1991 Los Angeles Runway Disaster

On the evening of February 1, 1991, USAir Flight 1493, a Boeing 737-300, collided with SkyWest Flight 5569, a Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner turboprop aircraft, upon landing at Los Angeles International Airport. Though air traffic was not heavy at LAX, as Flight 1493 was on final approach the local controller was distracted 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 twin-engine turboprop, continued down the runway with the turboprop crushed beneath it, exited the runway, and caught fire. All 12 people aboard the smaller plane were killed, as well as an eventual total of 23 out of the 89 occupants of the Boeing. Rescue workers were on the scene of the fire within minutes and began the evacuation of the plane. Because of the intense fire, three of the 737's six exits could not be used. Neither of the front exits was usable, which caused the front passengers to try to use the overwing exits. However, only one of the overwing exits was usable, which caused a backlog to form. Most of those who died aboard the 737 died of smoke inhalation

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. The crash led directly to the NTSB's recommendation of using different runways for takeoffs and landings at LAX.

Aircraft And Crew
USAir Flight 1493 was a scheduled service from Syracuse, New York, making stops at Washington, D.C., Columbus, Ohio, and Los Angeles (LAX), before continuing to San Francisco. On February 1, 1991, Flight 1493 was operated using a Boeing 737-300 (registration N338US); after a crew change in Washington, it was under the command of Captain Colin Shaw, 48, a highly experienced pilot with approximately 16,300 total flight hours (including more than 4,300 hours on the Boeing 737), and First Officer David Kelly, 32, who had approximately 4,300 total flight hours, with 982 hours on the Boeing 737. Flying into LAX, the aircraft had a total of 89 people on board (83 passengers, 4 flight attendants, and the 2 pilots).

On February 1, 1991, SkyWest Airlines Flight 5569 was operated using a twin-engine Fairchild Metroliner (registration N683AV). The flight was scheduled to depart LAX on the final leg of a multi-city schedule, and was bound for Palmdale, California, with ten passengers and two pilots aboard. The aircraft did not carry a cockpit voice recorder (CVR) nor a flight data recorder (FDR) as it was not required to do so at the time. Both of Flight 5569's pilots had significant experience; Captain Andrew Lucas, 32, had approximately 8,800 flight hours (with 2,101 of them on the Metroliner), and First Officer Frank Prentice, 45, had approximately 8,000 flight hours, including 1,363 hours on the Metroliner.

Accident Details
Skywest 5569 was cleared by Air Traffic Controller Wascher in the LAX tower (the 'local controller') to taxi to Runway 24L, moving from gate 32 to the runway via taxiways Kilo, 48, Tango, and 45. The plane was briefly not visible from the tower on taxiway 48 between Kilo and Tango in the area known as no man's land.

Immediately prior to SkyWest 5569 reaching runway 24L, a Wings West aircraft had landed on 24R and was awaiting permission to cross 24L and taxi to the terminal. The local controller attempted to contact the Wings West aircraft but the crew had changed frequencies and did not answer, distracting Wascher as she attempted to reestablish communications. Shortly after 6 PM local time, as USAir 1493 was on final approach to LAX, the Metroliner was cleared by the local controller to taxi into its takeoff position on 24L at the intersection of taxiway 45, some 2,200 feet (670 m) up from the runway threshold. After four attempts by the local controller, the Wings West aircraft finally responded to the tower and apologized for switching frequencies. Wascher then cleared the USAir flight to land on 24L, even though the SkyWest Metroliner was still holding in takeoff position on the runway:


 * Washer: "US Air fourteen ninety three cleared to land runway two four left."


 * Captain Shaw (radio): "Cleared to land two four left fourteen ninety three."

With this activity ongoing, another Wings West aircraft, a Metroliner similar to SkyWest 5569, called the tower reporting they were ready for takeoff. Wascher queried this aircraft about their position, and they told her they were holding on a taxiway short of 24L. The flight progress strip for this flight had not yet been given to the Washer by controller Vandiver (another distraction), and the Wascher mistakenly thought this Metroliner was SkyWest 5569 and thus the runway was clear of aircraft. The first officer of the USAir flight recalled hearing this conversation but did not remember anyone being cleared to hold on the runway.

The USAir plane touched down near the runway threshold. Just as the nose was being lowered, the first officer noticed SkyWest 5569 on the runway and applied maximum braking, but it was too late. The following was recorded on the CVR:


 * Kelly: "[Unintelligible] looks real good [unintelligible]."
 * Shaw: "Ahhh, you're coming outta five hundred feet bug plus twelve, sink is seven."
 * [Sound of click]
 * Kelly: "Lights (on)."
 * Voice unidentified: [Two unintelligible words]
 * Voice unidentified: [Unintelligible remark]
 * [Sound of impact]
 * End of recording

The USAir plane slammed into the Metroliner, crushing it beneath its fuselage. The 737 proceeded to skid down the runway, then veered off the left side and came to rest on the far side of the taxiway against a closed fire station building where it eventually caught fire. Large debris from the Metroliner – including its tail, wings, and right engine – were found on the runway and between the runway and the abandoned fire station.

The accident was witnessed from a plane carrying the Vancouver Canucks, who were arriving for an NHL hockey game against the Los Angeles Kings. The captain of that charter aircraft, having just landed, powered up the engines to get away from the fireball of the accident. The team was unsure if the USAir 737 was going to stop before it collided with their plane. The Canucks were shaken by the experience and lost to the Kings by a score of 9–1, their worst loss of the 1990–91 season.