landing of a plane carrying First Lady Michelle Obama earlier this week, a spokeswoman said today.

While aborted landings are not unusual, and Mrs Obama apparently was not in serious danger, the episode is another embarrassment for the Federal Aviation Administration.

FAA officials have been struggling to calm American public jitters about flying raised by nine suspensions of air traffic controllers and supervisors around the country in recent weeks, including five for sleeping on the job.

The first disclosed case of a controller falling asleep on duty occurred on March 23 at Washington’s Reagan National airport.

The most recent was this week when a controller at a regional radar facility near Cleveland was suspended for watching a movie on a DVD player when he was supposed to be monitoring air traffic. The FAA official in charge of the US air traffic system resigned last week.

The incident involving the First Lady and Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, happened on Monday when a Boeing 737 came within about three miles (5km) of a massive C-17 cargo plane as the aircraft were approaching Andrews Air Force Base near Washington to land, according to the FAA and Major Michelle Lai, a spokeswoman for Andrews.

The FAA requires a minimum separation of five miles (8km) between two planes when the aircraft in the lead is as large as the 200-ton military cargo jet, in order to avoid dangerous wake turbulence which can severely affect the trailing plane.

Andrews’ civilian air traffic controllers initially ordered Mrs Obama’s plane to carry out a series of turns to take it further away from the military jet.

When that did not provide enough distance, controllers realised there might not be enough time for the cargo plane to clear the Andrews runway before Mrs Obama’s plane landed.

Controllers then directed the pilot of Mrs Obama’s plane to execute a “go-around” – to stop descending and start climbing – and circle the airport. A go-around is considered a type of aborted landing.

The FAA is also investigating the incident as a possible error by controllers at a regional radar facility for the Washington area which handles approaches and departures for several airports, including Andrews, where the President’s aircraft, Air Force One, is maintained.

The women had been in New York earlier on Monday for a joint television appearance.