Despite modest improvements, pilots consider airport unsafe.

Airline pilots have long cited Los Angeles International Airport as one of the most dangerous places to take off and land. So, many were encouraged three years ago when the airport invested $5 million in lighting and signage improvements that appeared to reduce the number of runway incursions--incidents where a plane enters a runway while another is taking off, landing or about to do either.

After the improvements, the incursions did drop. But pilots learned later that the decrease had more to do with the sharp reduction in flight traffic at LAX following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Now that more people are flying, the number of incidents is back on the rise.

To alleviate the danger, airport and city officials want to create a separate taxiway strip between two runways so that planes won't have to cross them en route to and from the terminals.

"We have very serious safety issues regarding runway incursions at the airport," said John Russell, regional safety director of the Air Line Pilots Association and a United Airlines pilot. "This wouldn't happen if we had a better airport."

For years LAX has been among the U.S. airports most susceptible to incursions.

From fiscal 1999 to 2002, LAX had 34 runway incursions, tying it with North Las Vegas Airport (which caters to private planes), for most in the nation, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

For a while them seemed to some improvement. After totaling nine, 10 and nine incursions the first three years of that span, the number dropped to six in fiscal 2002. But as traffic rebounded in 2003, the number increased to nine and for 2004 (year to date), there have been 13.

Rating severity of incursions

Incursions are rated by the FAA from A to D, with A being a collision--or one that was avoided only by a dramatically evasive move--while D is a minor infraction, such as a plane nudging past a stop sign with no chance of a collision.

LAX has had its share of close calls in recent years.

In the fiscal years 1999 and 2000, it had a total of five Level A events, while in the ensuing two fiscal years, there were five Level Bs, where there is a serious potential for a collision.

The most tragic incident at LAX was in 1991 when a USAir jet slammed into a Sky-West commuter plane that had mistakenly strayed onto a runway, killing 34 people.

Studies conducted by the airport have concluded that incursions occur when pilots misunderstand air traffic controllers' directives or are disoriented on the ground.

Foreign carriers often have pilots who don't speak fluent English or at least are less familiar with airline jargon that flight controllers use.

"What we found out was not that (pilots) didn't know where they were," said Ray Jack, chief of LAX airfield operations, of incursions. "They misunderstood what they were supposed to do at this juncture."

Three years ago, LAX won praise from pilots for its investment in additional signage at runway exits, road markings and elevated runway guard lights to guide planes to the correct areas.

"In all the areas where the airport has control, we met or exceeded FAA requirements," said Thomas Winfrey, a spokesman for LAX.

But pilots say that the airport's investment is not enough--and part of the problem is the layout.

LAX was designed in the early 1960s to accommodate the first commercial jets, such as Boeing Co.'s 707 and Douglas Aircraft Co.'s DC-8. In the calendar years 1961, 1962 and 1963, the airport averaged 890, 943 and 983 takeoffs and landings per day, according to records from Los Angeles World Airports.

Those same four runways handled an all-time high of 2,106 takeoffs and landings per day in calendar 2000 and currently average 1,820.

Furthermore, it's harder to land newer planes such as Boeing Co.'s 757, 767 and 777, as well as Airbus' A320, A330 and A340, because they contain so-called high-bypass engines that make it more difficult to slow down and speed up while landing.

Two planes on one runway

The volume of air traffic in Southern California's crowded skies, where airspace elevations for planes using LAX and other regional airports is restricted, can often force planes too close to each other when landing during peak periods. One plane will sometimes land before the plane in front is safely off the runway, pilots said.

"After the airplanes get on the ground, a lot of times they will load up on these (runway) exits," said Russell. "Those planes have to cross (adjacent runways) to create a space for the next aircraft to land and park. It's a safety issue because those airplanes have got to move."

Notwithstanding opposition, the soonest any proposed taxiway could be completed would be 2006 or 2007.

Some area residents and leaders are opposed to the taxiway because building it would entail moving the southernmost of LAX's four runways another 50 feet to the south--that much closer to their homes.

Instead of crossing runways, planes that have just landed--most of which are coming in from the east--would taxi to the end of the taxiway and hook around the end of the runway, heading north to the terminal.

Many other major airports, including in Denver, Newark, Dallas-Fort Worth and Las Vegas, have taxiways running parallel to and in between runways. But those facilities don't suffer from the shortage of available space that limits LAX's options.

Proponents of the taxiway plan have already ruled out moving the northernmost runway to make room for a second taxiway, because it would require tearing down and rebuilding Terminals 1-3 at a cost of $3 billion, L.A. city officials said.

"The airlines are deeply opposed to that, as is the community and everybody else," said Lisa Gritzner, chief of staff for L.A. Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski, whose district includes LAX.

Miscikowski supports putting the taxiway in between the south runways, but she has been careful not to ignore the views of airport neighbors, who are concerned that the plan would create additional noise pollution.

El Segundo officials want LAWA to conduct an environmental study to determine if planes heading to and from terminals could loop around the end of runways without moving one closer to the city limits.

"Fifty feet south is 50 feet closer to the city. It could expand the noise envelope another block," said Jeff Stewart, assistant city manager for El Segundo. "We would be concerned about anything that would increase the noise envelope in the city of El Segundo."