Epic FAA-IL Update- First Lady's Plane Involved in Near Miss

A Boeing 737 carrying First Lady Michelle Obama had a closer call than intially reported with a military cargo flight approaching Andrews AFB earlier this week.

The close call on Monday night left 2.94 miles of distance between the Obama plane and the 200-ton C-17 jet as they both approached landing at Andrews Air Force base just outside of Washington. Air traffic controllers at Andrews directed Obama's plane to abort a landing, the board said in a statement Friday.

Obama's plane, a Boeing 737, was considerably smaller than the 200-ton C17 ahead of it. Federal regulations require five miles between planes to avoid dangerous wake turbulence when the plane in the lead is significantly larger than the one trailing.

The Andrews controllers immediately ordered the 737 pilot to execute a series of turns to increase its distance from the cargo plane. When the distance continued to narrow, the controllers directed the 737 pilot to abort the landing and circle the airport until the cargo jet cleared the runway.

The incident involving the First Lady came a few days after a controller at the Cleveland Air Route Traffic Control Center in Oberlin, OH inadvertently left his mic open, transmitting the soundtrack to a movie he was watching on a portable DVD player over the assigned frequency for that airspace.

The FAA said that the controller and a manager have been suspended in the wake of the most recent incident [but, hey! At least he was staying awake! -NANESB!]. Reportedly the movie in question was Cleaner (2007) Starring Samuel L Jackson and Ed Harris.

But what can I say that this Taiwanese animation hasn't already said?
[Hat tip- Death by 1000 Papercuts; Next Media (Taiwan)]

Epic FAA-IL 5th Air Traffic Controller in Less than 1 Month Suspended or Fired For Sleeping on the Job

The FAA said that an air traffic controller had fallen asleep at the job early Saturday Morning at a facility in Miami, the fifth such incident in approximately three weeks.

The incident occurred at the Miami Air Route Traffic Control Center during the midnight shift early Saturday morning, two days before the FAA is expected to conduct meetings on air traffic control safety and professionalism, the FAA reported. According to a preliminary review of air traffic tapes, the controller did not miss any calls from aircraft and there was no operational impact, the agency said in a statement. The incident was reported to a manager by another controller, the FAA said. There were 12 controllers and two managers on duty.

The Miami incident came a few days after two air traffic controllers were caught dozing off on the job in two separate instances- one in Seattle's Boeing Field and the other at Reno-Tahoe international in Reno, NV. In the Nevada incident, a medical flight was attempting to contact Air Traffic Control, but the plane was able to land safely in clear weather without guidance from the tower.

The head of the FAA's air traffic organization, Hank Krakowski, resigned last week in the wake of similar incidents of air traffic controllers napping on the job. The FAA terminated a controller who was caught napping at McGhee Tyson International Airport in Nashville, TN back on Feb 19th and an American Airlines and United flight landed at northern Virginia's Reagan International Airport across the Potomac from Washington D.C in the early morning hours of Mar. 23rd without any aid from the tower because the controller there was reportedly asleep.

Incidentally, the FAA appears to be looking to train and hire more air traffic controllers at this time.