Actor Harrison Ford had a potentially serious run-in with an airliner at a Southern California airport, NBC-TV reported Tuesday.
Ford, 74, was told to land his single-engine plane on a runway at John Wayne Airport in Orange County on Monday, but he mistakenly landed it on a parallel taxiway, passing over an American Airlines jet holding nearby, NBC reported (http://nbcnews.to/2kHo2iu ).
“Was that airliner meant to be underneath me?” Ford is heard asking air traffic controllers in a recording, NBC reported.
American Airlines Flight 1456, with 110 passengers and six crew, departed safely for Dallas a few minutes later.
Ford’s publicist, Ina Treciokas, declined comment Tuesday afternoon.
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor couldn’t confirm that Ford was piloting the Aviat Husky that overflew the Boeing 737, but he said the pilot received and had read back the proper landing instructions.
He didn’t indicate how high the plane was when it flew over the jetliner.
The FAA is investigating, Gregor said.
Ford collects vintage planes and has a long and good record as an aviator. But he has had several close calls.
In March 2015, Ford was seriously injured when his World War II-era trainer crashed on a Los Angeles golf course when it lost power shortly after takeoff.
In 1999, Ford crash-landed his helicopter during a training flight in which he and an instructor were practicing auto rotations in Ventura County, northwest of Los Angeles. Ford and the instructor were unhurt.
Ford was flying a Beechcraft Bonanza in 2000 when wind shear forced him to make an emergency landing at Lincoln Municipal Airport in Nebraska. Ford and his passenger were uninjured when the plane clipped the runway, but its wing tips were damaged, officials said.
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