Air France Jet's Unauthorized Turn at LAX Put It in the Path of an American Airlines Flight, FAA Says

An Airbus bound for Tahiti turned left off Runway 24L just after midnight Saturday, and a controller ordered it away from an American jet climbing out for Dallas. The FAA is investigating a possible pilot deviation.

By Herald Staff · Nov. 10, 2026, 8:30 AM ET

The LAX control tower glows white and green against a dark night sky above the Theme Building, whose sweeping white arches are lit in blue, with terminals, parking structures and drifting steam spread out behind it. — The air traffic control tower and Theme Building at Los Angeles International Airport at night. A controller ordered an Air France jet onto a new heading early Saturday after it turned toward an American Airlines flight departing a parallel runway. Photo: John Murphy (cropped) / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0 (license).

WESTCHESTER — The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating a close call just after midnight Saturday at Los Angeles International Airport, where an Air France jet bound for Tahiti made what the agency called an "unauthorized turn" after takeoff and crossed into the path of an American Airlines plane climbing out from a parallel runway, according to CBS Los Angeles and CNN.

"The crew of Air France Flight 28 made an unauthorized turn after departing Los Angeles International Airport and went into the path of another aircraft that departed from a parallel runway," the FAA said in a statement provided to Patch on Monday. "Air traffic control immediately issued corrective instructions to the Air France flight." The agency said its information was preliminary.

No injuries were reported, and both planes continued to their destinations.

A Left Turn Off Runway 24L

The encounter happened at about 12:20 a.m. on Nov. 7. Air France Flight 28, an Airbus A350-900 headed for Papeete, Tahiti, took off from Runway 24L on the airport's north side and turned left, toward the departure path of American Airlines Flight 1660, an Airbus A321 bound for Dallas-Fort Worth that was leaving from Runway 25R on the south side, Patch reported.

In air traffic control audio captured by ATC.com and cited by CNN, a controller ordered the French crew to turn west at once. "Air France 028 heavy, fly heading 270 immediately," the controller said. The controller then warned the American pilots, "Traffic alert, traffic 12 o'clock, less than a mile. Maintain 2,000," and told them to hold at 2,000 feet while the Air France jet was steered away.

How close the two jets came has not been confirmed by the FAA. Flight-tracking site Flightradar24 put the closest point at about 4,000 feet apart horizontally, with the planes within 1,000 feet of the same altitude, CNN reported. Tracking data reported by AIRLIVE and cited by Patch put the horizontal gap at roughly 0.76 nautical miles. Patch noted that those figures are estimates from tracking data, not official measurements.

"I Need an Answer"

Once the planes were apart, the controller pressed the Air France pilots on why they had turned. "You were instructed to climb via SID, not turn to a heading," the controller said, referring to a standard instrument departure, the published route planes follow as they climb away from the airport.

"I need an answer. What departure were you instructed by tower to fly?" the controller asked in audio reported by CBS Los Angeles, which said the exchange went on for close to 20 minutes without a clear explanation. The crew eventually confirmed it had been assigned the SUMMR TWO departure, according to Patch. The controller told the crew the event would be treated as a possible pilot deviation and gave them a phone number to call.

The controller also apologized to the American crew. "Sorry about that," the controller said, according to CNN. "That aircraft just turned in front of you."

A pilot deviation is the FAA's term for an action that goes against air traffic control instructions, and it can lead to penalties. The label alone does not establish the cause or who is responsible, and the FAA has not said why the turn happened or whether either plane got an onboard collision-avoidance alert.

What the Airlines Say

Air France told KTLA that its crew received a request from air traffic control shortly after takeoff to adjust the flight path and "immediately followed the instructions before continuing the flight," NBC Los Angeles reported. The airline said the plane landed normally in Tahiti at 5:59 a.m. local time. American Airlines had not commented as of Monday night, according to CBS Los Angeles.

Not the First Time on That Runway

Saturday's close call closely resembles an incident a year earlier. On Oct. 31, 2025, an ITA Airways Airbus A330-900 leaving Runway 24L for Rome turned left toward an American Airlines A321 departing Runway 25R for New York, according to an Aviation Herald report cited by Patch. Controllers stopped the American jet's climb at 1,500 feet and sent the ITA plane onto the same 270-degree heading.

And on Oct. 20 of this year, a TAP Air Portugal A330-900 bound for Lisbon made an unexpected left turn after departing 24L before controllers directed it back, Patch reported. That event has not been described as a near-collision, and investigators have not linked the three incidents or found a common cause.

The LAX scare follows a run of close calls at U.S. airports this year, including an aborted landing in Boston in June and a Republic Airways jet that strayed toward a parallel approach at New York's JFK in April, CNN noted. Aviation Today reported that the FAA's review is expected to look at the departure and the actions that led to the loss of normal separation between the two flights.

The investigation is ongoing.

Original reporting by The Los Angeles Herald, drawing on the Federal Aviation Administration, CBS Los Angeles, CNN, Patch, NBC Los Angeles and Aviation Today, as linked above.