Harrison Ford says 'I'm the schmuck who landed on the taxiway' in audio released after he nearly crashed plane
Harrison Ford told an air traffic controller he was “distracted” when he mistakenly landed his private plane on a taxiway at an airport, after a near-miss with an airliner carrying 116 people.
“I’m the schmuck who landed on the taxiway,” the Indiana Jones actor can be heard telling the traffic controller in audio released by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
The 74-year-old had been told to land his single-engine Aviat Husky plane on the runway in Southern California, but instead he landed on the parallel taxiway, just as an American Airlines flight was about to take off.
A video released last month shows Ford’s plane making its landing, narrowly avoiding the passenger jet.
Mr Ford told the traffic controller he had been distracted by another airliner “which was in movement”, as well as by “big turbulence” from a landing plane.
The air traffic controller can be heard telling the Star Wars actor to take his time finding his pilot’s licence, and reassuring him that it is “no big deal”.
“It's a big deal for me,” Ford replies.
Landing on a taxiway is a breach of FAA regulations – and the aviation body has opened an investigation into the incident.
If found guilty, Ford could lose his pilot’s licence.
The air traffic controller also warns Ford that he will need to “fill out some paperwork” documenting the mistaken landing, in the FAA recording.
“Can I get your name and pilot licence,” he asks, likely not anticipating the response: “My name is Harrison Ford.”
Last month’s incident is not the first mishap Ford has had as a pilot.
He crashed a Second World War-era plane on a Santa Monica golf course after its engine failed in 2015.
He was badly injured in the crash, but recovered from his injuries.
In 1999, he was also involved in a helicopter crash during flight training in California – and just a year after that, he scraped a six-seater plane after an emergency landing on a Nebraska airport runway.
