Plane With 29 Aboard Narrowly Misses News Chopper Near LAX

[question everything]

latimes.com

Plane With 29 Aboard Narrowly Misses News Chopper Near LAX
By Jennifer Oldham
Times Staff Writer

September 2, 2006

A small airliner coming in for a landing at Los Angeles International Airport early Friday narrowly missed a helicopter flying about 1,200 feet over the city near La Tijera Boulevard and the 405 Freeway, officials said.

An alarm sounded in the cockpit of American Eagle Flight 3034 from Santa Barbara, warning the pilot that he was too close to the helicopter and prompting him to abruptly pull up, said Dave Jackson, a spokesman for American Eagle. Twenty-six passengers and three crew members were on board. The Saab turboprop came within 100 feet vertically of the helicopter and about a quarter of a mile horizontally, said Ian Gregor, a spokesman with the Federal Aviation Administration.

(snip)

The close call illustrates just how much traffic — a mix of smaller airplanes, jumbo jets and helicopters — plies the narrowly defined highways in the sky above the Los Angeles Basin. The San Diego air traffic control center that directs airplanes flying between about 2,000 feet and 13,000 feet in Southern California airspace handled more flights between January and June than any other facility in the country, according to the FAA.

In Friday's incident, a controller cleared the American Eagle pilot to land on LAX's northernmost runway about 6 a.m. Instead of making a routine approach from the Harbor Freeway, the pilot made a sharp turn, descended below 2,500 feet and headed for the airport, Gregor said. Jets typically fly above 2,500 feet in protected airspace around LAX. Smaller airplanes and helicopters routinely use airspace below this level. A few seconds later, the pilot encountered the helicopter, which was chartered by KABC-TV Channel 7, officials said.

"Tower, this is 34," the pilot radioed to controllers. "There's a helicopter right off our wing." The pilot asked to abort his landing and go around the airport to come in for another try. After he landed on the second attempt, the pilot called the LAX tower and said his airplane had come so close to the helicopter that he could "see the whites of the helicopter pilot's eyes," controllers said... Controllers said the American Eagle pilot should have told them that he planned to cut his approach short.

(snip)

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-nearmiss2sep02,1,2425253.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-california

[wakeme2008]

1. Sounds like the pilot needs some more training about landing at LAX

:grr:

[IntravenousDemilo]

2. There's too much shit in our skies.

Happily, we have the good work of air-traffic controllers, or there'd be a lot more carnage. Take that, Ronald Reagan!

[Fridays Child]

3. Remember the terrible crash, almost exactly 20 years ago, in Cerritos, CA?

This was about two miles from my house, at the time...

-snip-

As the small plane flew eastward, it inadvertently strayed into the Los Angeles Terminal Control Area (TCA) without making radio contact with air traffic control (ATC). Also, a response from the Piper’s transponder was not displayed on radar screens due to an equipment configuration.

At the same time, Aeromexico Flight 498, a Douglas DC-9-32 jetliner (XA-JED), was inbound to Los Angeles International Airport on a flight from Mexico City, with intermediate stops at Guadalajara, Loreto and Tijuana, carrying 58 passengers and a crew of six.

As the DC-9 descended over Cerritos, the Piper Archer converged on the jetliner, slamming into its tail at a 90-degree angle. The impact sheared off the small plane’s cabin roof, decapitating all three occupants of the craft, and sent the Piper plunging onto an unoccupied playground at Cerritos Elementary School below.

The Aeromexico DC-9 faltered and, no longer controllable, plummeted inverted into a residential neighborhood near the intersection of Holmes Avenue and Ashworth Place. The impact, explosion and ensuing fires destroyed 11 homes, damaged seven others, and killed 15 persons in the neighborhood. All 64 aboard the DC-9 also died in the jetliner’s fiery impact.

-snip-

http://members.aol.com/jaydeebee1/crash80s.html

[kestrel91316]

4. I remember when that happened (I'm in LA). I DON'T remember the

part about the three decapitations in the small plane. Ick.

[puerco-bellies]

5. A friend of mine watched the Aeromexico go down

She was a few miles from the impact, and watched from her car windshield. My friend said that she had nightmares just about every night since witnessing the crash. I haven't had contact with her for many years so I don't know if she ever got over watching all those people die.

[greccogirl]

6. Somebody should check

this guy's license. Geesh.