First Lady's plane did a "go around"

First Lady Michelle Obama was on a plane that had to abort landing at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington on Monday trying to avoid a cargo jet already on the runway. The plane did a go around, a standard procedure that happens even daily on airports all over the world and are not considered an incident, but made the front page only because the First Lady was on board.

No dangerous maneuvers were needed and nothing else happened except for a less than 10 minutes delay of the landing.

Each and every pilot has encountered such a situation and this one was definitely not posing any risks to the plane that was some 3 miles away the other aircraft, a distance kept to avoid air turbulence behind airplanes. Everybody is sure the pilot saw the cargo jet way before it got dangerous. At an average speed of an estimated 200 mph used by planes at that moment of the landing the pilot had enough time to avoid a collision. A slow down procedure that could have been the alternative was not an option for the pilot who preferred the much safer go around. Pilots do prefer a go around when spacing does not work, instead of slowing down.

Although this happens all the time, pilots are not happy to go around after they are cleared to land the runway and they notice planes on the tarmac that should have been seen by the controller. Also, Andrews Air Force Base is among the last where a controller is expected to fail. A more serious problem would have been if the landing continued and the plane touched down too close to the cargo jet.

Air traffic controllers are glad that the whole issue stirred discussions that have again surfaced the problems of the sector. Awful work schedules and severely understaffed personnel schemes with sometimes only one controller in the tower are only part of the issues that cause severe fatigue and stress and a shorter active period for them. Their retirement under the normal 56 years of age is more and more common as fewer and fewer of them can work all their 25 years to pension.

Most probable the media will spin the story way out of control and they may recall many other recent incidents involving air traffic controllers caught sleeping or watching videos at work. The go around is like measles: almost everybody gets it, but it is breaking news when it happens to a celebrity.