Los Angeles, California: Air France Jet Turns Into Path of American Flight After Takeoff at LAX, FAA Says

An Air France jet bound for Tahiti turned into the flight path of an American Airlines jet seconds after both planes left Los Angeles International Airport early on Saturday, Nov. 7, and only fast work by air traffic controllers kept the two apart, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

Air France Flight 28, an Airbus A350-900, took off from runway 24L at about 12:15 a.m. local time on a flight to Papeete in French Polynesia. American Airlines Flight 1660, an Airbus A321, left the parallel runway 25R about a minute later, headed for Dallas Fort Worth. The FAA told PEOPLE that the Air France plane "made an unauthorized turn" after departing and "went into the path of another aircraft that departed from a parallel runway." Flight tracking reconstructions reported by Simple Flying put the two jets within about 400 feet of vertical separation at the closest point.

What the controller recordings show

Recordings of the control frequency spread widely on social media over the weekend. A controller can be heard telling the Air France crew: "Air France 028 heavy, fly heading of 270 immediately. Traffic alert, traffic 12 o'clock, less than a mile, maintain 2,000." The American jet was held at 2,000 feet while the Air France crew was turned away from its path.

The controller then asked why the jet had left its assigned route. "Air France 028 Heavy, you were instructed to climb via SID, not turn a heading," he said, using the short form for the standard instrument departure route. Asked what procedure they were following, one of the pilots answered, "Give me a minute," and the controller replied, "No problem." The crew then said they had been flying the SUMMR TWO departure, the published route for that runway.

What the airline and investigators say

Air France told KTLA that the crew of Flight 28 "received a request from air traffic control shortly after take-off to adjust its flight path," that the crew followed the instructions at once, and that the plane landed normally in Papeete at 5:59 a.m. local time. Nobody on either plane was reported hurt. The controller gave the Air France crew a phone number to call after landing, the standard step after a possible pilot deviation, and an FAA investigation was under way on Monday, according to MyNewsLA.

A similar turn a year earlier

The same runway produced a similar scare on Oct. 31, 2025, when an ITA Airways Airbus A330 turned left after leaving runway 24L and crossed the departure path of an American Airlines jet, according to Simple Flying. That repetition is part of what investigators will look at now: why a crew flying a published departure route turned toward the parallel departure stream at one of the busiest airports in the United States.