‘3rd Pilot’ in Cerritos Disaster Surrenders License

A private pilot accused of flying into restricted air space minutes before last year’s midair collision of two other aircraft over Cerritos has voluntarily surrendered his pilot’s license for 90 days, the Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday.

The so-called “third pilot,” Roland P. Furman, 56, of Buena Park, agreed to remain grounded for three months as part of a settlement reached May 4 between his attorney and the FAA, according to agency spokesman Russell Park.

In exchange, aviation officials agreed to drop their investigation of Furman, effectively ending a lingering controversy stemming from the Aug. 31 air disaster.

“Mr. Furman continues to adamantly deny that these violations occurred and makes no admissions of any violations of the federal aviation regulations,” his attorney, George H. Savord, said in a letter to the FAA.

82 Died in Disaster

The FAA had sought to suspend Furman’s license for 120 days for allegedly entering the Los Angeles terminal control area (TCA) without permission on the morning of Aug. 31, when another private pilot flying a single-engine Piper entered the TCA and collided with an Aeromexico DC-9. Eighty-two people were killed, including 15 on the ground.

At the time, Furman had been piloting a single-engine Grumman a few miles away, raising initial speculation that his alleged presence in the TCA may have distracted an air traffic controller at a crucial moment before the collision.

Members of the National Transportation Safety Board, which is expected to release its final report on the Cerritos crash sometime this summer, said Furman’s plane appeared on radar as an unexpected “pop-up” target in the TCA. The controller then cleared Furman to fly through the area before returning his attention to the Aeromexico jet which, by then, had collided with the Piper.

After checking the timing of Furman’s taped communications with the controller, aviation officials determined that Furman could not have been a factor in the collision. Still, the FAA sought to suspend his license for his alleged unauthorized penetration of the control area and for allegedly flying in a “careless or reckless” manner.

L.A. Drops Its Inquiry

In December, the Los Angeles city attorney’s office launched its own criminal investigation of Furman’s actions, but dropped the case in March after concluding that he was “trying his best” to cooperate with air traffic controllers at the time.

An engineer for Hughes Aircraft, Furman has repeatedly declined to comment publicly on the incident.