Incident Overview
On an unspecified date, American Airlines Flight 1262, a BAe-146, was en route to John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California. Due to a failure of the runway lights at the destination airport, the flight diverted to Ontario, California. During the diversion, the aircraft converged with British Airways Flight 282, a Boeing 747, which was climbing from Los Angeles International Airport on a flight to London, England. Subsequently, an operational error occurred when the two aircraft passed with a horizontal separation of approximately 1.9 miles while at the same altitude.
Investigation Findings
An investigation revealed that after Coast TRACON received control of Flight 1262 from Los Angeles Center, the flight was cleared into the airspace of Los Angeles TRACON without proper coordination among the three air traffic control facilities: Los Angeles Center, Coast TRACON, and Los Angeles TRACON.
Coordination Failures
Specifically, there was incomplete and misunderstood coordination between controllers at Los Angeles Center and Coast TRACON. Additionally, the Harbor sector radar and handoff controllers at Coast TRACON failed to comply with provisions of the Letter of Agreement between Coast TRACON and adjacent facilities.