Air France and American Airlines planes nearly collide at LAX after wrong turn

An Air France Airbus A350 taking off from Los Angeles International Airport made an unauthorized turn to the south early Saturday morning, placing it in the path of an American Airlines Airbus A321 cleared for takeoff on a parallel runway, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Air France Flight 28 was bound for Tahiti, while American Airlines Flight 1660 was headed to Dallas.

Air traffic control immediately issued corrective instructions to the Air France crew. Audio captured by ATC.com recorded the controller warning the pilots to fly heading 270 immediately and stating they had been instructed to climb, not turn to a heading.

“Sorry about that. That aircraft just turned in front of you.”

At their closest point, the two aircraft were about 4,000 feet apart and within 1,000 feet of the same altitude, according to Flightradar24. After separating, both planes safely continued to their destinations.

The air traffic controller later apologized to the American Airlines pilots, saying the other aircraft had turned in front of them and describing the event as a pilot deviation. A pilot deviation is an action taken contrary to air traffic control instructions that can result in future penalties.

CNN has reached out to Air France and American Airlines for more information. The incident comes months after a summer marked by high-profile aviation events, including crashes, emergency landings, and multiple separate close calls.

In June, Delta Air Lines pilots aborted a landing approach at Boston Logan International Airport as an American Airlines flight accelerated for takeoff on an intersecting runway. The same month, a Beechcraft 76 Duchess owned by a flight school came within 500 feet of a JetBlue Airways passenger jet landing at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.