DEA Disputes Claim Copter Nearly Collided With Jetliner

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration on Friday disputed reports that one of its surveillance helicopters came within 200 feet of colliding with a United Airlines jetliner as it prepared to land last week at Los Angeles International Airport.

DEA officials in Washington said the helicopter, at its closest point, was 700 feet below and a quarter of a mile away from the United Boeing 727-200 jet. In addition, officials said, the helicopter was 13 miles southeast of LAX--not 5 1/2 miles east of it, as the National Transportation Safety Board has reported.

“There’s obviously a discrepancy here,” said Bill Deac, a DEA spokesman. “We have the whole matter under review; it’s certainly not something we take lightly.”

NTSB officials, who are continuing their own investigation of the incident, said they planned to spend the weekend reviewing computerized radar records that may pinpoint the exact locations of the jetliner and the drug enforcement helicopter at the time.

The United captain filed a “near-miss” report with the Federal Aviation Administration, claiming that the Hughes 500D chopper came within 200 feet of United Flight 282 as it prepared for landing Wednesday morning. The jetliner, carrying 87 passengers and seven crew members on a flight from Monterey, landed uneventfully less than five minutes later.

Novak said it is not always easy to estimate distances between aircraft in flight--a possible explanation for the varying accounts offered by the two pilots.

The DEA pilot has told investigators that his helicopter was hovering at 1,300 feet, that he was well aware of the jet’s location and that the helicopter never posed a danger, NTSB spokesman Mike Benson said Friday.