Inquiry Opens in AirCal Near-Miss : FAA Impounds Records, Tracks Light Plane to Corona

Investigators have begun analyzing radar records and audio tapes impounded in a probe of the near collision of an AirCal jetliner and an unidentified small plane over the Disneyland area of Anaheim, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said Tuesday.

However, based on the evidence so far, “it would be difficult to say that the (unidentified) aircraft that was undoubtedly flying under visual flight regulations was doing anything wrong at all,” FAA spokesman Russell Park said.

Investigators believe that the AirCal jet and the light plane were in “generally unrestricted airspace” Sunday when they passed near each other at an altitude of about 3,000 feet, Park said. It is possible, however, that the light plane may have violated a visual flight rule that requires a minimum 500 feet of separation between planes, he said.

Had the planes collided, investigators would have had to determine the direction each was flying, whether one or both pilots were distracted and a number of other issues before deciding who was at fault, Park said.

“The (AirCal) pilot did nothing wrong to our knowledge,” said Bill Bell, AirCal vice president of public affairs. “He was following instructions of approach control.

“He was at 3,000 feet in the Anaheim area under the control of approach control and was given instructions to make a right turn,” Bell said. “As he was into the right turn (the AirCal pilot) observed a Cessna-type aircraft coming into his flight path, and he took evasive action and proceeded on into John Wayne Airport without incident.”

Federal authorities believe that it will be “very difficult” to identify the small plane that came within 200 feet of the jetliner, according to the AirCal pilot. The pilot said the two aircraft were within 40 feet of each other in altitude and no more than 150 feet apart horizontally.

Formal Report Filed

FAA officials moved ahead on the investigation Tuesday after receiving a formal written report by the pilot of the four-engine AirCal British Aerospace 146, which carried 65 passengers and four crew members. The investigation is expected to take two or three weeks.

Park said investigators impounded tapes of radar records and conversations between pilots and air traffic controllers at the Orange County TRACON--or Terminal Radar Approach Control--facility. A TRACON controller had advised the AirCal flight “that there was traffic in its area prior to the AirCal (pilot’s) seeing the small plane,” Park said.

The unidentified small aircraft was tracked by TRACON on radar to the Corona area, where it dropped too low to be seen, Park said. The plane may have landed at Corona Municipal Airport, which has no FAA control tower, he said.

“We don’t know if the aircraft actually landed at Corona or not,” Park said. “If it did . . . it will be very difficult to find it. A Cessna 172 looks an awful lot like a lot of different airplanes.”

Park said the AirCal pilot identified the small plane as a Cessna 150 while the AirCal co-pilot believed that it was a Cessna 172, which is very similar. FAA officials have found no flight plans filed for the aircraft, he said.

Jim Meckoll, operator of Z-Air, a flight school that also operates a ground-to-air radio service to assist pilots landing at the Corona airport, said Tuesday that an FAA investigator had interviewed him about “a blue-and-white Cessna 172 . . . the most common airplane in the country. It’s the Ford or Chevrolet of the aircraft world.”

Many Similar Planes

“The probability that a blue-and-white Cessna landed here is very high,” Meckoll said. “There are 550 airplanes here, so there are probably some blue-and-white ones. The guys at the fuel pump said there could have been a dozen blue-and-white Cessna 172s” that landed Sunday.

FAA spokesman John Leyden in Washington said “one of the great problems is that we are never able to find the other pilot” when only one pilot reports a midair near-collision.

Meanwhile, an unidentified AirCal passenger told FAA officials Tuesday that on the day of the near-collision, visibility at 3,000 feet was “not very good.”

The passenger said visibility was hampered by “broken clouds,” contradicting the AirCal pilot’s report that the skies were clear with some haze, Park said.