Tense Moments As Three Planes Are Cleared Onto Same Runway

It appears to have been a controller's mistake: three aircraft on the same runway at the same time -- two of them taxiing, one of them landing. A recipe for disaster? The FAA thinks so.

Investigators are still trying to figure out the details of the Friday night near-miss. A Southwest Airlines 737 was on approach to the active runway when the controller cleared a Skywest turboprop to cross the same runway. That controller then also cleared an Air Canada flight from Toronto to cross the other end of the active.

As the Skywest pilot was headed for the runway intersection, he spotted the Southwest flight on short final and decided on his own to hold short. The Southwest plane then passed overhead 50-feet above the taxiing Skywest regional flight, before landing about 275 feet away -- as the Air Canada flight crossed the active further down the runway.

"For reasons which we don't yet fully understand, there were two incidents within seconds of each other that were fairly close things," said FAA spokesman Les Dorr. "It was pretty close. We'll be looking to find out what all happened, and how we can prevent it in the future."

LAX is one of the worst airports in the nation when it comes to runway incursions. To improve the situation -- and hopefully avoid incidents like last week's -- the Los Angeles airport authority recently approved $328 million to give planes more room to maneuver around the airport's south end.

FMI: www.faa.gov