Air France and American Airlines jets in close encounter after LAX takeoffs
An Air France jet and an American Airlines jet came close to each other shortly after taking off from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). An air traffic controller ordered the Air France crew to turn immediately and told the American Airlines crew to maintain altitude.
The aircraft reached their closest point at about 12:18 a.m. PT Saturday, when they were about 4,217 feet apart horizontally and 1,000 feet apart vertically, Flightradar24 reported.
Air France Flight 28, an Airbus A350 bound for Papeete, Tahiti, took off from Runway 24L. American Airlines Flight 1660, an Airbus A321-200 headed to Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, took off from Runway 25R about a minute later.
The Air France jet appeared to turn away from its assigned departure route, according to Flightradar24.
In air traffic control audio, the American Airlines crew had just reported climbing from 2,000 feet toward 5,000 feet when the controller intervened.
“Air France 028 Heavy, fly heading of 270 immediately,” the controller said. “Heading 270 immediately,” the Air France pilot replied.
“American 1660, SoCal Departure, traffic alert. Traffic, 12 o’clock, less than a mile. Maintain 2,000,” the controller said. The American Airlines pilot replied, “Okay, we’ll go back to 2,000, American 1660.”
The controller then told the Air France crew, “You were instructed to climb via SID, not turn to a heading,” referring to the standard instrument departure the crew had been cleared to fly. “Why did you turn to a heading?” the controller asked. The crew replied, “Standby.”
The controller later directed the Air France jet to a waypoint called DARRK to rejoin the assigned departure route. The controller also gave the pilots a phone number to copy.
Both flights continued toward their destinations without further incident. It was not immediately clear why the Air France jet turned.
