An Air France plane made an “unauthorized turn” at Los Angeles International Airport on Saturday and nearly collided with another plane, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
Air France Flight 28, which took off shortly before midnight on Saturday, “ran into the path of another plane taking off from a parallel runway,” the FAA said. “Air traffic control immediately issued corrective instructions regarding the Air France flight.”
The plane, bound for Tahiti, came within 500 vertical feet of a Dallas-Fort Worth-bound American Airlines flight, according to air traffic control audio and flight tracking data reviewed by The Times.
The Air France flight appeared to veer into the takeoff path of the American Airlines flight and air traffic control said the planes were less than a mile apart. Controllers ordered the Air France plane to immediately change course, then questioned the French pilot about whether the correct instructions had been transmitted.
The near miss is the latest in a series of recent safety incidents at LAX. In an incident on October 6, two planes collided on the runway. A month later, a Southwest flight had to make an emergency landing at the airport.
Air France and American Airlines did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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