Harrison Ford is under investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration for making an error while operating a plane on the runway of a California airport.
The 77-year-old actor, who is in the process of having his pilot's license updated, reportedly failed to follow a tower operator's instruction while navigating the aircraft from the runway to the taxiway after landing at the Hawthorne Airport on Friday.
According to audio obtained by TMZ, the tower operator ordered Ford to "hold short" due to "traffic on the runway" but the "Indiana Jones" star did not heed the direction and began to cross the runway anyway. The alarmed tower operator can be heard reprimanding Ford.
"Get across that runway now! I told you to hold short! You need to listen up," the operator says. Ford responds immediately with an apology.
"Excuse me, sir, I thought exactly the opposite. I'm terribly sorry," he said.
The other plane was 3,600 feet away from Ford and there was no risk of a collision, TMZ reported. Despite this, the FAA has launched an investigation into the incident. A rep for Ford stated that he had misunderstood the instruction.
"Mr. Ford crossed the airport's only runway in his aircraft after he misheard a radio instruction from ATC," the rep said. "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."
In a separate incident, Ford was seriously injured when the vintage two-seater plane he was piloting crash-landed on a golf course outside Los Angeles in 2015. The National Transportation Safety Board ruled in a preliminary report that Ford's plane experienced engine failure.
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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