Controllers Routed EXEC1F Too Close To A C-17 At Andrews

First Lady Michelle Obama was returning from a series of appearances in New York on Monday when the Boeing C-40C, which is the USAF designation for a 737, on which she was a passenger was allowed to get too close to a C-17 while on final approach to Joint Base Andrews just outside Washington, D.C.

File Photo

The FAA reportedly sent investigators to the Warrenton, VA radar control center which allowed the two jets to get too close. The Washington Post reports that controllers in the Andrews control tower directed EXEC1F, which is the designation for a plane carrying the First Lady, to execute a series of "S" turns and other maneuvers to increase the following distance between the two aircraft. When it became clear that the C-17 would not be able to clear the active runway before the C-40C landed, they told the pilot to miss the approach and go around.

The principal concern was wake turbulence. The FAA requires a five-mile following distance behind C-17s, and the C-40C was reportedly just over three miles from the cargo aircraft when it was handed off from the Potomac TRACON in Warrenton. Andrews controllers called the incident a "serious loss of separation."

An FAA supervisor told the paper that the TRACON controller displayed "really bad controller technique."

FMI: www.faa.gov