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LAX85IA037

1984-11-01 · LOS ANGELES, California, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport LAX

N93106 has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (HLADILEK ANTHONY T F QUICK E, built 2021), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Factual narrative

DURING DARKNESS, A BOEING 747, N93106, WAS BEING TAXIED FOR DEPARTURE WHEN ITS LEFT WING COLLIDED WITH THE RIGHT WING OF A BOEING 767 BEING TOWED IN THE SAME DIRECTION ON A PARALLEL TAXIWAY. BOTH CREWS HAD OBTAINED GROUND CONTROL CLEARANCES TO PERFORM THEIR RESPECTIVE OPERATIONS. IN THE AREA OF THE COLLISION, THE TAXIWAYS DID NOT HAVE SUFFICIENT SEPARATION FOR SIMULTANEOUS OPERATIONS OF WIDE-BODIED ACFT & STANDING PROCEDURES FOR GROUND CONTROLLERS PROHIBITED SUCH OPERATIONS. THE GROUND CONTROL POSITION WAS BEING WORKED BY A DEVELOPMENTAL CONTROLLER IN TRAINING UNDER SUPER- VISION OF A FULL PERFORMANCE CONTROLLER. THE ACFT BEING TOWED WAS BEING MOVED FROM GATE 75 WITH THE CALL SIGN 'UNITED 75 TOW.' THIS CALL SIGN WAS DERIVED BY USING THE COMPANY NAME (UNITED), THE GATE NUMBER (75), & THE WORD 'TOW.' WHILE IT WAS BEING TAXIED, UNITED FLT 75 OBTAINED CLEARANCE TO TAXI, BUT THE CONTROLLERS SAID THAT THEY DID NOT GET THE CALL SIGNS CONFUSED. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1984_LAX85IA037.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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