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A jet carrying Gonzaga University men’s basketball team narrowly avoided a collision at Los Angeles International Airport on December 27. No injuries were reported.
Jet carrying the Gonzaga men’s basketball team avoids collision at LAX (Photo: AP)
A private jet carrying the Gonzaga University men’s basketball team narrowly avoided colliding with another plane while taking off at the Los Angeles International Airport on December 27. No injuries were reported in the incident.
A plane-spotting live stream, being widely shared on social media, showed the incident and captured audio of an air traffic controller telling the Key Lime Air flight to “stop, stop, stop.”
The flight immediately stopped and then proceeded after a few moments.
Moments later, plane spotter Kevin Ray, who created the YouTube channel where the video was posted, could be heard exclaiming, “Wow! In the years I’ve been doing this, I’ve never heard an ATC controller tell a plane to ‘Stop, stop, stop’.”
NEW: The FAA has launched an investigation after the men’s Gonzaga basketball team nearly got eliminated by a Delta plane taking off.“Stop! Stop! Stop!” the air traffic controller could be heard saying.
The chartered Embraer E135 jet, carrying the team, had just landed at… pic.twitter.com/6UAUOG5wiP
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) December 30, 2024
The incident was being investigated by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Associated Press reported.
“Air traffic controllers directed Key Lime Air Flight 563 to hold short of crossing a runway at Los Angeles International Airport because a second aircraft was taking off from the runway at the time,” an FAA statement read.
“When the Embraer E135 jet proceeded to cross the hold bars, air traffic controllers told the pilots to stop. The jet never crossed the runway edge line,” it added.
Gonzaga was in Los Angeles for its game against UCLA on Saturday.
Later, an email from Gonzaga University read, “We understand that the incident at LAX is under investigation and we will review this information as it becomes available. Our team members aboard the aircraft were unaware of the situation as it occurred and we are grateful that the incident ended safely for all.”
Gonzaga is scheduled to play at Pepperdine later Monday.