Air France near-collision at Los Angeles International Airport, Digi Mart USA News (Los Angeles, California): An Air France aircraft deviated from its flight path shortly after takeoff from Los Angeles, prompting the control tower to intervene to avoid a possible collision with another plane departing at the same time.
According to the French newspaper Le Parisien, the incident occurred late Friday into Saturday over Los Angeles, California, and the Pacific Ocean. The Air France flight was traveling from California to Papeete, French Polynesia, and came within 400 feet (120 meters) of an American Airlines aircraft departing the same busy airport for Dallas, Texas.
The proximity of the two aircraft was considered extremely dangerous, and both planes were carrying several hundred passengers. Audio exchanges between the control tower and the pilots, reported by American media, show that the air traffic controller quickly intervened and directed the Air France jet in a different direction.
In the recording, the Air France pilot is heard saying he departed under the SUMMR2 procedure, which allows aircraft to take off and then receive routing instructions after departure. Aircraft under this procedure are theoretically required to climb very high and very quickly.
The American Airlines flight was following its planned path, which placed it at 2,000 feet above the ground. A sudden and apparently unauthorized left turn by the Air France flight, identified in the report as AF28, brought the two aircraft dangerously close together.
The audio recording captures the controller instructing both aircraft to separate and directing the Air France pilot to fly due west (heading 270). The Air France pilot appeared to have difficulty responding immediately, and the controller was heard asking which procedure the aircraft had used before referring the pilot to a telephone number to call regarding the unauthorized turn.
The controller then apologized to the American Airlines pilot, saying the aircraft had turned just in front of them due to a pilot deviation. The American pilot responded with a brief acknowledgment.
Le Parisien reported that incidents of this kind have occurred before at Los Angeles International Airport, particularly on the departure runways involved. A few months earlier, a similar episode involving runway 24L, also used by Air France, required a controller to instruct the pilots of two aircraft to move apart.
The report notes that the incident has not been independently verified beyond the publisher’s reporting and the audio described in the article.
