Accident Prevention

A state authority is set to decide next week whether transportation planners have done enough to make the Expo Line safe as it passes two South Los Angeles schools. Some residents and school officials want the rail line to either be put underground or on a bridge near one or both schools. Builders of the $862-million line say that would unnecessarily drive up costs and probably delay a transit system that could open by 2010 and provide an alternative to the Westside's traffic congestion.

When the pilot of a small plane was on final approach to Ontario International Airport last week he forgot to do one thing -- lower the landing gear. Federal Aviation Administration officials said Wednesday that the single-engine Cessna 210 probably would have crash-landed on the runway if not for the quick action of a Southwest Airlines pilot and two air traffic controllers who managed to spot the problem in time. "I'm terribly embarrassed," said William R. Otto, 57, of Big Bear City, the Cessna's pilot and registered owner.

A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that the government may not withhold key data on serious car accidents from the public. The decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia potentially ends years of litigation over the data, and could soon put crash information collected by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration into the hands of journalists, consumer watchdogs and others.

Former rodeo rider and jockey Kim Terry has been around all sorts of animals his whole life, but it's the wild burros that have snorted and kicked their way into his heart. He loves their moxie, respects their survival skills and is smitten with what he calls their "fantastic personalities." "Just don't get behind them," he advised recently as he prepared to flush a dozen or so from a holding pen. Terry let rip with a sharp "heyaaaah!" and charged them, swinging a long blue stick.

As an American Airlines jet readied for takeoff on the runway at this city's airport recently, red lights embedded in the pavement at intersecting taxiways down the field blinked on, warning other aircraft to stay clear. Air traffic controllers watched from the tower as the slender silver MD-80 started rolling down the runway, gaining speed on its way to Dallas. Once it was safe, the red lights clicked off.

The acting chief of the Federal Aviation Administration said Monday that the two north runways at LAX need to be reconfigured to lessen the chances of collisions between aircraft on the ground. "In general we're happy with the way that the south airfield is going" at Los Angeles International Airport, said Bobby Sturgell, acting FAA administrator, referring to the current reworking of the runways on the facility's south side. "We'd like to see something done on the north side. . . .

Two years after an SUV parked on train tracks near Glendale caused a commuter rail crash that killed 11 people, Metrolink officials today will unveil a sweeping effort to improve safety at dozens of rail crossings by creating barriers between trains and automobiles. The move is intended to address long-standing questions about rail safety in Southern California, where commuter lines share tracks with busy freight systems and intersect with drivers, some of whom race to beat trains.

For months, Brazilians have been using the phrase "air blackout" to describe the crisis in the country's aviation system that reached epic proportions this week with the worst crash in the nation's history. The use of this phrase is no accident.

On the last morning of her life, 26-year-old Piper Inness Cameron was doing exactly what she had always wanted to do. She was working on the deck of a tugboat and counting the days until she, like her father, would be piloting one. There were 41 to go. Then, at 11 a.m. Feb. 20 while moving through Santa Monica Bay about two miles off Marina del Rey, something went wrong. A line linking the tug and the barge it was towing suddenly struck Cameron and slammed her into a railing.

Richard Grove, 73 years old and a robust 6 feet tall, set out with confident strides across a laboratory floor the other day. His first five steps went great. Then his left foot hit a slippery patch and skidded. His arms windmilled over his head as if he were throwing a baseball with each hand. His right foot shot forward to come even with his left. But he quickly regained his balance and kept on walking. This was no accident. Grove had just slipped for science.