Los Angeles runway disaster

**USAir Flight 1493** was a scheduled commercial flight that was involved in an accident at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on February 1, 1991, colliding with **SkyWest Airlines Flight 5569**. Both planes caught fire after the impact and 35 of their occupants died, and another 29 were injured, thirteen of them seriously.

## Investigation

The conclusions of the accident investigation carried out by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), established several causes for the accident.

The fact that the ground radar was out of service on the day of the incident was one such root cause, as it would otherwise have been able to detect the presence of the SkyWest aircraft on the runway in time to alert the incoming US Airways flight. Other decisive factors were the lack of synchronicity between the flight progress tabs available to the controllers and the actual position of the aircraft on the airport runways and taxiways, which made the flight aircraft 5569 received incorrect instructions due to its controller's incorrect perception of its location. The poor night lighting of the runways and the glare problems that this lighting caused in the operators of the airport control tower, reducing their ability to see small aircraft during their maneuvers on the taxiways, was another of the determining factors of the Sinister.

The National Transportation Safety Board blamed the airport administration for not having enough staff to handle landings and takeoffs, especially during night operations.

## Infobox (aircraft occurrence)

- **occurrence type**: Accident
- **name**: Los Angeles runway disaster

- **image**: File:USAir 1493 wreckage.jpg
- **caption**: The wreckage of Flight 1493 after the accident.
- **date**: February 1, 1991
- **type**: Runway collision caused by Air traffic control, ATC error
- **total injuries**: 29
- **total fatalities**: 35
- **total survivors**: 66
- **plane1 image**: Boeing 737-3B7 USAir N360AU 7283623.jpg
- **plane1 caption**: _N388US_, the Boeing 737 involved in the accident, with previous registration
- **plane1 type**: Boeing 737 Classic, Boeing 737-3B7
- **plane1 operator**: US Airways, USAir
- **plane1 iata**: US1493
- **plane1 icao**: USA1493
- **plane1 callsign**: USAIR 1493
- **plane1 tailnum**: N388US
- **plane1 origin**: Syracuse Hancock International Airport, Syracuse Hancock Int'l Airport
- **plane1 stopover0**: Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Washington National Airport
- **plane1 stopover1**: Port Columbus International Airport, Port Columbus Int'l Airport
- **plane1 laststopover**: Los Angeles International Airport, Los Angeles Int'l Airport
- **plane1 destination**: San Francisco International Airport, San Francisco Int'l Airport
- **plane1 occupants**: 89
- **plane1 passengers**: 83
- **plane1 crew**: 6
- **plane1 injuries**: 29 (12 serious, 17 minor)
- **plane1 fatalities**: 23
- **plane1 survivors**: 66
- **plane2 image**: File:Orange County (before it became John Wayne), Skywest SA227AC Metroliner N683AV operated on behalf of Delta Connection (cropped).jpg
- **plane2 caption**: N683AV, the SkyWest Airlines Fairchild Metroliner involved in the accident
- **plane2 type**: Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner
- **plane2 operator**: SkyWest Airlines
- **plane2 iata**: OO5569
- **plane2 icao**: SKW5569
- **plane2 callsign**: SKYWEST 569
- **plane2 tailnum**: N683AV
- **plane2 origin**: Los Angeles Int'l Airport
- **plane2 destination**: LA/Palmdale Regional Airport
- **plane2 occupants**: 12
- **plane2 passengers**: 10
- **plane2 crew**: 2
- **plane2 fatalities**: 12
- **plane2 survivors**: 0