Responding to reports of two near collisions over the past two weeks and eight since October 1, Assemblyman Ted Lieu, (D — El Segundo) Thursday suggested that flights at Los Angeles International airport be limited and spacing for landing and departing aircraft be increased. “If the FAA does not immediately act to improve safety at LAX and an accident occurs, the FAA will have blood on its hands,” Lieu wrote. The state lawmaker offered his thoughts in a letter to FAA administrator Marion Blakey adding that steps should be taken to divert flights away from LAX and into other southern California airports. Lieu buttressed his position with his belief that other changes could take much more time while his ideas offered channels for more immediate action.
FAA spokesman Ian Gregor explained that the FAA does not see the incursions as a result of traffic so much as it is a result of the configuration of LAX’s parallel north runways. Gregor responded to Lieu’s proposal by calling it “impractical,” according to LA’s Daily Breeze, and warned that shifting traffic would send ripples through the entire national air system.
