The State - News from Feb. 17, 1989

The Federal Aviation Administration has launched an investigation into why two jetliners were on a collision course over Orange County after one of the planes was diverted from John Wayne Airport because of the electrical failure of a runway light. The aircraft came within 1 1/2 miles of each other at about 9,000 feet over Westminster, an American Airlines pilot told his supervisors. FAA officials said that air traffic controllers at the Los Angeles Terminal Radar Facility warned the pilot of a British Airways 747 to take evasive action to avoid the American Airlines BAe-146 after the two aircraft closed within the 3-mile separation required under FAA flight rules. The incident occurred shortly after 7 p.m. Monday about 20 minutes after a power line short-circuited the runway lights at John Wayne Airport and closed the facility for about four hours. Neither pilot filed a report about the incident.