Harrison Ford Admits Fault in Runway Error at California Airport

Star Wars and Indiana Jones star Harrison Ford is admitting fault in a recent incident at a California airport. Ford was reportedly piloting a plane at Hawthorne Airport in Los Angeles, on Friday, April 24th, and crossed over a runway where a different aircraft was attempting to come in for a landing. The incident is now being investigated by the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration). In response to inquiries from journalists about the investigation, Harrison Ford issued a statement through one of his representatives, in which the actor takes full responsibility for the error, citing miscommunication with the control tower.

Here is the statement that Harrison Ford's representative issued to CNN:

"Mr. Ford crossed the airport's only runway in his aircraft after he misheard a radio instruction from ATC. He immediately acknowledged the mistake and apologized to ATC for the error. The purpose of the flight was to maintain currency and proficiency in the aircraft. No one was injured and there was never any danger of a collision."

First, here is what that FAA stated to CNN, via email statement from one their spokespeople:

"The FAA is investigating an incident in which the pilot of an Aviat Husky taxied across the runway at Hawthorne Municipal Airport Friday afternoon while another aircraft was performing a touch-and-go landing."

This isn't Harrision Ford's first time making headlines for incidents involving his hobby as an amateur pilot. Back in 2015, Ford crash-landed a plane into a Los Angeles golf course; he was seriously injured in the crash, including head injuries which required treatment that left him with retrograde amnesia for nearly a week! As the actor described while on Jimmy Kimmel Live:

"I remember some of it. I remember the engine stopping. I remember that part very well... And that's the last thing I remember till five days afterwards, actually. I was told by the doctors that the amount of general anesthetics that I got induced a retrograde amnesia."

That was the worst of Ford's mishaps in a plane - but the not the only incident. The actor also crashed a helicopter in 1999 during a training exercise with a flight instructor; he also caused an incident in 2017 when he overflew a Boein 737 at John Wayne Airport in California, while making a landing.

So, if you're wondering why the FAA is now looking into this latest incident, it's because it's pretty much part of a larger pattern, that might indeed be worth looking into.

Harrison Ford returns for Indiana Jones 5 on July 29, 2022.