Harrison Ford Returns to the Sky Amid Investigation for Controversial Landing
Harrison Ford continues to man the cockpit as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) investigates the actor’s incident last week when he mistakenly flew over a jetliner during a landing mixup.
The 74-year-old star was pictured flying his private plane out of the Santa Monica Airport in Santa Monica, California on Friday. Ford, who keeps his collection of planes there, chose to travel in his single-engined Cessna Caravan airliner. Though the plane can carry up to fourteen passengers, Ford was seen with only a co-pilot with him.
Last Monday, Ford inadvertently landed on an active taxiway instead of the parallel runway he was cleared at John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California, coming extremely close to an American Airlines flight with 116 people on board awaiting takeoff.
In a video of the incident, Ford’s yellow single-engine Husky aircraft is seen flying over the American Airlines flight waiting to cross the runway he was cleared for.
“I estimate that missed the aircraft by less than 100 feet,” Captain Ross Aimer, a retired United Airlines pilot and CEO of Aero Consulting Experts, previously explained to PEOPLE. “He came uncomfortably and dangerously close on that landing — the video is pretty clear.”
A spokesperson for the FAA confirmed to PEOPLE that it is opening an investigation into the incident, though it did not name the people involved. If Ford is found at fault, his private pilot’s license — which he uses to operate his vintage plane collection — could be suspended or even revoked, Aimer said.
