727 Jet, Copter Nearly Collide Over Freeway

A United Airlines jetliner descending toward Los Angeles International Airport with 94 people aboard came within 200 feet of an unidentified helicopter and had to take evasive action to avoid a mid-air collision, airline and aviation officials said today.

The Federal Aviation Administration has begun an investigation of the incident, which occurred at 11:10 a.m. Wednesday about 10 miles east of the airport over the Harbor Freeway, FAA spokesman Russ Park said.

No one was injured. The jetliner, Flight 282 out of Monterey with 87 passengers and seven crew members, made a normal landing and arrived at United’s terminal seven minutes later. The pilot filed a near-miss report with the FAA.

Final Approach

United spokesman Chuck Novak in Chicago said the Boeing 727-200 was flying at about 2,100 feet with clearance to land on Runway 25 Left. The plane was making a right, banking turn onto its final approach when the pilot looked out his left window and spotted the helicopter flying northbound, officials said.

The San Francisco-based United pilot, whom Novak declined to identify, immediately went into a steep climb, flying above the helicopter at a distance the pilot estimated to be 200 feet.

Park said that both the helicopter and the jetliner were being tracked on radar and that both pilots were in radio contact with ground controllers at the time.