Word: kramer
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Kramer, his wife and daughter took off to the northwest toward the Pacific in the four-seat Piper that he had purchased three years ago for $33,000. He then banked to the right and headed eastward toward Big Bear Lake. At that point he was in a sector far enough from LAX to avoid the controlled space if he kept his plane below 6,000 ft. Tragically...
...pilot to descend from 7,000 ft. to 6,000. At 11:53, he issued a warning to the Aeromexico jet: "Traffic 10 o'clock (slightly to the airliner's left), one mile northbound, altitude unknown." Re- sponded 498: "Roger." This plane is not believed to have been Kramer's Piper. Seconds later the controller's attention was diverted by a "pop-up," a small plane that unexpectedly radioed for traffic advice and instrument control. The controller assigned the plane a transponder code for identification as the craft flew across the Los Angeles Basin. But precious time was wasted when...
...described it. The planes had collided at 6,500 ft., just 500 ft. above the floor of the protected space. The left wing of the Piper clipped the descending airliner's left side at the tail. The jet's stabilizer sheared off the Piper's top, decapitating Kramer and his two passengers. There was no answer to the crucial question: Why had no one in either plane spotted the other craft in time...
...investigators speculated that Kramer had made two critical mistakes: he had not sought permission by radio to enter the restricted area; and although his radar transponder was on, as required, it was not equipped to transmit the mandatory altitude information. John Lauber, heading the investigation for the National Transportation Safety Board, reported that the controller said he did not recall seeing the Piper's blip. Even if he had seen it, said Lauber, "if he doesn't have altitude information, then it's a reasonable assumption for him that the aircraft is not operating in the terminal control area...
...many pilots sympathize with Kramer, who had to take off directly under a TCA and was new to the area. Said Art Patstone, an air-show pilot from Ann Arbor, Mich.: "There's no sign in the sky that says, STOP, YOU'RE ENTERING...