Harrison Ford may need an aviation refresher course. After making headlines for yet another plane incident, the actor released a statement in an attempt to explain himself.
“Actor and pilot Harrison Ford was involved in a runway incursion April 24 at the Hawthorne Airport,” the 77-year-old’s rep told Us Weekly on Wednesday, April 29. “Mr. Ford crossed the airport’s only runway in his aircraft after he misheard a radio instruction from ATC. He immediately acknowledged the mistake and apologized to ATC for the error. The purpose of the flight was to maintain currency and proficiency in the aircraft.”
The statement continued, “No one was injured and there was never any danger of a collision.”
Ford was piloting his private plane at the Los Angeles County municipal airport when he crossed a runway as another aircraft was landing. The planes were only 3,600 feet apart, which led the Federal Aviation Administration to look into what happened.
“The FAA is investigating an incident in which the pilot of an Aviat Husky taxied across the runway at Hawthorne Municipal Airport Friday afternoon while another aircraft was performing a touch-and-go landing,” a spokesperson for the agency said in a statement to CNN on Wednesday.
Stars at Court
This is not the first time that the Oscar nominee has had a piloting scare. In October 1999, his helicopter made a hard landing near a riverbed in Santa Clarita, California, and flipped onto its side after skidding on gravel. He was not injured, although the copter was badly damaged.
In March 2015, Ford was taken to the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in L.A. after his plane was forced to make an emergency landing on a nearby golf course. His injuries included a broken pelvis and ankle.
More recently, the Star Wars veteran’s plane nearly collided with an American Airlines jetliner at John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California, in February 2017. The AA flight had 110 passengers and six crew members on board, but no one was injured. After an investigation, the FAA decided not to discipline Ford.
- Comment
