The Region : Pilots Want FAA to Delay LAX Order

A coalition representing pilots of small aircraft has petitioned the Federal Aviation Administration to delay the implementation of an emergency order that closes a visual flight corridor along the coast that pilots use to cross Los Angeles International Airport. Saying the edict would produce unsafe skies over downtown Los Angeles, lawyers for the 240,000-member Airplane Owners and Pilots Assn. and other groups said they would file suit with the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals if the FAA does not put off the emergency order, which is to take effect Wednesday. FAA Administrator T. Allen McArtor issued the order last week after a near-collision over Santa Monica between an American Airlines jetliner and an unidentified small aircraft. An FAA spokeswoman in Los Angeles said the agency has received the request for delay but has not responded to it.