CREW SKIRTS MIDAIR DISASTER.Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Staff Writer PALMDALE - A United Airlines passenger plane leaving Los Angeles International Airport “LAX” redirects here. For other uses, see LAX (disambiguation). “KLAX” redirects here. For other uses, see KLAX (disambiguation). Los Angeles International Airport (IATA: LAX, ICAO: KLAX, FAA LID: LAX took evasive action Noun 1. evasive action - an action aimed at evading an opponent maneuver, manoeuvre evasion - the act of physically escaping from something (an opponent or a pursuer or an unpleasant situation) by some adroit maneuver Thursday to avoid a midair collision with a Palmdale-based stealth fighter, officials said. A cockpit alarm in the Boeing 757 sounded when the airliner's radar detected the approaching F-117A jet, advising the United pilots to level out from their climb, officials said. The United pilots reported the planes came within about six-tenths of a mile horizontally and 500 feet vertically of each other. ``The crew acted as we expected them to, very appropriately and professionally,'' United spokesman Andy Plews said. ``We want to emphasize we were under the direction of air traffic controllers and following their instructions.'' The Federal Aviation Administration Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), component of the U.S. Department of Transportation that sets standards for the air-worthiness of all civilian aircraft, inspects and licenses them, and regulates civilian and military air traffic through its air traffic control is investigating the incident, a spokesman said. United Airlines Flight 174, bound for Boston with 166 passengers and seven crew members, took off from LAX at 8:38 a.m. Five minutes later, the pilot radioed FAA air traffic controllers to report a near midair collision, FAA spokesman Jerry Snyder said. The airliner had been climbing to 15,000 feet on a standard instrument departure route when the warning alarm advised the pilots to level out at 10,800 feet, airline and FAA officials said. The plane passed out of the authority of LAX controllers at 10,000 feet, Snyder said. The United jet arrived safely in Boston and Plews said he did not know whether the passengers noticed anything was amiss. ``The F-117, on a training flight, was not in stealth configuration and was flying according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. FAA rules,'' Edwards Air Force Base Edwards Air Force Base, U.S. military installation, 301,000 acres (121,805 hectares), S Calif., NE of Lancaster; est. 1933. It is one of the largest air force bases in the United States and has the world's longest runway. officials said in a prepared statement. The plane landed at U.S. Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, the Air Force said. Distinctively shaped in the form of an arrowhead arrowhead, any plant of the genus Sagittaria, widely distributed marsh or aquatic herbs of the primitive family Alismataceae (water-plantain family). The name derives from the arrowhead-shaped leaves of many species. , F-117A fighters are designed to avoid detection by radar. But they normally fly with a device called a transponder A receiver/transmitter on a communications satellite. It receives a microwave signal from earth (uplink), amplifies it and retransmits it back to earth at a different frequency (downlink). A satellite has several transponders. , which sends out a signal that is picked up by radar. The F-117 involved in Thursday's incident flies out of U.S. Air Force Plant 42, a military flight test and production facility. It is assigned to the Air Force 410th Flight Test Squadron, which reports to the 412th Test Wing at Edwards. |
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