Viral video captures narrow escape of 2 planes at Los Angeles airport | Watch

In a tense and alarming moment at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), a Delta Airlines flight narrowly avoided a collision with a plane carrying the Gonzaga University basketball team.

The incident occurred on Friday afternoon, just days after a deadly plane crash in South Korea, leaving witnesses and passengers shaken.

At approximately 4:30 pm local time, Key Lime Air Flight 563, a chartered plane carrying the team, was taxiing across the runway after landing from Washington ahead of their game against UCLA. Suddenly, air traffic controllers shouted urgently, "Stop, stop, stop!" The pilot halted the Embraer ERJ-135 jet just in time as Delta Flight 471, an Airbus A321 bound for Atlanta, sped past during takeoff.


WATCH VIDEO:

🚨 “STOP STOP STOP!” LAX ATC urgently called out to a Key Lime Air jet as a Delta jet took off from runway 24L. Was this a runway incursion? All of it captured live during Friday’s Airline Videos Live broadcast. pic.twitter.com/5vwQfVzggQ

— AIRLINE VIDEOS (@airlinevideos) December 28, 2024

Video footage captured the Gonzaga team’s private jet coming to an abrupt stop, mere moments before the Delta plane soared into the sky. An aviation enthusiast present at the airport described the scene, saying, "In all my years of watching planes, I’ve never seen or heard anything like it."

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has since launched an investigation into the incident. According to a statement, air traffic controllers had instructed the Gonzaga team’s plane to hold short of the runway, but the jet began to roll forward. Controllers quickly intervened, ordering the pilot to stop before crossing the runway edge.

Despite the close call, Delta Flight 471 faced no delays and continued on schedule. Gonzaga University confirmed the safety of their team, noting that the aircraft was a chartered Embraer ERJ-135.

This incident adds to a troubling week for aviation safety. Just days earlier, a Jeju Air flight crash in South Korea claimed 179 lives, and a separate crash in Kazakhstan left 38 dead. The FAA’s ongoing investigation at LAX aims to determine how such a critical near-miss occurred and to ensure stricter safety measures in the future.