Plane carrying Michelle Obama aborts landing

The government jet, which was returning the First Lady and Jill Biden, the wife of Joe Biden, the US Vice President, from a trip to New York, could have been a minute away from colliding with a fully-loaded cargo plane.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said in a statement that the 737 was approaching Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland when it was told to “go around,” or to climb and attempt another approach on Monday.

The agency said Mrs Obama’s plane was about three miles (5km) behind an Air Force C-17 that was landing, rather than the five-mile (8km) spacing required when trailing in the wake of a much larger aircraft like the military cargo plane.

“The aircraft were never in any danger” and both planes landed safely, an FAA statement read.

Andrews is a military facility where Air Force One – the presidential aircraft – and other top level government planes are based. But the air space around it is handled by the civilian FAA, which is under fire over disclosures in recent weeks that a handful of controllers had fallen asleep on the job while working overnight shifts.

Mrs Obama’s plane was being overseen by a radar facility in Virginia when it was given the order to attempt a second landing approach to Andrews due to the apparent aircraft separation error.

The FAA said it was investigating the incident.