"Planes Nearly Collide On Los Angeles Airport Runway"

Saturday, May 12, 2007

Planes Nearly Collide On Los Angeles Airport Runway
Near Miss Considered Most Serious Close Call Since September
KNTV-TV Ch 4 (NBC), San Francisco (CA)
 

LOS ANGELES -- A jetliner roaring down a runway narrowly missed colliding
with another plane in the latest close call at Los Angeles International
Airport, authorities said.

A turboprop plane that landed on May 6 came too close to a Virgin Atlantic
flight from London that was landing with 172 passengers and crew on board,
authorities said.

SkyWest Flight 1006 and Virgin Atlantic Flight 23 may have come within 50
feet of each other, according to a preliminary review by the Federal
Aviation Administration. 

However, a computer-assisted reconstruction of the incident, developed by
airport officials, indicated a wing of the big Airbus A340-600 may have come
as close as 21 feet to the smaller turboprop.

The Virgin Atlantic pilot "felt at no time that the safety of the passengers
was in question," an airline spokeswoman told the Los Angeles Times.

A SkyWest spokeswoman said the airline was working with the FAA to determine
if its pilot was at fault.

Officials said the SkyWest Embraer Brasilia, which had only two pilots
aboard, had turned onto the wrong taxiway after landing during the evening
rush hour. As the plane turned around and headed for the correct taxiway, it
drove out of a safety zone separating the taxiway from a runway -- just as
the Virgin jet sped by on that runway.

The incident is likely to be categorized as the most serious at the airport
since a close call between two planes on Sept. 30.

"We got lucky again," said Paul Haney, deputy executive director of airports
and security for Los Angeles World Airports. "It doesn't happen often, but
when it does, the potential consequences are catastrophic."

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