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An Air National Guard plane carrying first lady Michelle Obama was instructed to "go around" a military runway on Monday because of a cargo plane on the runway. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was tasked to investigate on the incident.
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According to FAA's investigation, the plane carrying the first lady was "never in any danger". The plane which was a military version of the Boeing 737 landed safely on the same day after carrying the first lady back to Joint Base Andrews from her trip New York.
Correspondent Bob Orr of CBS News Justice and Homeland Securityreports reported that due to a controller's mistake at a regional air traffic facility allowed Mrs. Obama's plane to get with in three miles of a larger cargo jet which was present in the runway at that time. This ia a violation of FAA's technical rule that planes should be separated by five miles.
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"The cargo plane could not exit runway fast enough to allow the first lady's plane to make a safe landing. As a result, controllers commanded Mrs. Obama's plane to abort the landing and to do a "go around" - make another circle and then approach the runway," Orr explained.
Passengers on the 737 never noticed what happened in the runway, a senior administration official told CBS News.
Mrs. Obama's staff and military personnel were unaware too of the incident as they related that flight "seemed completely normal" added the official.
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CBS News White House Correspondent Mark Knoller reported that accorfing to an FAA official "go arounds" happen is like a routine as it happens many times a day. FAA and Andrews were confronted with many questions.
The incident becomes an addition to negative FAA stories which involve its air traffic controllers not performing well on the job.
