Ford distracted when he flew over aircraft

Trump asked Emma for date

LOS ANGELES, March 25, (Agencies): Actor Harrison Ford said he was distracted and concerned about turbulence from another aircraft last month when he mistakenly landed on a taxiway at a Southern California airport after flying low over an airliner with 116 people aboard, according to an audio recording released Friday.

“I’m the schmuck who landed on the taxiway,” Ford told an air traffic controller shortly after the nearmiss on Feb. 13 at John Wayne Airport in Orange County. Recordings of Ford’s conversations with air traffic controllers were released Friday by the Federal Aviation Administration.

The 74-year-old actor was told to land his singleengine plane on Runway 20L, but he instead landed on a parallel taxiway. An American Airlines flight was on the same taxiway, waiting to take off.

A video released last month showed Ford’s Aviat Husky plane from behind as it descends toward the airfield where the American Airlines Boeing 737 is slowly taxiing.

“Was that airliner meant to be underneath me?” Ford asked the air traffic control tower as he landed in the wrong spot. “Oh. I landed on Taxiway Charlie. I understand now. Sorry for that,” Ford said.

In a phone call with an air traffic controller after the incident, Ford said he “got distracted by the airliner” and also mentioned “big turbulence” from another plane that was landing.

The American Airlines flight, with 110 passengers and six crew members, departed safely for Dallas a few minutes later.

When an air traffic controller told the “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones” star to take his time getting the number from his pilot’s license, remarking it isn’t a big deal, Ford responded: “It’s a big deal for me.”

Ford

Assured

After Ford told the employee his name, the man seemed taken aback and assured Ford he won’t share his phone number with anyone.

Landing on a taxiway, instead of a runway, is a violation of Federal Aviation Administration regulations. The agency’s probe of the incident is still underway, spokesman Ian Gregor said Friday.

Ford’s publicist did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday afternoon.

Ford, who collects vintage planes, has a long record as an aviator. He has had several close calls and a serious accident in March 2015 when he was injured in his World War II-era trainer. It crashed on a Los Angeles golf course after engine failure.

The star of “Star Wars” and “Raiders of the Lost Ark” then goes on to explain that he landed in the wrong place because he was distracted by two jets.

On the audio tape, released by the Federal Aviation Administration, the air traffic controller asks for Ford’s name and pilot’s license, assuring the film star that the mishap is “no big deal.”

“Well it’s a big deal for me, hold on,” Ford responds, adding that he is looking in a backpack, apparently for his pilot’s license. At that point the audio cuts off.

In the Feb. 13 incident Ford flew his single-engine Aviat Husky over an American Airlines Boeing 737 jet in Santa Ana, California, before landing on the taxiway that runs parallel to the runway. Taxiways are paths along which aircraft can taxi when moving to or from a runway, where planes take off and land.

In 2015 Ford crashed a vintage plane onto a Los Angeles-area golf course, suffering serious injuries.

British actress Emma Thompson says President Donald Trump once called her out of the blue years ago and asked her for a date. The “Love Actually” star turned him down. Thompson told a Swedish television talk show that the bizarre incident happened while she was filming the 1998 movie “Primary Colors” in California, as she and actor Kenneth Branagh were finalizing their divorce.

One day, Thompson said, the phone rang in her movie set trailer.

“So I lift up the phone — ‘Hi, it’s Donald Trump here,’” Thompson recalled on SVT’s “Skavlan” show on Thursday. “And I said, ‘Really? Can I help you?’ And he said, ‘Yeah, I just wondered if I could offer you some accommodation in one of my Trump Towers. They’re really comfortable.”

Thompson, who had never met or spoken with the then New York businessman, was confused and asked why.

“’Well, I think we would get along very well maybe have dinner sometime,’” Thompson, now 57, recalled Trump saying.

Thompson said she “didn’t know what to do with myself. I just said, ‘I’ll get back to you.’”.

She never did, and said she has never met Trump since.

On March 21, 1990, Touchstone Pictures previewed “Pretty Woman” at the Avco Westwood near UCLA, two days before its national launch. Variety columnist Army Archerd reported that laughter drowned out much of the dialogue and young Julia Roberts “is headed for heavy stardom.” In retrospect, that seems like a pretty safe prediction, but Roberts was not well known when she was cast in the film. (She had completed her role as Sally Fields’ daughter in “Steel Magnolias,” but the film hadn’t been released yet). Roberts was only cast in “Pretty Woman” after numerous other actresses had passed on the role, including Meg Ryan, Karen Allen, Molly Ringwald, Diane Lane and Michelle Pfeiffer.

And the project began with a much darker tone; in J.F. Lawton’s original screenplay, streetwalker Vivian (Roberts) agrees to give up cocaine for her week with banker Edward (Richard Gere), but at the end he dumps her back on the street and drives off.

But Disney execs thought Vivian’s Cinderella transformation would work better as a romantic comedy. Garry Marshall was signed to direct and Gere and Roberts were eventually cast.

Five months after the movie’s debut, Walt Disney Studios took out an ad in Variety proclaiming that on Aug 25, “Pretty Woman” had become the highestgrossing film in the studio’s 67-year-history. On Dec 31, Variety reported that the top three domestic films of the calendar year were “Ghost,” “Pretty Woman,” and “Home Alone.” Globally, “Pretty Woman” earned more than $460 million.