![]() ![]() Perhaps the most significant change prompted by the tragedy was the implementation of the traffic collision avoidance systems, which were mandated for all jetliners in 1989. “So I understand how air traffic control worked and their shortcomings and limits” at the time. The biggest lesson aviation officials drew from the Cerritos crash, he said, was that traffic in high-density airspace in major metro areas had to be more “actively managed.” ![]() Lauber, who is now retired in Seattle, says aviation safety standards and protocols have since “come a long way.” “The destruction made an impression on me.” “The sights, sounds, smells, the burning material,” recalled John Lauber, who surveyed the wreckage as a National Transportation Safety Board member. Homes were destroyed, a fire was started and 15 people on the ground were killed. The Piper then crashed into an empty elementary school playground, but the jet, a DC-9, crashed into a residential neighborhood in Cerritos. Ultimately, the Piper collided into Aeroméxico Flight 498, which was starting its descent to Los Angeles International Airport after originating in Mexico City. The Piper went undetected because an air-traffic controller was distracted with another private flight. ![]() 31, 1986, the small plane, a single-engine Piper Archer, entered unauthorized airspace. Prior to those changes, federal investigators concluded that a few minutes before noon on Aug. “It highlighted some of the deficiencies that have (since) been corrected … in areas that technology could help,” said George Perry, senior vice president of the Air Safety Institute, part of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. ![]()
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