Jet Makes Sharp Turn to Avoid Small Plane on L.A. Approach

The pilot of an American Airlines jetliner was forced to take sharp evasive action to avoid colliding with a small private airplane while making a landing approach to Los Angeles International Airport on Tuesday night, authorities said.

American Airlines spokesman Russell Mack said Flight 2718--a Boeing 737 with 78 passengers and six crew members on board--was at 7,000 feet over Santa Monica, inbound from San Francisco, at about 7 p.m. when the pilot and co-pilot saw another airplane “less than 100 feet away.” The pilot threw the airliner into a 60-degree bank to the left.

This sudden maneuver, Mack said, alarmed the passengers and cabin crew, but prevented a collision. The other airplane, he said, disappeared before it could be identified. The airliner landed without further incident.

A spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration said Los Angeles Traffic Control had received a oral report on the near miss from the American Airlines captain, but no written report has yet been made.

No injuries were reported among passengers or crewmen. Attorney Terrence McKnight of Century City, who was returning home from an American Bar Assn. meeting in San Francisco, said, “Everyone was shaken up--the plane was turned over on its side, but nobody fell out of their seats or got hurt.”