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Perhaps he’s better off piloting the Millenium Falcon.
Actor-pilot Harrison Ford is under investigation for a “runway incursion” at Hawthrone Municipal Airport, a Los Angeles-area airfield near LAX.
TMZ reports Mr. Ford landed at HHR last Friday. He exited the runway before taxiing to the other end. Meanwhile, another plane was an approach. That pilot was practicing touch-and-gos.
The tower’s air traffic controller reportedly told Mr. Ford to hold short of the runway.
“It’s apparent the 77-year-old pilot didn’t hear it,” TMZ says, “because he accelerated onto the runway and began crossing. You then hear the tower operator angrily say Harrison ignored his instructions, and the actor profusely apologizes, saying he heard the exact opposite — that he was cleared to cross the runway.”
TMZ stresses “there was no danger of a crash” because “the other plane was 3,600 feet away.”
The news outlet adds he was “getting his license updated so he could participate in more relief efforts. Over the years, he’s flown humanitarian missions in Haiti, he’s worked with Doctors Without Borders, and has helped rescue stranded hikers in Wyoming.”
Harrison Ford’s Two Other Incidents
Mr. Ford’s most high profile incident is probably his crash landing on a golf course near Santa Monica Airport in 2015. That was linked (no golf pun intended) to a faulty carburetor.
A couple of years later, though, he earned the ire of Orange County John Wayne Airport air traffic controllers — after landing on a taxiway, buzzing an American Airlines plane.
— Chris
Featured image: ©iStock.com/Steven Harrie
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This is confusing. Why would Ford need to cross the runway he just landed on? Did the tower direct him to exit on the wrong side or did Ford not know where he wanted to go on the airport? The tower saying “Can you hold short” is unusual. “Hold short” is better.
If Ford was crossing at the end of the runway, a collision is possible only if the other aircraft was still on the runway at that point which means it was about to crash anyway. Because instructions are communicated verbally over radios using call signs, I’m surprised there are not more incidents caused by miscommunication especially in high traffic environments where controllers are speaking very quickly with many aircraft.
The controller should correct Ford and report the incident if that is the protocol but no need to yell at him in this situation.
The TMZ story downplays what was a very serious runway incursion. Crossing an active runway without permission is a major error, and doing it when another aircraft is landing is a huge deal. The fact that the other aircraft was doing touch-and-goes and thus didn’t create a near miss doesn’t really factor into the FAA investigation.