LaHood says aborted landing of first lady's plane under investigation

STORY HIGHLIGHTSNEW: The National Transportation Safety Board also will investigateOfficials: A plane carrying the first lady got too close to a military C-17The FAA says the aircraft were never in any dangerThe incident happened Monday at Andrews AFB Washington (CNN) -- An aborted landing by a plane carrying Michelle Obama because it was too close to a military plane ahead of it was a "serious incident," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Wednesday.

LaHood confirmed that the Federal Aviation Administration was investigating the incident Monday at Andrews Air Force Base.

The National Transportation Safety Board, an independent federal agency, also said it is launching a probe into Monday's incident, according to NTSB spokesman Peter Knudson.

"We consider any incident like this a serious incident," LaHood said. "It's under investigation, we will get to the bottom of what happened and how it happened, and obviously make sure it doesn't happen again."

He emphasized that the first lady was never in any danger and said he had yet to hear from either Michelle Obama or the president about it.

The planes -- which were both trying to land -- were three miles apart, when they are supposed to be five miles apart, a senior administration official told CNN, adding that it was believed to be an air traffic controller mistake.

Asked why the separation rules governing plane landings were not followed, LaHood said: "That's what we'll figure out in the investigation."

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FAA Announces New Rules Following Aborted Landing of First Lady's Plane

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The Federal Aviation Administration has announced new procedures following the aborted landing of a presidential plane carrying first lady Michelle Obama that flew too close to a military cargo jet on Monday. 

FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said that the agency will start requiring a supervisor to monitor movements of flights involving the vice president and first lady, just as the FAA requires for flights carrying President Obama. 

"As of today, we are making the same supervisor oversight requirement for VPOTUS and FLOTUS flights in the DC area and at their destinations where possible," she said. 

The announcement comes as both the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board launch investigations into the incident. It marked the latest embarrassment for the agency, which is trying to tamp down growing anxiety over flying after suspending nine air traffic controllers and supervisors across the country in recent weeks, including five for sleeping on the job.

Monday's mishap didn't involve a sleeping air traffic controller. Instead, the civilian controller at the regional radar facility in Warrenton, Va., allowed the Obama plane to get too close to an Air Force C-17 plane in front of it.

The FAA requires a minimum separation of 5 miles between planes when the plane in the lead is as large as the 200-ton cargo jet because the turbulence created by the wings can be dangerous to trailing aircraft. 

Obama and Jill Biden, wife of the vice president, were 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 occurred on final approach to Andrews. 

The civilian controller in Warrenton told the military's controller at Andrews that the distance between the planes was 4 miles -- an estimate that turned out to be inaccurate. The distance was just more than 3 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 runway once it landed before the first lady's plane could land on the same runway. So they instructed the Obama plane to abort its landing.

The FAA said it was investigating the incident as a possible error by controllers at Warrenton and added that the aircraft were never in any danger.

Michelle Obama's office said it would not be commenting on the incident.

After a series of incidents this year involving sleeping air traffic controllers, the FAA official in charge of the U.S. air traffic system resigned last week.

The first disclosed case of a controller falling asleep on duty occurred March 23 at Washington's Reagan National Airport. The most recent was this week, when a controller at a regional radar facility near Cleveland was suspended for watching a movie on a DVD player when he was supposed to be monitoring air traffic.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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