Accident Overview
On the day of the incident, SkyWest flight 5569 (registration N683AV) had been cleared to runway 24L at intersection 45 to position and hold. The local controller, preoccupied with another airplane, forgot that SkyWest 5569 was on the runway and subsequently cleared US Airways flight 1493 (registration N388US) for landing. After the collision, both aircraft slid off the runway into an unoccupied fire station.
Air Traffic Control Issues
The tower operating procedures did not require flight progress strips to be processed through the local ground control position. Because this strip was not present, the local controller misidentified an airplane and issued a landing clearance. Additionally, the technical appraisal program for air traffic controllers was not being fully utilized due to a lack of understanding by supervisors and the unavailability of appraisal histories.
Probable Cause
The official probable cause of the accident was: "The failure of the los angeles air traffic facility management to implement procedures that provided redundancy comparable to the requirements contained in the national operational position standards and the failure of the faa air traffic service to provide adequate policy direction and oversight to its air traffic control facility managers. These failures created an environment in the Los Angeles air traffic control tower that ultimately led to the failure of the local controller 2 (lc2) to maintain an awareness of the traffic situation, culminating in the inappropriate clearances and the subsequent collision of the usair and skywest aircraft. Contributing to the cause of the accident was the failure of the faa to provide effective quality assurance of the atc system."