2 airliners nearly collide in Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES — In what controllers are describing as the closest call they have seen at Los Angeles International Airport in seven years, two small airliners on the ground came within moments of colliding last week.

The pilot of one plane, which was taking off, averted disaster by pulling up suddenly to avoid a regional jet that had just landed and strayed onto the other plane's runway. He cleared the aircraft by less than 50 feet, according to initial reports from the control tower.

A system designed to alert controllers to potential collisions was not operating properly at the time.

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 departing United Express turboprop Flight 6037, said Laura Brown, a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) spokeswoman.

Controllers watched the incident unfold from the control tower.

"Traffic unauthorized crossing downfield!" a controller yelled into the radio to warn the United Express pilot, who told authorities he pulled up early after hearing the transmission.

Brown said the United Express pilot was "past the point where he could have stopped."

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 designated where he was supposed to stop and instead continued forward onto the runway.