2 Pilots’ Eyes Met for Awful Instant

Continental Airlines Capt. Gary Small had just lifted his lumbering jetliner off the John Wayne Airport runway when a small Beechcraft Bonanza suddenly turned toward him.

“Bonanza . . . turn left 20 degrees now. A 737 departing runway one-niner right . . . turn left . . . turn left . . . turn left immediately!” shouted air traffic controller Patrick J. McDonald.

But the Bonanza, which had taken off from a parallel runway, kept flying straight at the passenger-laden jetliner.

“Continental, traffic to your left, traffic to your left!” a second controller, David B. Wawrzynski, warned Small excitedly.

Small’s eyes met those of James Clifford McKay, the Bonanza’s owner-pilot. They were now less than 100 feet apart. As the big jet passed above the corner of Mesa Drive and Acacia Street in Santa Ana Heights, Small dropped the plane sharply downward to the left, narrowly avoiding what would have been Orange County’s worst aviation disaster.

The Federal Aviation Administration investigated the June 30, 1989, incident but has refused to discuss its findings because of privacy laws. But documents and tapes recently made available under the Freedom of Information Act reveal for the first time that McKay was blamed for the incident and had his pilot’s license suspended for 60 days.

“You failed to exercise the degree of care, judgment and responsibility required of the holder of a private pilot certificate,” the FAA told McKay.

According to FAA documents, McKay not only deviated from his assigned flight path, but he also failed to heed a direct command from an air traffic controller in a manner “so as to endanger the life or property of another.”

There were 132 passengers aboard the Continental jet.

The FAA originally sought to suspend McKay for 90 days.

But McKay met with investigators and argued that there were mitigating circumstances.

For example, McKay said, the audiotapes prove that he asked an air traffic controller for permission to fly the departure path he had followed. Also, voices are distorted in radio transmissions, and the phrase “turn left” can be easily mistaken for “turn west.”

All that’s true, FAA flight standards officials replied, but the tapes show that the air traffic controller cleared McKay for an “East Jamboree” departure, which is local aviation jargon for a left turn toward Jamboree Road, away from the Continental jet’s flight path down the middle of Newport Bay. The FAA said McKay had flown out of John Wayne Airport before and was familiar with an East Jamboree flight path.

Also, the FAA argued, McKay was asked shortly after the incident about his failure to file an air safety report and admitted he knew nothing about such procedures--a serious matter in itself, according to the FAA.

Still, FAA officials knocked 30 days off the suspension.

Was justice served?

Joe Davies, acting manager of the FAA tower at John Wayne, said “It would be real difficult for me to speculate. . . . But whatever our flight standards people did was probably the right thing to do.”

The two air traffic controllers involved in the incident could not be reached for comment.

Citing company policy, Continental Airlines officials rejected The Times’ request for an interview with Capt. Small.

Art Kent, Continental’s vice president for corporate communications, said of McKay’s 60-day suspension: “We have no reason not to be satisfied.”

And McKay, chairman of his own Palos Verdes-based marketing firm, believes his flying privileges would not have been suspended had he simply known about the air safety report expected of him.

“It seemed ominous that the pilot of that plane (Small) and I were in visual contact with each other,” McKay told FAA investigators. “But my best judgment was to continue straight ahead at full power to clear the air space as quickly as possible.”

More than a year has passed and McKay still holds to that statement.

“I immediately saw the plane that was taking off,” McKay said. “I knew there was ample time for me to clear that air space. And I was in clear sight of him (Small).”

McKay said he was “perturbed” by the suspension and had considered filing an appeal until a pilot-friend advised against it, saying, “No matter what you say, the tower (always) wins.”

“I’m not critical of the people in the tower, because everybody knows how busy they are,” McKay added. “This was the only time I’ve ever had anything this close.”

McKay said he’s glad he found out about the air safety reports that the FAA expects pilots to file after near-misses.

The FAA has sent him one of the forms for future use--just in case.