Third Craft Diverted Eastern Pilot’s Attention Before He Hit Plane

ATLANTA — The pilot of an Eastern Airlines jetliner that crashed into a smaller plane did not see it on the runway until the last minute because he had been watching another jetliner that landed in front of them, federal investigators said Friday.

A Continental Airlines jetliner had been cleared to land on the same runway ahead of the twin-engine Beechcraft Air King, which was struck from behind by the Eastern Boeing 727-200, said Robert MacIntosh, a National Transportation Safety Board investigator.

The accident at Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport late Thursday killed the pilot of the smaller plane and injured the co-pilot.

The Eastern jet, which was rolling down the runway at 120 m.p.h., sheared off the roof of the twin-propeller plane, which was owned by Epps Air Service and based at a suburban airport, authorities said. There were no injuries to the 141 passengers and 8 crew members aboard the Eastern plane.

Before the Eastern jet collided with the Beechcraft, the air traffic controller had told the Continental pilot to stop between runways after he had cleared the airport’s northernmost runway, MacIntosh said.

All three planes had been cleared to land on the runway, and all three pilots were tuned to the same radio frequency with the controller, he said.

MacIntosh said the controller told the Eastern pilot, 23-year veteran Ralph Orlando, that he had his plane in sight.

Shortly after that transmission, the controller asked the pilot of the Continental plane to “hold short” of the parallel runway, an order MacIntosh said meant that the plane should stop between the two runways. He said investigators had not determined why that order was given.

The Continental pilot, who was not identified, did not immediately acknowledge the instruction, and the tower controllers discussed among themselves whether they thought the pilot had heard it, MacIntosh said. Shortly thereafter, the Eastern pilot reported having hit the Beechcraft.

“The captain (of the Eastern flight) stated he had been looking down the runway in some awareness of the Continental. He saw the tail of the (Beechcraft) aircraft a very short time before impact,” MacIntosh said.

MacIntosh said that investigators would spend the weekend examining the cockpit recorder tapes and studying the distances between the planes, the approaches of the planes and the controller’s conduct.