Air Traffic Control

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.

Federal officials are expected to announce today that they will install a $6-million warning system at LAX that dramatically reduced close calls on the ground in tests at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. At a news conference this afternoon, Robert A. Sturgell, acting FAA administrator, is expected to detail the agency's plan to install lights on one of the airport's four runways and at various taxiways on the north and south airfields. Testing is to begin early next year.

Federal officials announced Friday that they would assess the air traffic control staffing levels and their effects on safety at Los Angeles International Airport and two other key locations in California. The action comes at the request of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who contends that the nation's control towers may be understaffed. In addition to LAX, the Inspector General's Office of the U.S.

A massive Boeing 777-300 airliner was mistakenly assigned last week to a taxiway at Los Angeles International Airport that was too short to handle its fuselage, resulting in a minor runway incursion, federal officials said Friday. Air traffic controllers and Federal Aviation Administration officials said the aircraft had a radar designation tag that was unknown to controllers when the All Nippon Airways flight from Tokyo landed June 19 at LAX.

New telecommunications equipment designed to deliver information to controllers in a San Diego facility that handles air traffic across Southern California malfunctioned early Wednesday, delaying 14 flights out of Ontario International Airport. The nearly two-hour outage started at the Terminal Radar Approach Control Center about 5:30 a.m.

Federal aviation officials expect on Monday to begin introducing a proposal to finance a new air-traffic control system that they say will be needed to keep pace with increasing air travel over the next two decades. The next-generation network could cost $69 billion to $76 billion, according to the Congressional Research Service. The Federal Aviation Administration and other government agencies want the system completed by 2025. They have not said how much it would cost.

A system that gauges visibility on runways at Los Angeles International Airport during heavy fog failed early Wednesday, forcing air traffic controllers to divert about six flights to other airports. A broken heating coil in a light sensor caused the equipment, which was tested three days ago, to malfunction, said Ian Gregor, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration, which manages the nation's air traffic control network. The system went down about 4 a.m.

The Bush administration's long-awaited plan to pay for a new, high-tech air traffic control system would eliminate the passenger ticket tax but raise other costs for people who fly. The Federal Aviation Administration will unveil its proposal today. The announcement is expected to touch off a fierce debate between airlines, which support the concept, and owners of corporate jets and private aircraft, who will pay more to fly in the national air space.

Aircraft came too close to one another at Los Angeles International Airport twice last weekend, the first such incidents at the facility since September. At 8:43 p.m. Sunday, controllers instructed the pilot of a Piaggio P180 turboprop to taxi to a runway on the airport's south side in preparation for takeoff. As the pilot neared the runway, he breached a safety zone, said Ian Gregor, a spokesman with the Federal Aviation Administration.

The busy Memorial Day weekend got off to a slow start for some travelers early Friday when a software glitch left controllers at a San Diego facility without maps showing terrain and airspace boundaries on their radarscopes, causing federal officials to shut down Southern California's airspace for 48 minutes. The outage, which caused about 100 flights to depart late, started at the Terminal Radar Approach Control Center around 2 a.m.