The Star Wars actor has survived a potentially serious run-in with a commerical airliner at a California airport

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

The actor Harrison Ford has emerged unscathed following another mid-air mishap.

Ford, 74, was told to land his single-engine plane on a runway at John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California, on Monday, but he mistakenly landed it on a parallel taxiway, passing over an American Airlines jet holding nearby, NBC reported.

“Was that airliner meant to be underneath me?” Ford is heard asking air traffic controllers in a recording.

American Airlines Flight 1456, with 110 passengers and six crew, departed safely for Dallas a few minutes later.

Ford’s publicist, Ina Treciokas, declined to comment.

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor couldn’t confirm that Ford was piloting the Aviat Husky that overflew the Boeing 737, but he said the pilot received and had read back the proper landing instructions.

The FAA is investigating, Gregor said.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Ford’s crashed vintage plane on a golf course in Los Angeles, 5 March 2015. Photograph: Damian Dovarganes/AP

Harrison Ford 'saved several lives' by landing plane on golf course – witness Read more

In March 2015, Ford was seriously injured when his second world war-era trainer crashed on a Los Angeles golf course when it lost power shortly after takeoff. The actor was praised for his ingenuity in avoiding more populated areas.

In 1999, Ford crash-landed his helicopter during a training flight in which he and an instructor were practising auto rotations in Ventura County, northwest of Los Angeles; neither of them was hurt.

An in another incident, Ford was flying a Beechcraft Bonanza in 2000 when wind shear forced him to make an emergency landing at Lincoln Municipal Airport in Nebraska. Ford and his passenger were uninjured when the plane clipped the runway.

The actor is best known for his role as maverick pilot Han Solo in the Star Wars series. While shooting Star Wars: The Force Awakens in London in June 2014, the actor was involved in an onset accident in which he broke his leg. The production company was later fined $2m after claims were upheld that the hydraulic door which injured Ford could have killed him.