NATION : Los Angeles Again FAA’s Leading ‘Hot Spot’ for Near Air Collisions

WASHINGTON —  Los Angeles was the leading “hot spot” of “serious” near air collisions, as defined by the Federal Aviation Administration, for the third straight year in 1988, closely followed by San Francisco, the government reported today.

Near midair collisions involving commercial airliners declined in 1988, but radar monitors at nearly half of the nation’s large airports are overloaded by traffic, two reports said.

Of the total 712 near air collisions reported last year, 326 involved commercial carriers, of which 231 were defined as serious. This compared with 1,058 near collisions in 1987, of which 489 involved commercial planes, including 354 that were considered serious.

The report by the General Accounting Office showed that 1987 was the most dangerous of the 1986-88 period during which there was a grand total of 2,610 near midair collisions reported, 1,158 involving commercial airliners and 834 deemed serious.

The GAO report said that from 1986 to ‘88, 57 of the incidents deemed serious occurred in Los Angeles and 29 each in San Francisco, Chicago and New York.