Controller Says Eyes Left Radar Screen Before ’86 Collision

The air traffic controller who tracked an Aeromexico jetliner before it collided with a private plane over Cerritos in 1986 testified Wednesday that he was not constantly monitoring the DC-9 in the moments before the two aircraft collided, killing 82 people.

In his second day of testimony in Los Angeles federal court, Walter White also said that the small plane could have appeared on his radarscope while he was looking away from it in the moments before the disaster occurred on Aug. 31, 1986.

But White, 37, reiterated his belief that it never appeared.

He testified that 46 seconds before the Aeromexico jet and the small plane collided, his attention was diverted by another private plane. White said he looked away from the screen as he typed in information about the third plane on a keyboard below the radar scope.

What appeared on White’s screen that day has become a central focus of the trial to affix liability for the accident. Several expert witnesses called by the 50 plaintiffs in the civil case have contended that the private plane did appear on White’s radar screen. They base their conclusion on data stored in FAA computers.