Jet Forced to Swerve During Near-Miss of Private Airplane

A Jet America MD-80 making a landing approach at John Wayne Airport on Thursday came within 200 feet of an unidentified private plane and had to swerve to avoid it, the Federal Aviation Administration reported.

The jet, en route from Chicago and Las Vegas with 59 passengers aboard, landed without incident and there were no injuries, officials said.

The near-miss occurred about 4 1/2 miles north of the airport when the private plane crossed the airliner’s path about 500 feet ahead. The Jet America pilot halted the plane’s descent and swerved to the right, while the private plane made a quick descending turn to avoid the jet.

The planes came within 200 feet of each other at one point, according to the Jet America pilot, who filed a so-called “near-miss” report with the FAA.

Plane Not Identified

The private plane, described as a high-wing aircraft of light color, was not identified because it had not been in contact with the airport control tower, said FAA spokeswoman Barbara Abels. FAA regulations require aircraft to communicate with the tower when within five miles of the airport.

Air traffic controllers had not seen the private aircraft either from the tower or on their radar screens, Abels said, although the jet was making an approach that required continuous radar monitoring.

The incident occurred at 10:33 a.m. at 1,300 feet in an area roughly over the interchange of the Santa Ana and Costa Mesa freeways, officials said.

FAA officials define a “near-miss” as any time two aircraft come within 500 feet of each other or “any time a crew member feels that evasive action is justified,” Abels said. “I would hope that it wouldn’t be too common an occurrence. . . . I wouldn’t say that it’s common for pilots to take evasive action from each other.”

Los Angeles Fire Department information officer Larry Ford, who said he was driving north on the Santa Ana Freeway and witnessed the event, recalled: “I saw this Jet America (jet) kind of lazily out in front of me making his approach, and as he got off to my left, all of a sudden he made a hard right turn in what was obviously an emergency evasive action, and he kind of peeled off to his right.

“Then I saw a high-wing Cessna cross exactly where the jet was. It looked like he was just coming along on his own little merry way, right directly in front of the jet,” Ford said.

An FAA investigation is under way to try to determine the identity of the light plane pilot, although Abels said the Jet America pilot was not able to see the aircraft’s identification number.

Jet America spokesman Fred Davis confirmed officials’ account of the near-miss, but added that the airline would not be issuing a statement on the incident.