Just Seconds From Disaster at LAX
Two small airliners on the ground at Los Angeles International Airport came within moments of colliding earlier this week after a malfunctioning system designed to alert controllers to potential collisions was partially disabled.
The pilot of one of the planes, which was taking off, averted disaster by pulling up suddenly -- risking a stall -- to avoid a regional jet that had just landed and strayed onto its runway. He cleared the aircraft by less than 50 feet, according to initial reports from the control tower.
Controllers described the incident as the closest call they have seen at LAX in seven years.
The incident began about 4 p.m. Wednesday, after America West Flight 6008 from Phoenix landed on the airport's southernmost runway. Controllers instructed the pilot to leave the runway on a taxiway known as "Mike" and stop short of the inner runway.
Even though the pilot read back the instructions correctly, he drove onto the inner runway and into the path of a departing United Express turboprop, said Laura Brown, a Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman.
Horrified controllers watched the incident unfold from the LAX tower.
"Traffic unauthorized crossing downfield!" a controller yelled into the radio to warn the United Express pilot, who told authorities that he pulled up early after hearing the transmission.
Brown said the United Express pilot was "past the point where he could have stopped."
"It was fortunate in this case that the air traffic controller noticed the conflict and immediately alerted the pilot," she said, adding that a preliminary FAA investigation showed the vertical distance between the two aircraft was "less than 150 feet."
United Express Flight 6037 to Monterey, Calif., was taking off less than halfway down the runway in what's known as an "intersection departure."
Because of the incident, the city's airport agency said Friday that it will call a meeting of the FAA, pilots and airline officials to review "specifically whether midfield takeoffs are in the best interests of everyone's safety."
It's likely that the close call will be classified by the FAA as a Category A or Category B, the two most serious designations, Brown said. Officials attributed the incident to an error by the America West pilot, who told investigators he "got confused" when he reached "hold bars" on the taxiway that indicated where he was supposed to stop and instead continued forward onto the runway.
