This week's near-shutdown of flights over southern California were caused by two separate human errors, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday.
The radio system that guides air traffic controllers' direction of high-altitude aircraft for the region shut down automatically Tuesday night, and Federal Aviation Administration officials said there were at least five instances in which planes came too close to one another during the period.
A large UPS cargo plane and a Northwest Airlines flight bound for Southern California airports came too close to small corporate jets, requiring at least one pilot to take corrective action, the report said.
However, FAA officials repeated Wednesday they did not believe lives were ever at risk.
The agency's radio system in Palmdale shut itself down Tuesday because a technician failed to reset an internal clock, which is a routine maintenance procedure required every 30 days by the FAA. Then a backup system failed, also as a result of technician error, officials said.
Los Angeles International Airport officials said about 30,000 passengers were affected. Other airports, including Ontario, Bob Hope, John Wayne, Long Beach and Palm Springs, and San Diego experienced significant delays.
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