Boeing 747-200 ZKNZW

Summary

On 13 August 1991 at about 03:21 local time, a Boeing 747-200 registered ZKNZW, operated by Air New Zealand, was involved in an incident near Los Angeles, California, United States. 298 people were on board and nobody was injured. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

13 August 1991 at 03:21

Classification

Incident

Location

Los Angeles, California, United States

Nearest airport

Los Angeles International (LAX)

Coordinates

Not recorded

Aircraft

Boeing 747-200

Registration

ZKNZW

Category

Airplane

Engines

4

Operator

Air New Zealand

Operating rule

Part 129: Foreign

Purpose of flight

Unknown

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Los Angeles → Honolulu

Aircraft damage

Not recorded

Weather

VMC

Light

Night/Dark

NTSB number

LAX91IA297

Nobody was injured.

THE INADEQUATE RUNWAY SAFETY AREA INHERENT IN THE AIRPORT DESIGN, AND, THE ATC CLEARANCE PROCEDURES IN USE WHICH FAILED TO TAKE INTO CONSIDERATION THE SUBSTANDARD RUNWAY SAFETY AREA. FACTORS IN THE INCIDENT WERE THE DARK NIGHT TIME CONDITIONS AND THE INADEQUATE STANDARDS USED BY ATC TO DETERMINE CLEARANCE PROCEDURES AT AIRPORTS WHICH DO NOT MEET CURRENT DESIGN CRITERIA.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

THE FLT CREW OF AN AIR NEW ZEALAND BOEING 747 RPRTD A NR COLLISION WITH THE TAIL OF A FEDERAL EXPRESS BOEING 727 ON TKOF. DUE TO LACK OF A TAIL LOGO OR STROBE LGTS, THE 727 WAS NOT VISIBLE TO THE 747 CREW TIL JUST BFR ROTATION. THE 747 CREW ESTD THEY VERTICALLY CLRD THE 727 TAIL BY 100 FT. THE 727 WAS BEING PSND FM A CARGO RAMP TO A MAINT FACILITY. THE ACFT WAS BEING TAXIED BY 2 MECHANICS WITH A CLNC FM ATC. ATC TAPES REVEALED THE 727 WAS CLRD ACROSS THE RWY BY THE LCL CTLR, 32 SEC BFR THE 747'S TKOF CLNC. AS THE 727 CROSSED THE RWY, THE MECHANICS SAW A UNITED 767 TURNING ONTO A PERPENDICULAR TWY DRCTLY AHD & THEY STOPPED THEIR ACFT TIL THEY COULD CTC GND CTL & CLARIFY THE SITUATION. TAPES SHOWED THE 767 HAD BEEN TOLD BY GND CTL TO HOLD FOR THE 727 DRG THE TIME THE 727 WAS ON THE LCL CTL FREQ. THE ARPT DESIGN & LAYOUT DID NOT MEET CURRENT RWY SAFETY AREA DIMENSIONAL CRITERIA CONCERNING SEPN OF PARALLEL TWYS FM THE RWY. THE ATC PROC IN USE BY THE TWR DID NOT CONSIDER THE INADQT RWY SAFETY AREA DEMENSIONS.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.