Her454
02-22-2006, 12:08 PM
Two Planes Came Within A Few Hundred Feet Of Each Other
POSTED: 10:25 am PST February 22, 2006
UPDATED: 10:44 am PST February 22, 2006
LOS ANGELES -- Federal investigators are trying to figure out why an air traffic controller directed three planes onto the same runway at Los Angeles International Airport last week.
A Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said, "It was pretty close."
Last Friday, the controller directed a departing turboprop to taxi on the same runway where he'd just cleared a Southwest Airlines jet to land. He also told an Air Canada jet it could cross the same runway on its way to the terminals.
The pilot of the smaller plane saw the incoming Southwest jet and stopped short of the runway. The jet roared past about 275 feet away and 50 feet above the smaller plane.
The FAA spokesman said the Southwest jet landed without incident and never got closer than about 5,600 feet to the Air Canada jet.
The airport has had one of the worst runway safety violation records in the nation in recent years.
The city's airport agency is spending $328 million to give planes on the ground more room to maneuver.
POSTED: 10:25 am PST February 22, 2006
UPDATED: 10:44 am PST February 22, 2006
LOS ANGELES -- Federal investigators are trying to figure out why an air traffic controller directed three planes onto the same runway at Los Angeles International Airport last week.
A Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said, "It was pretty close."
Last Friday, the controller directed a departing turboprop to taxi on the same runway where he'd just cleared a Southwest Airlines jet to land. He also told an Air Canada jet it could cross the same runway on its way to the terminals.
The pilot of the smaller plane saw the incoming Southwest jet and stopped short of the runway. The jet roared past about 275 feet away and 50 feet above the smaller plane.
The FAA spokesman said the Southwest jet landed without incident and never got closer than about 5,600 feet to the Air Canada jet.
The airport has had one of the worst runway safety violation records in the nation in recent years.
The city's airport agency is spending $328 million to give planes on the ground more room to maneuver.