Just days following a devastating plane accident in South Korea, a near-miss at Los Angeles International Airport left witnesses in disbelief. A viral clip captured the alarming moment when a Delta Airlines flight narrowly dodged colliding with a plane transporting the Gonzaga University basketball team on Friday afternoon.
At approximately 4:30 pm local time, while Gonzaga’s chartered Key Lime Air Flight 563 was moving on the runway, air traffic controllers urgently shouted, “Stop, stop, stop! “—a directive clearly audible in the footage. The Gonzaga flight, which had recently arrived from Washington for the team’s game against UCLA, managed to halt just in time as Delta Flight 471, an Airbus A321 headed for Atlanta, sped toward takeoff.
🚨 “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
The heart-stopping video illustrates the private jet coming to an abrupt stop mere seconds before Delta’s flight lifted off. An aviation fan who observed the event commented, “In all my years of watching planes, I’ve never heard an air traffic controller shout ‘Stop, stop, stop’ like that. ”
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has initiated an inquiry into the near-miss. Officials confirmed that air traffic controllers had instructed the Gonzaga aircraft to hold short of the runway. As the private jet moved forward, controllers swiftly commanded the pilot to stop just as Delta’s flight neared.
“When the Embraer E135 jet moved to cross the hold bars, air traffic controllers instructed the pilots to stop,” an FAA representative informed NBC News. “The jet never crossed the runway edge line. ” They further clarified that controllers had told Key Lime Air Flight 563 to hold short of crossing the runway due to another plane taking off at that time.
Gonzaga University later verified that the aircraft was a chartered Embraer ERJ-135. Despite the narrow escape, Delta’s flight, which experienced no delays, continued as planned.
This event took place shortly after the tragic crash of a Jeju Air flight in South Korea on Sunday, which resulted in the deaths of 179 individuals, as well as another crash in Kazakhstan that claimed the lives of 38 people.
