FAA Opens Investigation Into Air France Near-Collision at LAX

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration is investigating a near mid-air collision at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) that unfolded at 12:20 a.m. on Nov. 7, 2026, when an Air France Airbus A350-900 turned across the path of a departing American Airlines Airbus A321-200.

Flightradar24 data shows the two aircraft closed to less than one mile laterally and 400 feet vertically. Both crews continued their flights without further incident — Air France Flight 28 to Papeete, Tahiti, and American Airlines Flight 1660 to Dallas.

What happened after takeoff?

The FAA has already framed the event as a flight deviation attributed to Air France, saying Flight 28 made an unauthorised turn after departing LAX despite the clearance assigned by air traffic control. That turn shifted the A350's flight path toward the American aircraft.

Audio recordings released by LAX capture the sequence. A controller instructed the Air France crew "to fly heading 270 immediately" and then added: "You were instructed to climb… not turn to a heading." Shortly after, controllers apologised to the American Airlines Flight 1660 crew, telling them: "That aircraft just turned in front of you" and that Air France Flight 28 had committed pilot deviation.

Before the handoff to a new frequency, the Air France pilot responded to the controller with the words "give me a minute." LAX then provided the crew with a phone number to report the possible flight deviation — a standard step when controllers suspect a procedural breach.

How do departures go wrong?

Before departure, pilots receive a written clearance called a standard instrument departure (SID), a predefined route that crews program into the flight management computer to keep the aircraft on the correct course after leaving the runway. Programming the wrong departure into the system is a known failure mode, and it can put an aircraft on a track that conflicts with other traffic.

Whether that is what happened here is not yet clear. The FAA is reviewing voice and radar recordings to reconstruct the full sequence and assess the scope of the deviation.

What does this change for operations?

The geometry of the event matters. Both aircraft departed LAX on parallel runways — Air France Flight 28 from Runway 24L, American Airlines Flight 1660 from Runway 25R — on diverging routes to Tahiti and Dallas respectively. Parallel departures depend on each aircraft flying its assigned heading until controllers establish separation; a single early turn compresses that margin rapidly, which is why the loss of spacing here fell below a mile.

For Air France, the immediate consequences are procedural: pilot deviations typically trigger a review of the crew's actions and possible follow-up with the regulator. For LAX controllers, the incident is a reminder that the safety case for parallel runway operations rests on strict adherence to issued headings immediately after takeoff.

The FAA's findings from the voice and radar data will determine whether the deviation stemmed from a clearance misinterpretation, a data-entry error, or another cause — and whether any changes to departure procedures at LAX follow.