LOS ANGELES — Actor and vintage plane buff Harrison Ford was involved in a close-call incident involving a 737 passenger jet at John Wayne Airport in Orange County on Monday, and the Federal Aviation Administration is investigating.
FAA officials did not disclose the name of the pilot involved in the incident but provided a brief narrative of what happened. “Air traffic controllers cleared the pilot of a single-engine Aviat Husky to land on Runway 20L at John Wayne Airport Monday afternoon. The pilot correctly read back the clearance. The pilot then landed on a taxiway that runs parallel to the runway, overflying a Boeing 737 that was holding short of the runway. The FAA is investigating,” said FAA spokesman Ian Gregor. Gregor added that landing on the taxiway is a violation of FAA regulations.
A source familiar with the incident but was not authorized to speak confirmed to the Los Angeles Times that the pilot was Ford. The Aviat aircraft involved is registered to GBH Aviation, a company whose corporate officers include Ford, according to FAA and public records.
John Wayne Airport spokeswoman Deanne Thompson would say only that “something did happen yesterday” but declined to offer details, saying the FAA was investigating. The close call was first reported by NBC News.
The incident comes nearly two years after Ford crashed a plane at a golf course near Santa Monica Airport. According to an NTSB report on that 2015 crash, Ford advised Santa Monica air traffic controllers of an engine failure soon after takeoff and requested an immediate return to the airport. Investigators said he then initiated a left turn back toward the runway and struck the top of a tall tree before he came down in an open area of Penmar Golf Course. The NTSB said that the wings and fuselage of the plane were substantially damaged. Investigators later determined the plane likely crashed because of a carburetor problem that caused the engine to lose power.
— By Hugo Martin, Veronica Rocha and Richard Winton, Los Angeles Times
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