Michelle Obama's Plane nearly taken out by Military Jet at Andrews Air Force Base
Harry Hope
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/04/19/report-white-house-
plane-carrying-lady-nearly-collides-military-jet/
A White House plane with first lady Michelle Obama onboard
aborted a landing Monday after narrowly avoiding a collision
with a 200-ton military cargo jet.
The Washington Post first reported on the aborted landing at
Andrews Air Force Base due to an air traffic controller allowing
the two aircraft to come too close.
Obama was aboard a Boeing 737, one of the fleet of presidential
passenger jets, returning from an appearance on ABC's "The View"
in New York, when the near-collision happened on final approach
to Andrews.
The Obama plane aborted the landing because it "did not have the
required amount of separation behind a military C-17," the
Federal Aviation Administration said in a written statement.
"The FAA is investigating the incident. The Boeing 737 landed
safely after executing the go around. The aircraft were never in
any danger."
The FAA's statement didn't address the role of air traffic
controllers in the mishap.
The incident is the latest embarrassment for the FAA, which is
dealing with the fallout over several air traffic controllers
falling asleep this year, some while planes tried to land.
Monday's mishap didn't involve a sleeping air traffic
controller. Instead, the civilian controller at the Warrenton
radar control center allowed the Obama plane to get too close to
an Air Force C-17 plane in front of it, the Post reported.
The FAA requires a separation of five miles between planes at
that lower altitude because the turbulence off of the wings can
be dangerous to following planes.
The civilian controller in Warrenton reportedly told the
military's controller at Andrews that the distance between the
planes was four miles -- an estimate that turned out to be
inaccurate. The distance was just over three miles.
The controllers at Andrews ordered the Obama plane to execute a
series of "S-turns" in an effort to increase the distance but
that was ineffective. The military controllers weren't sure
there was enough time for the C-17 to get off the runaway once
it landed for the first lady's plane to land on the same runway.
So they instructed the Obama plane to abort its landing.
Michelle Obama's office said it would not be commenting on the
incident.
An Andrews Air Force Base spokesman would say only that Obama's
plane was asked to circle the runway to allow the C-17 time to
clear.
Alfred stomacker
Ray Fischer
>Too bad they missed.
>
>http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/04/19/report-white-house-
>plane-carrying-lady-nearly-collides-military-jet/
>
>A White House plane with first lady Michelle Obama onboard
>aborted a landing Monday after narrowly avoiding a collision
>with a 200-ton military cargo jet.
If you count three miles as "narrowly avoiding a collision".
As usual, Faux news shows their disregard for the facts.
...
>The civilian controller in Warrenton reportedly told the
>military's controller at Andrews that the distance between the
>planes was four miles -- an estimate that turned out to be
>inaccurate. The distance was just over three miles.
--
Ray Fischer | Mendacracy (n.) government by lying
rfis...@sonic.net | The new GOP ideal