2 Radar Systems Faulty in Collision on Runway : Crash: The equipment could have helped controller track planes before the disaster. Death toll rises to 34.

Two important radar systems that could have helped a controller keep track of a jetliner and a commuter plane before they collided in last week’s Los Angeles airport disaster were not working properly, federal investigators said Monday.

The death toll in Friday night’s runway crash climbed to 34 on Monday when an Ohio man who suffered massive burns died at Sherman Oaks Community Hospital. All 12 people aboard a SkyWest commuter plane died instantly and 18 passengers on a USAir jet were headed for exits when they died, said James Burnett, the National Transportation Safety Board member heading the investigation.

Burnett said one man died as he tried to climb over the seats toward an exit and a flight attendant died only a few feet from a doorway, apparently while trying to lead others to safety.

“I can’t think of a recent accident where this many people have been up and out of their seats and didn’t make it,” Burnett said. He said part of the investigation will focus on why they were unable to escape.

The fiery crash occurred when a controller, who has not been identified, directed the USAir Boeing 737 jetliner with 89 people aboard to land on the same runway where she had positioned the SkyWest commuter plane to await takeoff, investigators said.

Only 18 hours before the 6:06 p.m. crash, a ground radar control system that tracks the movement of aircraft broke down, Burnett said. He said that a federal inspector described the radar system as being “in the poorest condition” he had seen.

The ground radar system--known as Airport Surface Detection Equipment, or ASDE-2--could have helped the controller watch the movement of the SkyWest commuter plane, aviation experts said.

The system, installed nearly 20 years ago at Los Angeles International Airport, is the only model of its kind operating today, said Phil Leman, an electronics engineer for the Federal Aviation Administration in Washington. He called the Los Angeles system, which suffers frequent breakdowns and has no spare parts, “a maintenance headache.”

In addition, Burnett said, the display screens for the sky radar system could have helped the controller monitor the jetliner as it approached the airport for a landing. This system, he said, was intermittently out of focus and showed planes as much as half a mile from their true positions.

The status of the two radar systems as of Monday evening was unclear. FAA officials could not be reach for comment.

“The controller relies on this equipment heavily,” said Richard Bamberger, West Coast representative of the National Air Traffic Controllers Assn. “With the number of city lights around the airport, there’s a lot of potential for confusion. If the equipment doesn’t work properly, you’re overtaxed.”

Indeed, the controller appeared confused in the moments before Friday night’s collision, Burnett said. She asked two other planes to confirm they were on the runway when they were not, failed to acknowledge two requests from the USAir pilot for landing clearance, and had difficulty communicating with an Aeromexico flight, Burnett said.

Without the ground and air radars working properly, the controller would have had to rely on her memory and her vision to guide departing and arriving aircraft, Bamberger said.

But her line of sight from the controller’s position in the tower to the intersection where the accident occurred was partially obscured by four light standards, Burnett said.

“One of these structures was dead in the middle of the intersection,” Burnett said. Whether the obstructed view contributed to the cause has not yet been determined, he said.

It is not clear if the light standards had posed visibility problems for other controllers. Airport Manager Stephen Yee said he was “under orders” by the city attorney’s office not to comment on the light posts, because of potential litigation.

A safety board reenactment of the crash using the same runway was postponed Monday because of hazy weather. Investigators hope to recreate lighting patterns and visibility from both the approaching USAir jetliner and the controller’s seat in the tower, Burnett said.

Two years ago, LAX controllers were scheduled to receive a new ground radar system that is 10 times more reliable and provides clearer, more detailed video displays of aircraft locations, FAA officials said. The $3-million system is running behind schedule because of bureaucratic and technical problems and will not be fully installed until 1993, the officials said.

The sophisticated new Los Angeles airport system is designed to sound an alarm in the control tower when it detects an impending collision such as the USAir-Skywest disaster, FAA officials said.

The inadequate, antiquated radar systems currently at the airport are symptomatic of a nationwide problem--the inability of the FAA to spend more than $10 billion already collected and set aside for modernization of the nation’s air traffic control system, said Bamberger.

According to sources familiar with the problem, the vast pool of money in the federal Aviation Trust Fund--amassed largely from taxes on airline tickets--is being tied up in Washington to help offset the record federal budget deficit.

“The money is there,” Bamberger said. “It’s just not being spent.”

Operations at all LAX runways returned to normal Monday for the first time since the crash.

Tom Winfrey, a spokesman for the city Department of Airports, said flight delays of up to two hours were reported through the weekend because of the reduced capacity for takeoffs and landings.

The crash wreckage was removed to a hangar late Sunday and crews cleaned and repainted the northside runway where debris had been scattered. National Transportation Safety Board investigators inspected the smashed fuselages.

A pool reporter who viewed the twisted fuselage of the USAir jet Monday said the passenger windows were partially melted and the pilot’s chair was crushed so badly it was almost indistinguishable.

Four bodies were found face down in rows 9 and 10. One of of the four was a flight attendant, who apparently was trying to lead the others out of the plane.

“They almost made it to the exit,” Burnett said.

Safety board spokesman Ted Lopatkiewicz said investigators have not yet questioned the controller, who was certified by the Federal Aviation Administration in 1982. In accordance with regulations, she submitted to a drug test and was placed on administrative leave.

The controller was hired by the FAA in 1982 and worked at three airports before coming to Los Angeles in 1989. She became fully qualified last November to handle any controller duties, officials said. Last August, she received training for directing maneuvers like those being carried out during Friday night’s crash.

Controllers at the airport were told in an internal FAA memo dated Jan. 15, 1989, to use the ground radar system “from sunset to sunrise” to deal with the problem of planes straying improperly onto runways.

“It also instructed the local controller (the one handling traffic on the runways) to use the ASDE if there was any doubt about the runways being clear,” Burnett said.

Los Angles International’s current ground radar system is ancient technology by today’s standards. It relies on vacuum-tube electronics and round radar scopes, with sweeping arms and blips reminiscent of World War II movies, FAA officials said.

Only 12 of the 315 major airport across the country have such ground systems, federal officials said. The system does not function well in bad weather even though “that’s what it was designed for,” said Fred Ferrar, a spokesman for the FAA in Washington.

At LAX, the ground radar equipment has been plagued by maintenance problems. “There are no spare parts available at LAX,” the safety board’s Burnett said. “If it breaks down and parts are needed, they have to be fabricated here.”

A higher-resolution, next-generation system known as ASDE-3 is being tested at an airport in Pittsburgh. It incorporates state-of-the-art computer technology, including video terminals that provide sharp pictures and allow controllers to zoom in on potential trouble spots, FAA officials said.

Current ground radar systems break down on average once every 200 hours, FAA officials said. The new system us supposed to go more than 2,000 hours without problems.

Los Angeles International is scheduled to receive the new system in early 1992. Upgrading scheduled for early 1993 will link air and ground radar systems to provide audio and visual warnings to controllers when dangerous situations arise.

One problem in development, however, has been that the new system’s antenna tends to break up as it rotates. FAA officials said a new antenna system is being developed.

During the last 28 months, there were at least two other instances in which planes ended up on the same runway, but neither resulted in an accident, airport records indicate.

On Oct. 27, 1988, a plane had to abort its takeoff because another aircraft was taxiing across the runway. On July 3, 1990, a DC-10 airliner almost landed atop another jumbo jet waiting to take off.

Burnett did not say who was found at fault in either incident.

Times staff writers Glenn F. Bunting, Rich Connell and Eric Malnic reported and wrote this story. Staff writers John Lee and Tracy Wood also contributed.