Air Controller’s Warning Prevented Plane Collision After John Wayne Takeoff

A last-minute warning from an air traffic controller prevented an American Airlines plane carrying 39 passengers from colliding with a single-engine Cessna over Irvine shortly after takeoff from John Wayne Airport, authorities said Sunday.

A Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said the pilot of the American Airlines BAe-146 was approaching an altitude of 1,800 feet over Irvine, about three miles south of the airport, at 2:14 p.m. Saturday, when the FAA control tower warned him of the small aircraft.

“He was told to stop climbing immediately,” FAA duty officer Larry Berg said of the pilot, who was on ascent to 3,000 feet before the warning.

Veered to the Right

Obeying the command, the pilot quickly veered to the right and told the controller, “ ‘Thanks for saving our lives,’ ” Berg said.

The jet passed 200 feet below the Cessna, an American Airlines official said.

Flight 2041 had left the airport just two minutes before the evasive maneuver was taken. The plane, carrying 34 passengers and five crew members, was bound for Oakland, where it landed safely an hour later.

Berg said Sunday that the FAA will not investigate the incident because the American Airlines pilot did not file a report.

Officials at the airline’s office at John Wayne Airport referred all questions regarding the incident to its headquarters in Dallas. Officials there were unavailable Sunday afternoon.

Latest in Series of Incidents

Berg also said the identity of the pilot of the small plane was not known. He said it was also unknown if the small aircraft was equipped with a transponder, a device that emits an electronic signal monitored by controllers.

The near collision was the latest in dozens of such incidents in Southern California this year. FAA officials had recorded 48 so-called “near misses” in the greater Los Angeles area during the first eight months of this year.

The extreme crowding in Southern California airports has prompted the FAA to impose an emergency order banning small aircraft from a flying over selected portions of the area. That order was imposed after an Aeromexico DC-9 jet collided with a Piper Archer over Cerritos on Aug. 31, 1986, killing 82 people.