1991 Los Angeles runway collision

1991 Los Angeles runway collision
USAir Flight 1493 · SkyWest Airlines Flight 5569

The wreckage of Flight 1493 after the accident.
Accident
Date	February 1, 1991
Summary	Runway collision caused by Air Traffic Controller error
Site	Los Angeles International Airport, Los Angeles, California, United States 33°56′58″N 118°24′34″W / 33.9494°N 118.4095°W / 33.9494; -118.4095
Total fatalities	35[a]
Total injuries	29
Total survivors	66
First aircraft
N388US, the USAir Boeing 737 involved in the accident, with previous registration
Type	Boeing 737-3B7
Operator	USAir
IATA flight No.	US1493
ICAO flight No.	USA1493
Call sign	USAIR 1493
Registration	N388US
Flight origin	Syracuse Hancock International Airport
1st stopover	Washington National Airport
2nd stopover	Port Columbus International Airport
Last stopover	Los Angeles International Airport
Destination	San Francisco International Airport
Occupants	89
Passengers	83[b]
Crew	6
Fatalities	23[a]
Injuries	29
Survivors	66
Second aircraft
N683AV, the SkyWest Airlines Fairchild Metroliner involved in the accident
Type	Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner
Operator	SkyWest Airlines
IATA flight No.	OO5569
ICAO flight No.	SKW5569
Call sign	SKYWEST 569
Registration	N683AV
Flight origin	Los Angeles International Airport
Destination	LA/Palmdale Regional Airport
Occupants	12
Passengers	10
Crew	2
Fatalities	12
Survivors	0

On the evening of Friday, February 1, 1991, USAir Flight 1493, a Boeing 737-300, collided with SkyWest Airlines Flight 5569, a Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner turboprop aircraft, upon landing at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).^[1][2] As Flight 1493 was on final approach, the local controller was distracted, though air traffic was not heavy at LAX, by a series of abnormalities, including a misplaced flight progress strip and an aircraft that had inadvertently switched off the tower frequency. The SkyWest flight was told to taxi into takeoff position, while the USAir flight was landing on the same runway.

Upon landing, the 737 collided with the smaller turboprop Metroliner, which was crushed beneath the larger USAir jet as it continued down the runway, caught fire, and veered into an airport fire station. Rescue workers arrived in minutes and began to evacuate the 737, but because of the intense fire, three of the 737's six exits were unusable, including both front exits; front passengers could only use one of the two overwing exits, causing a bottleneck. All 12 people aboard the smaller plane were killed, along with an eventual total of 23 of the 89 occupants of the 737, with most deaths on the 737 caused by asphyxiation in the fire.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) found that the probable cause of the accident was the procedures in use at the LAX control tower, which provided inadequate redundancy, leading to a loss of situational awareness by the local controller, and inadequate oversight by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for failing to supervise the control tower managers.^{[3]: vi, 76} The crash led directly to the NTSB's recommendation of using different runways for takeoffs and landings at LAX.

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