rightrudder
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Near disaster at L.A. airport when planes come close to colliding
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES - Two small airliners came dangerously close to each other at Los Angeles International Airport this week when the pilot of an arriving plane mistakenly drove into the path of a plane that was taking off.
The pilot of the departing United Express plane pulled up suddenly to avoid the America West plane that had just landed and strayed onto an inner runway. He cleared the aircraft by less than 50 feet, according to initial reports from the control tower.
The episode began about 4 p.m. Wednesday, after the America West flight from Phoenix landed on the airport's southernmost runway. Controllers told the pilot to leave the runway on a taxiway and stop short of the inner runway, but the pilot instead drove onto the inner runway where the United flight to Monterey was departing, said Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Laura Brown.
A controller from the tower yelled into the radio to warn the United pilot, who later told authorities he pulled up early after hearing the warning.
"Traffic unauthorized crossing downfield!" the controller shouted.
Brown said the pilot was "past the point where he could have stopped."
Officials blamed the close call on an error by the America West pilot, who told investigators he was confused when he reached a point on the taxiway that designated where he was supposed to stop and instead continued forward onto the runway.
An alarm system designed to alert controllers to potential collisions was not operating properly at the time, Brown said.
It was the second time in less than a week that a close call between two aircraft occurred when the radar system, known as Airport Movement Area Safety System, or AMASS, was not operating properly.
In Chicago on Sunday, a departing United Airlines Boeing 737 came within 300 feet of a Boeing 747 cargo plane on an intersecting runway at O'Hare International Airport.
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES - Two small airliners came dangerously close to each other at Los Angeles International Airport this week when the pilot of an arriving plane mistakenly drove into the path of a plane that was taking off.
The pilot of the departing United Express plane pulled up suddenly to avoid the America West plane that had just landed and strayed onto an inner runway. He cleared the aircraft by less than 50 feet, according to initial reports from the control tower.
The episode began about 4 p.m. Wednesday, after the America West flight from Phoenix landed on the airport's southernmost runway. Controllers told the pilot to leave the runway on a taxiway and stop short of the inner runway, but the pilot instead drove onto the inner runway where the United flight to Monterey was departing, said Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Laura Brown.
A controller from the tower yelled into the radio to warn the United pilot, who later told authorities he pulled up early after hearing the warning.
"Traffic unauthorized crossing downfield!" the controller shouted.
Brown said the pilot was "past the point where he could have stopped."
Officials blamed the close call on an error by the America West pilot, who told investigators he was confused when he reached a point on the taxiway that designated where he was supposed to stop and instead continued forward onto the runway.
An alarm system designed to alert controllers to potential collisions was not operating properly at the time, Brown said.
It was the second time in less than a week that a close call between two aircraft occurred when the radar system, known as Airport Movement Area Safety System, or AMASS, was not operating properly.
In Chicago on Sunday, a departing United Airlines Boeing 737 came within 300 feet of a Boeing 747 cargo plane on an intersecting runway at O'Hare International Airport.