On the evening of February 1, 1991, USAir Flight 1493, a Boeing 737-300, collided with SkyWest Airlines Flight 5569, a Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner turboprop aircraft, upon landing at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).[1][2] As Flight 1493 was on final approach, the local controller was distracted, though air traffic was not heavy at LAX, by a series of abnormalities, including a misplaced flight progress strip and an aircraft that had inadvertently switched off the tower frequency. The SkyWest flight was told to taxi into takeoff position, while the USAir flight was landing on the same runway. Upon landing, the 737 collided with the smaller turboprop Metroliner, which was crushed beneath the larger USAir jet as it continued down the runway, caught fire, and veered into an airport fire station. Rescue workers arrived in minutes and began to evacuate the 737, but because of the intense fire, three of the 737's six exits were unusable, including both front exits; front passengers could only use one of the two overwing exits, causing a bottleneck. All 12 people aboard the smaller plane were killed, along with an eventual total of 23 of the 89 occupants of the 737, with most deaths on the 737 caused by asphyxiation in the fire.
USAir Flight 1493 was a scheduled service from Syracuse, New York, making stops at Washington, DC, Columbus, Ohio, and LAX, before continuing to San Francisco.[3]: 1 On February 1, 1991, Flight 1493 was operated using a Boeing 737-300 (registration N388US[4]); after a crew change in Washington, DC,[3]: 1 it was under the command of Captain Colin Franklin Shaw (48), a highly experienced pilot with around 16,300 total flight hours (including more than 4,300 hours on the Boeing 737), and First Officer David T. Kelly (32), who had about 4,300 total flight hours, with 982 hours on the Boeing 737.[3]: 82 Flying into LAX, the aircraft had 89 people on board (83 passengers, four flight attendants, and the two pilots).[b]
