RUNWAY STUDY SOUGHT AFTER CLOSE CALL.

Byline: ART MARROQUIN

Staff Writer

Just days after another near-collision on the airfield at LAX, airport commissioners on Monday are expected to approve a $900,000 contract for yet another safety assessment of the airport's northern runway.

Mistakes by a pilot and a ground traffic controller led to the incident Thursday on Los Angeles International Airport's northern runway, said Ian Gregor, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration.

A WestJet Boeing 737 arriving from Calgary came within 50 to 200 feet of a Northwest Airbus A320 that was taking off for Memphis just before 1 p.m., Gregor said.

The pilot aboard the WestJet plane had switched radio frequencies to the ground traffic controller before receiving final instructions from the air traffic controller, Gregor said.

The ground controller then mistakenly cleared the pilot to cross the runway and proceed to his gate, believing that an air traffic controller had already given the go-ahead.

"Because the pilot switched frequency right away, it created a situation where the ground controller was confused," Gregor said.

The WestJet pilot looked down the runway and saw the Northwest plane beginning to take off, then asked the ground controller to confirm whether he was clear to cross the runway, Gregor said.

The ground controller then realized the pilot was not cleared to cross the runway, and instructed him to stop.

At the same time, an automated anti-collision system at the airport sounded.

"We are investigating this as both pilot error and controller error," Gregor said. "Even though the two aircraft got too close to each other, the safety system worked because both the pilot and the controller realized something was amiss, and the anti-collision system sounded an alarm."

No injuries were reported during the airport's eighth so-called runway incursion this year, matching the total number of near-collisions in 2006.

Los Angeles City Councilman Bill Rosendahl praised technology already in place aimed at preventing runway incursions, but called on Los Angeles World Airports -- the city agency that operates LAX -- to install runway lights that would alert pilots when it is safe to take off or cross a runway.

Such lights are used at airports in San Diego and Dallas.

"Safety is priority one," said Rosendahl, whose 11th District includes LAX. "We need to know why modern, common-sense, relatively cheap fixes are not in place."

Earlier this week, the FAA announced five short-term steps to reduce runway incursions.

Among them are expedited safety reviews at 20 airports identified as having the highest number of incursions, and revised gate-to-runway taxi-training procedures for pilots.

The FAA is moving up a deadline for 73 airports to upgrade runway signs and markings, from September 2008 to October.

LAX officials have struggled for several years to reduce the number of runway incursions at the airport. Since 1994, lights, signs and the computerized anti-collision system have been installed, but airport officials want to make more drastic safety improvements.

A series of reports released in June found that the two northern runways have a cramped layout and can no longer handle air traffic safely or effectively.

The reports, completed earlier this year by a series of aviation consulting groups, suggested moving the runways apart from each other and creating a center taxiway.

The findings are similar to changes made as part of a $333 million reconfiguration of the airport's southern airfield, where runway incursions occurred more frequently.

Rosendahl and other officials called for an independent examination, settling on NASA's Ames Research Center, based at Moffett Field, Calif.

The airport commission likely will approve a contract Monday that would allow NASA to conduct the study.

"We need a credible, unbiased expert like NASA to examine any safety issue and help us craft a range of solutions," Rosendahl said.

art.marroquin(at)dailynews.com

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