Near Collision Over Julian Focus of FAA Investigation

Federal aviation officials said Friday they are investigating what was a near collision between a jetliner and a Marine Corps jet that came within 200 feet of each other Thursday over Julian.

A Federal Aviation Administration official said Friday that the probe may focus in part on why the military pilot was not in contact with San Diego’s terminal radar approach control--a practice that is not required but is customary, the official said.

“I’d like to think it shouldn’t have happened,” said Bob Vaughn, air traffic manager for the FAA’s Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) in San Diego. “But there’s no federal air regulations that would have prohibited that aircraft from being where he was.”

The incident occurred Thursday morning when a United Airlines Boeing 767 flying from Denver was descending into the San Diego area. Vaughn said that, as the United flight appeared on the TRACON radar screen, controllers noticed the signal of an unidentified aircraft one mile away on a converging course.

Vaughn said his office warned the United crew twice before the crew saw the other aircraft and stopped the plane’s descent. As the plane levelled off, the Marine AV-8 Harrier passed beneath the jetliner at about 14,800 feet.

FAA radar altitude meters indicated that the two aircraft passed within 200 feet of each other, Vaughn said. He said the United co-pilot estimated the distance between them at 50 feet; the captain estimated it at 500.

The military aircraft, on a flight to Camp Pendleton from the Marine Corps Air Station at Yuma, Ariz., was flying legally in the area, Vaughn noted. The area above Julian is not restricted, which would require that all craft be in touch with air traffic control.

However, Vaughn said it is customary for military aircraft flying in the San Diego County area to call his office for radar advisories. Vaughn predicted that the investigation would explore why the pilot of the bomber had not checked in.

Larry Stewart, operations inspector for the FAA’s flight standards district office in San Diego, said his office is investigating the incident. He said such inquiries try to answer why the near mid-air collision occurred, and, if there were federal violations, assess penalties.

Penalties range from issuing a citation against a pilot to requiring that the pilot enroll in a re-training program. Stewart, who said the investigator on the case was not in the office late Friday, said the probe could take as long as 90 days.

Tim Bennett, a chief warrant officer at the Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma, said the Marine Corps had no comment on “whether (the military aircraft) was within its rights . . . The investigation conducted by the FAA will discuss that matter.”

Vaughn said his office, located at Miramar Naval Air Station, provides air traffic control for all airports in the San Diego County area. Its jurisdiction extends east to Julian, south to the Mexican border, west to 25 miles offshore and north to Oceanside.

The office receives arriving flights “handed off” by a similar radar control station in Palmdale, then turns over those flights to San Diego area airports. He said the only restricted air space is in the immediate vicinity of the airports.

Vaughn said there were about a dozen near mid-air collisions reported in the San Diego area last year--most of them involving one plane under terminal radar approach system guidance, the other flying only visually.

“Most of them don’t come as close as these guys did,” Vaughn said.