The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating actor Harrison Ford after he flew his private plane over a jet airliner awaiting takeoff at a Southern California airport on Monday.
Air traffic controllers had instructed Ford to land on a runway at Orange County’s John Wayne Airport, but the Star Wars star landed on a parallel taxiway, narrowly missing a parked Boeing 737 carrying 110 passengers and six crew members.
“Was that airliner meant to be underneath me?” Ford asked air traffic controllers, NBC News reported.
FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said Ford had received and read back air traffic control’s instruction on where to land his single-engine Aviat Husky.
“Air traffic controllers cleared the pilot of a single-engine Aviat Husky to land on Runway 20L at John Wayne Airport Monday afternoon. The pilot correctly read back the clearance,” Gregor said in a press statement. “The pilot then landed on a taxiway that runs parallel to the runway, overflying a Boeing 737 that was holding short of the runway. The FAA is investigating this incident.”
The FAA investigation could result in a warning or the suspension of Ford’s pilot’s license.
Of course, the Indiana Jones star has been the subject of several crashes and near-crashes through the years.
In 2015, Ford crash-landed a vintage World War II-era airplane he was piloting after the engine failed. Witnesses said the actor “saved several lives” by rerouting his plane away from a suburban neighborhood and landing it on the Penmar Golf Course in Venice.
Ford has been inducted by the Kiddie Hawk Air Academy as a Living Legend of Aviation.
Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter @jeromeehudson
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