Boxer Calls for LAX Flight Control Systems Investigation

A recent rash of equipment malfunctions that delayed hundreds of flights and nearly caused accidents prompted Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) on Thursday to call for a federal investigation of Los Angeles-area aviation control systems.

She also called on the Bush administration to allocate more funding for airport and airline security equipment, including chemical-explosive detectors and reinforced aircraft cargo holds.

Boxer's criticism of security measures came as two Transportation Security Administration officers discovered explosive residues on two containers of liquid in a carry-on bag during screening at a small airport in Huntington, W.Va., Wednesday morning.

It was a busy day for official visits to the airport, as U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff joined Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Police Chief William J. Bratton on a tour of passenger screening equipment in the American Airlines terminal.

Boxer's remarks followed a morning of what she described as intense briefings by officials of the Federal Aviation Administration, Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Transportation Security Administration.

She said she wasn't satisfied with answers given for the July power outage in Palmdale in which air traffic controllers lost radio contact with pilots for 15 minutes and radar for two hours, resulting in delays of 348 flights at Los Angeles International Airport and reverberations across the nation. The cause: a faulty circuit board.

Less than two weeks later, an alarm on a ground radar system was shut off after it malfunctioned with a false alarm. A runway collision between two planes was narrowly averted when an air traffic controller yelled into the radio to warn a pilot who managed to take off early. And this week, a cargo truck hit a Qantas jet on the runway.

Boxer said she wanted the investigator general of the U.S. Transportation Department to examine whether the systems are maintained adequately, inspected often enough and replaced regularly. Once the report is complete, she may call for congressional hearings on the issue.

She charged that the Bush administration was "soft on homeland defense," with inadequate security for not only airports, but ports and railways as well as chemical and nuclear plants. "We are always chasing the last threat, instead of the next threat," she said. She called for systems to be added to commercial airliners to protect against shoulder-fired missiles.

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