The State - News from Oct. 19, 1987

An air traffic controller’s last-minute warning was credited with preventing a collision between an American Airlines jetliner and a single-engine Cessna over Irvine. A spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration said American Airlines flight 2041, a BAe-146 with 34 passengers and a crew of five on board, had just taken off from John Wayne Airport and was approaching an altitude of 1,800 feet when the controllers warned the pilot that a small airplane was in the area and told him to stop climbing immediately. The airline pilot veered sharply to the right and leveled off, passing 200 feet below the Cessna. Then, the pilot told the controller: “Thanks for saving our lives,” FAA duty officer Larry Berg said. The flight landed safely at Oakland an hour later.