The Hollywood legend, now 77 years old, is known as an avid flier. He has had a few close calls while piloting planes over the years, though, and his latest one has brought on scrutiny from the FAA.
On April 24, Ford was flying an aircraft and told to hold short of a runway at Hawthorne Airport in South California because another plane was practicing landings. According to TMZ, the Indiana Jones actor crossed the runway when the tower operator told him to do precisely the opposite. When Ford began accelerating, the operator became concerned, and Ford apologized for the error.
Now, he is under investigation for this incident. A rep for the actor said in a statement, “Mr. Ford crossed the airport’s only runway in his aircraft after he misheard a radio instruction from ATC. He immediately acknowledged the mistake and apologized to ATC for the error. The purpose of the flight was to maintain currency and proficiency of the aircraft.”
TMZ points out that there was no risk of a crash because the other plane was 3,600 feet away from Ford’s aircraft.
This isn’t the actor’s first brush with the FAA, though. In February 2017, Ford was investigated after he narrowly avoided a plane collision with an airliner carrying more than 100 passengers. He was landing his single-engine Aviat Husky plane on a taxiway at John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California, and was reportedly confused about whether the passenger plane was supposed to be underneath him. After an FAA investigation, Ford avoided sanctions and did not lose his pilot license.
“The FAA investigators thought Ford was candid and forthright,” the star’s attorney, Stephen Hofer, told the Los Angeles Times at the time. “In closing the matter, the agency acknowledged Mr. Ford’s long history of compliance with the federal aviation regulations and his cooperative attitude during the investigation.”
Almost two years before that, in March 2015, Ford crash-landed a vintage plane in a Venice, California, golf course. The National Transportation Safety Board ruled that the cause of the plane crash was a mechanical problem. An issue with the carburetor led to engine failure.
The battered actor was transported to the hospital in stable condition with minor injuries.
In an interview with the lead NTSB investigator, the Blade Runner star “stated that he did not attempt an engine restart but maintained an airspeed of 85 mph and initiated a left turn back toward the airport; however, during the approach, he realized that the airplane was unable to reach the runway. The pilot did not recall anything further about the accident sequence.”
Ford’s first run-in with aircraft trouble dates back to October 1999. Ford crashed a helicopter during a flying lesson over the Lake Piru riverbed by Santa Clarita, California. The NTSB reported that after Ford allowed the helicopter’s altitude to drop 150 to 200 ft, the aircraft was unable to regain power. It plummeted to the ground and skidded on loose gravel before hitting a log. Fortunately, he and his flying instructor sustained no injuries.
