Originally published Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Report: Jet dived to avoid crash near LAX
Two airplanes got as close as 400 feet in the September incident. The details are just now emerging.
By Doug Irving
DAILY BREEZE
A British Airways jetliner leaving Los Angeles earlier this fall had to dive suddenly to avoid a small airplane only a few hundred feet away, according to a report filed with the Federal Aviation Administration.
Details of the near midair collision emerged in recent days as part of an online database maintained by the FAA. The incident happened in late September, though, and neither FAA spokesman Ian Gregor nor air-traffic controllers had much information about it.
The report estimates that British Airways Flight 282 missed a much smaller airplane by about 400 vertical feet, and only after taking evasive action. At the time, the British jumbo jet had just taken off from Los Angeles International Airport and was climbing over the ocean, bound for London.
Air-traffic controllers had notified its pilot of a much smaller airplane passing overhead, according to the report, which was based in large part on information supplied by the airline. When the smaller plane began to descend, a warning system in the jetliner's cockpit at first directed the pilot to climb, then to descend to avoid a collision.
More..
Find this article at:
http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/articles/4581437.html