Second Time This Month, Fourth Time This Year

For the fourth time this year, there has been a runway incursion at the Los Angeles International Airport. A Delta Air Lines 767 missed an airfield hold-short sign Tuesday as it taxied after landing, and got a bit too close to another jet that was already on its takeoff roll.

Air traffic controllers said the pilot stopped so abruptly, they saw the aircraft lurch.

Delta Air Lines Flight 115 had just come in from Atlanta on LAX's southernmost runway, and a controller instructed the pilot to hold short of crossing the second runway on its way to the gate -- as he had just cleared a Kitty Hawk cargo jet for departure on that runway.

The cargo jet began its acceleration and the controller noticed the Delta 767 had rolled past the airfield sign where it had been instructed to stop, about 200 feet from the edge of the runway, according to the LA Daily Breeze.

Foote told the Delta jet, "Verify, you are holding," and watched it lurch to a stop while the Kitty Hawk jet lifted off a short distance away.

"He was headed toward the runway," said Michael Foote, the controller directing both planes and local president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. "It looked like they were on a collision course."

This has been a rough year for such incursions at LAX. Two occurred in February, less than 24 hours apart and, as ANN reported, a Skywest Embraer 120 turboprop came within 50 feet of colliding with a Virgin Atlantic Airbus A340-600 earlier in the month after completing a series of wrong turns.

A report released May 24 by David A. Dobbs, Principal Assistant Inspector General for Auditing and Evaluation for the FAA said that, while progress has been made in reducing runway incursions, it is still apparent more research and training for controllers as well as pilots is still needed.

LAX's problem children are its southernmost runways, where most of the incursions occur. It is hoped the current $333 million reconfiguration project will have a positive impact on such incidents, as ANN has reported.

FMI: www.lawa.org/lax, www.faa.gov