Airbus A340, Embraer Brasilia May Have Come Within 50 Feet Or Less

Take a SkyWest turboprop landing on the northern-most runway at LAX. Add one jumbo jet coming in behind it, and lining up to land on the same runway.

The SkyWest plane is instructed to take Zulu taxiway, with the Virgin Atlantic jet fast approaching behind it. The SkyWest plane, however, turns onto the wrong taxiway and then corrects itself by turning around and heading towards the correct taxiway as the Airbus is approaching.

What occured then was a near collision that the FAA and is investigating, reports the Associated Press.

According to a preliminary review by the FAA, SkyWest Flight 1006, on a reposition flight with only two pilots aboard, may have come within 50 feet of Virgin Atlantic Flight 23, with 172 passengers and crew aboard during evening rush hour. This, as the turboprop taxied out of a safety zone separating the taxiway from the runway as the Virgin jet sped by at 100 mph.

A computer-assisted reconstruction of the incident developed by airport officials, however, indicates that the near collision could have been even "nearer" than reported by the FAA. The reconstruction indicated a wing of the big Airbus A340-600 may have come as close as 21 feet to the smaller turboprop.

As reported by the Los Angeles Times, the SkyWest plane was fighting a hard wind as it drove down the runway after its landing. With the Virgin Atlantic jet fast approaching, a controller told the SkyWest pilot, "Keep it rolling, please, turn left off the runway."

The controller directed the plane toward an airfield intersection and instructed it to turn onto taxiway Zulu, to keep it moving and out of the way of the oncoming landing jetliner.

The SkyWest plane, instead, started down the wrong taxiway.

"I said Zulu, sir, turn left off the runway," the controller said.

The SkyWest plane stopped, turned around, headed back toward the intersection, and turned onto the correct taxiway.

"Stop right there," the controller ordered the SkyWest plane as a siren sounded in the control tower, warning of a potential collision.

Another controller told the Virgin Atlantic flight to abort its landing and circle around, but too late.

The turboprop was driving out of the safety zone that separates the taxiway from the runway as the Virgin jet sped by. It's likely that the Virgin jet's long wing was hanging several dozen feet into the safety zone, officials said.

"If there's a mitigating circumstance here," said FAA spokesman Ian Gregor, "it's that SkyWest was rolling away from the runway rather than getting closer."

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.

"It was pretty close," acknowledged Michael Foote, the local president of the controllers' union.

The SkyWest plane was carrying only its crew on a repositioning flight from Redding. The Virgin Atlantic plane from London, however, could have been carrying up to 372 passengers, based on its seating configuration.

The incident may be the most serious at LAX since a close call between two planes on September 30, but the third time this year that planes have come dangerously close to each other on the runways of LAX. The other two happened within the span of little more than 24 hours in February, and neither was as serious.

"We got lucky again," said Deputy Executive Director of Airports and Security for Los Angeles World Airports Paul Haney. "It doesn't happen often, but when it does, the potential consequences are catastrophic."

Airport officials are spending $330 million to rework the two parallel runways on the airport's south side, reported the LA Times. After moving one 55 feet farther from the other, officials reopened the southernmost runway last month and began construction of a 1.8-mile-long taxiway between the two runways. When the project is completed next summer, pilots will stop on the taxiway after landing to await clearance to cross the inner runway.

The city's airport agency wants to install a similar center taxiway between the runways on the airport's north side. In order to do that, they are proposing pushing the outer runway closer to Westchester, a move opposed by airport neighbors and local and federal lawmakers who represent area residents.

Sunday's incident led agency officials to reiterate their position that the north airfield must be reconfigured to prevent close calls between aircraft.

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