LAX Crash Prompts FAA Safety Rules for Runways : Disaster: Aircraft may no longer wait in intersections at night or if controllers’ vision is obstructed.

In its first formal response to the crash two weeks ago that killed 34 people at Los Angeles International Airport, the Federal Aviation Administration announced new rules Friday that will keep aircraft from waiting in runway intersections before takeoff.

The rules, which take effect today, prevent air traffic controllers from allowing any aircraft to wait in runway intersections at night. They also bar controllers from allowing such waits during daylight hours when bad weather or any other obstructions keep controllers from clearly seeing the intersections.

Fred Farrar, an FAA spokesman, described the move as “one of many” changes that may be made to correct the hazards that contributed to the Feb. 1 crash and other ground accidents.

The disaster occurred when a USAir Boeing 737 landed on a smaller SkyWest Metroliner commuter aircraft that was in the same runway, killing all 12 people on the SkyWest aircraft and 22 on the USAir plane. Sixty-seven people survived the fiery accident.

Eight people died and 22 were injured in Detroit last Dec. 3 when two Northwest Airlines planes, a McDonnell-Douglas DC-9 and a Boeing 727, collided on a runway shrouded in heavy fog.

In the aftermath of the Los Angeles disaster, investigators and other observers have raised questions about the workload of air traffic controllers, the lack of functioning ground radar systems at most airports, aircraft safety features, and airport signs and lights.

The new FAA rules are part of a program to reduce ground collisions that has been in the works for months, but has been accelerated because of the Los Angeles crash. As part of the $50-million plan announced last week, the agency will try to develop better radar systems and electronic cockpit maps, and will set national standards for runway signs and markings.

In a statement, James B. Busey, FAA administrator, said the rule changes were “designed to carry out our commitment to improve airport safety.”

The changes in handling aircraft on the ground are among several the FAA has been considering in a review of airport procedures begun almost two years ago.

John Galipault, spokesman for the Aviation Safety Institute, a private watchdog group in Worthington, Ohio, said the rules were “certainly a positive step, although they’re locking the henhouse after the fox has been there.”

Galipault added that he believed many more steps would be required to make ground traffic completely safe at the Los Angeles airport.

The changes, an amendment to the Air Traffic Control Handbook, specifically instruct ground controllers to keep aircraft off runways unless they are ready to take off immediately.

“Between sunset and sunrise do not authorize aircraft to taxi into position and hold at an intersection,” the amendment says. “Additionally, do not authorize an aircraft to taxi into position and hold at any time when the intersection is not visible from the tower.”

The FAA told controllers that “the increasing mix of traffic at airports requires changes which meet high levels of safety while accommodating the demands placed on the national airspace system.”

Officials of the FAA and the Air Transport Assn., an air carrier trade group, said they did not know how much the new rules would add to airport delays.

The aircraft that taxi into the runway intersections are smaller airplanes that need only half the length of a full-sized runway to take off. The new rules won’t bar such so-called intersection takeoffs, but will only slow them down by keeping aircraft on the approaches until they are ready to depart, officials said.

“This doesn’t seem to present any delay problems, but we won’t be completely sure until we’ve used it for a while,” said Bill Jackman, a spokesman for the transport group.

Farrar said the agency will monitor the effects of the rule changes and might take steps to “streamline” ground traffic if it appeared the move was significantly slowing arrivals and departures.

Aviation safety experts say ground traffic poses enormous risks. History’s worst aviation accident occurred at Tenerife, in the Canary Islands, when two Boeing 747s crashed into each other and killed 582 people.

Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board continue to search for the causes of the Feb. 1 disaster in Los Angeles, but their findings are not expected to be complete for weeks.

Times staff writer Mark A. Stein in Los Angeles contributed to this story.