Countywide : Airport Controller to Be Retrained

An air traffic controller at John Wayne Airport has been removed from duty and must undergo remedial training after ordering a United Airlines jet to land while a small plane was still taxiing on the same runway.

The controller’s error forced United 757, a flight from Chicago, to make an emergency takeoff just moments after landing at John Wayne on Aug. 26, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Fred O’Donnell said Tuesday. The controller was removed the next day, O’Donnell said.

FAA investigators determined that the controller mistakenly believed that a single-engine Cessna, which had just landed, was moving off the runway. The controller then cleared the United jet to land, O’Donnell said.

The controller later realized that the Cessna was still on the runway and ordered the United pilot to abort the landing when the jet was less than 100 feet off of the ground, he said.

Although the two planes were probably never close enough to collide, O’Donnell said, FAA regulations prohibit two airplanes from using the same runway at the same time. The controller will not be allowed to return to duty before passing a recertification examination, he said.